Editing Cotswolds (section)

==History==
The largest excavation of [[Jurassic]] period [[echinoderm]] [[fossil]]s, including of rare and previously unknown species, occurred at a [[quarry]] in the Cotswolds in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 July 2021|title='Part-time adventurers': amateur fossil hunters get record haul in Cotswolds|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/21/part-time-adventurers-amateur-fossil-hunters-get-record-haul-in-cotswolds|access-date=23 July 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=21 July 2021|title='Jurassic Pompeii' yields thousands of 'squiggly wiggly' fossils|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57853537|access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref> There is evidence of [[Neolithic]] settlement from burial chambers on Cotswold Edge, and there are remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNgfAz70nOQC&pg=PR7|page=vii|title=Slow Cotswolds|author=Carolione Mills|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|date=15 April 2011|isbn=9781841623443|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118044503/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gNgfAz70nOQC&pg=PR7|archive-date=18 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bingham |first=Jane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFg-AQAAIAAJ |title=The Cotswolds: A Cultural History |date=2009 |publisher=Signal Books |isbn=978-1-904955-62-7 |pages=1–6 |language=en}}</ref> Later the Romans built villas, such as at [[Chedworth]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mswynZFMtqgC&pg=PA90|page=90|title=Discovering Roman Britain|publisher=New Holland Publishers|date=2008|author=Andrew McCloy, Andrew Midgley|isbn=9781847731289|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118050410/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mswynZFMtqgC&pg=PA90|archive-date=18 January 2017}}</ref> settlements such as Gloucester, and paved the Celtic path later known as [[Fosse Way]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10367457/Roman-roads-were-actually-built-by-the-Celts-new-book-claims.html|title='Roman' roads were actually built by the Celts, new book claims|author=Hayley Dixon|journal=The Telegraph|date=9 October 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504110432/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10367457/Roman-roads-were-actually-built-by-the-Celts-new-book-claims.html|archive-date=4 May 2014}}</ref>

During the [[Middle Ages]], thanks to the breed of [[sheep]] known as the [[Cotswold sheep|Cotswold Lion]], the Cotswolds became prosperous from the wool trade with the continent, with much of the money made from wool directed towards the building of churches. The most successful era for the wool trade was 1250–1350; much of the wool at that time was sold to Italian merchants. The area still preserves numerous large, handsome Cotswold Stone "wool churches". The affluent area in the 21st century has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes there or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.<ref name="butterfield.com"/>

===Etymology===
The name ''Cotswold'' is popularly believed to mean the "sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides",<ref>{{cite web|title=The Kingscote, Gloucestershire area|url=http://www.kingscotepark.co.uk/index.asp?page=6913|publisher=Kingscote Park|access-date=1 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426072311/http://www.kingscotepark.co.uk/index.asp?page=6913|archive-date=26 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url= https://archive.org/details/localetymologya00chargoog | title= Local etymology: a derivative dictionary of geographical names | first= Richard Stephen | last= Charnock | publisher= Houlston and Wright | year= 1859 | page= [https://archive.org/details/localetymologya00chargoog/page/n175 76] | df= dmy-all }}</ref> incorporating the term ''[[The Wolds|wold]]'', meaning hills. Compare also [[the Weald]], from the [[Old English]] term meaning 'forest'. But for many years the [[English Place-Name Society]] has accepted that the term ''Cotswold'' is derived from ''Codesuualt'' of the 12th century or other variations on this form, the etymology of which is "Cod's-wold", meaning "Cod's high open land".<ref>Smith, A. H. (1964) ''The Place-Names of Gloucestershire,'' part 1: "The Rivers and Road-names, the East Cotswolds," Cambridge, p.2</ref> ''Cod'' was interpreted as an Old English personal name, which may be recognised in further names: [[Cutsdean]], Codeswellan, and Codesbyrig, some of which date to the 8th century.<ref>Smith A. H. 1964 The Place-Names of Gloucestershire part 2: The North and West Cotswolds, Cambridge pp. 7–8</ref> It has subsequently been noticed that ''Cod'' could derive philologically from a Brittonic female cognate ''Cuda'', a hypothetical [[mother goddess]] in [[Celtic mythology]] postulated to have been worshipped in the Cotswold region.<ref>Yeates, S. J. (2008) ''The Tribe of Witches: The Religion of the Dobunni and the Hwicce'', pp. 11–18</ref><ref>Yeates, S. J. (2006) "River-Names, Celtic and Old English: Their Dual Medieval and Post-medieval Personalities," ''Journal of the English Place-Name Society'' 38, pp.63–81</ref>