GLOUCESTERSHIRE, one of the English counties on the western side of the kingdom. On the north-east it is bounded by Warwickshire; on the north-west by Worcestershire ; Oxfordshire and Berkshire bound it on the east; Wilts and Somerset on the south ; and Hereford and Monmouth on the west. The greatest length is 70 miles, and the greatest breadth 35. Its area is 1718 square miles (including its rivers), or 1,099,520 acres.
By the census of 1801, the number of inhabitants appeared to be 250,809 ; and, in 1811, was found to be 285,514; of these 141,920 lived in the cities, or in those towns and large villages which contained upwards of 1000 souls. In this enumeration the city of Bristol is included; for, though it is a county of itself, and though a part of it stands within the county of Somerset, yet, in the two last Parliamen tary surveys, it is considered a part of the county of Gloucester, within which division the greater portion of it is situated. The most considerable places, and their population, are the following : Bristol, . 76,433 Minchin Hampton, 3,246 Gloucester, 8,280 Painswick, - 3,201 Cheltenham, - 8,325 Horsley, . 2,925 Stroud, 5,321 Dursley, - 2,580 Tewkesbury, - 4,82 Newent, 2,538 Bisley, 4,7'5 Tetbury, - 2,533 Cirencester, - 4,640 The other towns, viz. King's Stanley, Colford, Wat ton under Edge, Fairford, Marshfield, Winchcomb, Chipping-Sodbury, Stow on the Wold, and Thorn bury, contain each from 1000 to 2000 inhabitants.
The city of Bristol being accurately described in the Encycloperclia, we refer to that article, and merely add, that, since the publication of that work, a vast improvement has been made on the port. The river Avon, which was formerly nearly dry at low water, has been converted into a floating dock ; so that the sharper built ships, which could not approach to the city, can now lie at the wharfs afloat at all times. Several docks have been con structed, and a new canal formed, over which are handsome iron bridges. The enormous expence of these works was almost wholly defrayed by the zens; and though the tolls produce but slight divi dends on the capital, they have added to the facili ties of the navigation, and have increased the beauty of the environs.
The foreign commerce of this county centres al most wholly in Bristol, as Gloucester, from the dif ficult navigation of the Severn, has but a small share of it. The principal trade is to the West India islands, where the rich capitalists of Bristol have either plantations of their own, or such mortgages on those of others, as secure to this port a large supply of all tropical productions. A considerable branch of commerce is the importation of Merino wool from Spain, which induces the clothiers of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to depend on this market for the supply of their raw material.
With some parts of North America the direct in ' tercourse is considerable ; and the commerce with the Baltic, with the Elbe, and with Holland, as well as with the ports of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, though less than that of Liverpool, is next in order after that port. The slave trade was once carried on from hence to a considerable extent ; but, to the honour of the Bristol merchants, it should be re membered, that they had relinquished all participa tion in it, long before that infamous traffic was abo lished by the Legislature.
The internal trade of this county is, however, by far the most important. By the River Severn, which passes through it, it is enabled to maintain a regular in tercourse with the potteries and glass manufactories of Worcestershire and Staffordshire; with the salt works of Droitwich; and with those parts of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire, which furnish the heavy iron goods that would not bear the expence of land-carriage. Though the Severn is only navigable for fiat-bottomed vessels, and for those only at spring tides, yet the craft on that river is very considera ble ; and at Stourport there is a connection with all the numerous canals that traverse the centre of the kingdom. Besides the river Severn, the Wye is na vigable for small craft to a considerable distance from its mouth, and facilitates the commercial inter course with Monmouthshire and Herefordshire.