Ready Token is a hamlet in Gloucestershire, England, located in the

Cotswold Hills The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

near Poulton. Despite comprising only a handful of houses it is located at a high point and is notable for being the meeting place of six country roads and nine parish boundaries. It lies at the intersection of the ancient drove road known as the

Welsh Way The Welsh Way was a British Iron Age trade route and track-way that originally carried trade between South Wales and the Oxford area of England across the Cotswold Hills. There is evidence it was utilised and improved by the Roman army follo ...

and the Roman Akeman Street. It once possessed an inn, recorded in 1738 as under the sign ''Ready Token Ash''.Gibbs, J. Arthur, ''A Cotswold Village Or Country Life and Pursuits in Gloucestershire'',Echo Library, 2008, Page 51,

/ref> The name is a fusion of the Celtic word ''rhydd'' and the Saxon word ''tacen'' meaning the way to the ford. The ford being that across the River Coln at Fairford. It is the site of an unusual house which has a butterfly shaped plan which mirrors the local butterfly shaped road pattern. It was designed by the Arts and Crafts movement architect, Norman Jewson, and built in 1928–1929.Owlpen Manor Estate
Norman Jewson, architect by Nicholas Mander, 2012 , List of architectural works

References

* Road travel and transport in Gloucestershire, 1722-1822: extracts - Page 25, N. M. Herbert, Publisher A. Sutton, 1985

External links

Ready Token on 1st edition 1:25000 OS map
1946 Cotswold District Hamlets in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub