CHELTENHAM, a t., parliamentary borough, and fashionable watering-place, in the co. of Gloucester, 8 m. n.e. of Gloucester. It lies in a picturesque and healthy val ley on the Chelt, a small stream which rises in the adjacent hills, and flows into the Severn. It is sheltered on the e. and s.e. by a semicircle of the Cotswolds. It owes its celebrity and rapid increase to its mineral springs, of which there are several varieties. The chief street is upwards of a mile long, right and left of which are spa cious and elegant squares and crescents, and innumerable villas lately erected for the accommodation of the numerous visitors. Attached to the spas are handsome pump rooms—with tasteful grounds, avenues, saloons—lodging-houses, and public prome nades among the finest in England, besides many fine mansions in and around the town. It has 10 churches and a number of dissenting chapels. Of late years, C. has become famous for its public schools, the oldest of which is its endowed grammar-school, capa ble of educating 300 scholars; but the largest, and now the most celebrated, is its pro prietary college, for the sons of gentlemen, a noble institution, educating, upon an aver age, 600 pupils. There are also a ladies' college, a junior proprietary school, and a
number of private scholastic establishments. There are public assembly-rooms in the town; which is also much resorted to in winter for its hunting. I thas two clubs, and five or six weekly newspapers. Pop. '71, 44,519. C. returns one member to parliament. Its affairs are managed by a board of elected commissioners. It has no manufactures of any importance. C. was only a village in 1716, when the first spring was discovered. It gradually increased till 1788, when the benefit received by George III. from its waters suddenly made it a resort of fashion.