Dowdeswell is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the ward of

Chedworth Chedworth is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, southwest England, in the Cotswolds. It is known as the location of Chedworth Roman Villa, administered since 1924 by the National Trust. Chedworth Stream rises close to the village a ...

Cotswold 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 Jura ...

, in the ceremonial county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is separated into Upper and Lower Dowdeswell, the former being south of the latter. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 134. About 7.1 km (4.4 mi) to the northwest is Cheltenham, and 19 km (12 mi) to the west is

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. In 2001, it had a population of 185. The Church of Saint Michael and All Saints is a Grade I listed building.

Environment

Northwest of Lower Dowdeswell, there is Dowdeswell Woods. Immediately south of these woods is Dowdeswell Reservoir. Both Dowdeswell Reservoir and Dowdeswell Woods have been managed historically as nature reserves through the

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is the Gloucestershire local partner in a conservation network of 46 Wildlife Trusts. The Wildlife Trusts are local charities with the specific aim of protecting the United Kingdom's natural heritage. The Gl ...

(formerly named Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation). On the opposite hillside to Dowdeswell Woods lies

Lineover Wood Lineover Wood () is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1986. The site is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust, and is near the communities of Charlton Kings, Cheltenham and Dowdeswell. The Cots ...

which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is on the steep face of the Cotswold scarp. The

Cotswold Way The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. It was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007 and several new rights of way have been created. His ...

runs at the edge of Dowdeswell Woods, crosses the A40 and runs through Lineover Wood. The nature reserve of Arle Grove lies in the parish of Dowdeswell.Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserves information online
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Railways

In 1891, Dowdeswell was the name given to a station in the nearby village of

Andoversford Andoversford is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England, about east of Cheltenham. The village is on the River Coln, parallel to the A40.The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 555. In 2019 ...

on the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

; the name was to avoid confusion with Andoversford station on the Great Western Railway's Cheltenham to

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...

line. The name of Dowdeswell station was changed to Andoversford and Dowdeswell in 1892. The station closed to passengers in 1927 after the GWR had taken over the M&SWJR; however, it remained open for goods traffic until 1962.

References

External links

Cotswold District Council
* ''Gloucestershire Railway Stations'', Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, 2003, . * ''Gloucestershire: the Cotswolds'',

David Verey Sir David John Verey CBE (born 1950) is an English banker and philanthropist. Early life Verey was born on 8 December 1950. He went to school at Eton College and later received a Master of Arts degree in English from Trinity College, Cambridge. ...

Pevsner Architectural Guides The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...

: The Buildings of England, Penguin, 1970, . pp. 216–219. Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Cotswold District {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub