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Borough of Cheltenham
	Gloucester ''Shown within Gloucestershire''
Geography
Status:	Borough
Region:	South West England
Admin. County:	Gloucestershire
Area: - Total	Ranked 304th 46.61 km²
Admin. HQ:	Cheltenham
Grid reference:
ONS code:	23UB
Demographics
Population: - Total () - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	96.7% White 1.4% S.Asian
Politics
Cheltenham Borough Council www.cheltenham.gov.uk
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	Martin Horwood, Laurence Robertson
Coat of arms
Cheltenham coat of arms.gif

'Cheltenham' (or 'Cheltenham Spa') is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, England, near Gloucester and Cirencester. The town has a population of 110,013 (2001 census) and the people of the town are known as "Cheltonians". The town motto is: ''Salubritas et Eruditio'' ("Health and Education").
The town is located on the edge of the Cotswolds and has an image of being respectable and wealthy. Cheltenham has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England". The small River Chelt flows under and through the town.
Cheltenham is well known for being the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horseracing, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Cheltenham Town F.C., Cheltenham College and Cheltenham Ladies' College. The town hosts several festivals of culture, principally the annual Cheltenham Festival of Literature.
On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the borough of Cheltenham was merged with Charlton Kings urban district to form the modern non-metropolitan district of Cheltenham. Four parishes - Swindon Village, Up Hatherley, Leckhampton and Prestbury - were added to the borough of Cheltenham from the borough of Tewkesbury in 1991.^[1]

Contents

Education

Festivals

Sport

Shopping and nightlife

Major employers

Railway

Churches

Twin Towns

Areas of Cheltenham

Lansdown Crescent

Notable Cheltonians

References

See also

External links

Education

In accordance with the "Eruditio" part of its motto, Cheltenham is a centre for education, including; Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Ladies' College and a campus of the University of Gloucestershire.

Festivals

Main articles: Cheltenham Festivals

Cheltenham holds music, jazz, folk, literary and science festivals every year. Events take place at venues including the Town Hall, the Everyman Theatre, The Playhouse Theatre and the Pittville Pump Room.
Additionally, Greenbelt, a Christian arts and music festival, is held at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Sport

Cheltenham is known for its horse racing. Cheltenham Racecourse, located in the suburb of Prestbury, is the home of National Hunt, or jumps, racing in the UK. Meetings are hosted from October to April. The highlight of the season is the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which is normally held in the middle of March, during the Cheltenham Festival. This happy co-incidence (with Saint Patrick's Day) ensures that the town swells with an influx of Irish horseracing devotees.

The local football teams are Cheltenham Town F.C., who have recently enjoyed moderate success in The Football League, gaining promotion to League One and Cheltenham Saracens F.C. who are members of the Hellenic League Division One West.
Amateur rugby clubs include the Cheltenham Saracens RFC, Cheltenham North RFC, Old Patesians R.F.C., and Cheltenham Civil Service RFC.
The town features three golf courses, at Cleeve Hill, Cotswold Hills and Lilley Brook.
Sandford Parks Lido is one of the largest outdoor pools in England. There is a 50-metre main pool as well as a children's pool and paddling pool, both of which are set in landscaped gardens.

Shopping and nightlife

Cheltenham is a regional shopping centre, home to department stores such as Cavendish House, part of the House of Fraser chain, and centres including the Regent Arcade and the Beechwood Shopping Centre. It has a Michelin two star restaurant, 'Le Champignon Sauvage'. The old Flowers brewery site has been converted into a leisure quarter, "The Brewery", with gym, multiplex cinema, bingo, restaurants, pubs and bars. The town serves as a regional nightlife centre, attracting up to 30,000 people at the weekends (council figures). When the new licensing laws were introduced, ''The Times'' ran an article that stated Cheltenham had more late licensed venues per capita, than anywhere else in the country.

Major employers

Cheltenham has light industry employers, including food processing, aerospace, electronics and tourism businesses. The British government's electronic surveillance operation Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), renowned for its "doughnut-shape" building, is located in Cheltenham. GE-Aviation, Dowty Rotol, Chelsea Building Society, Endsleigh Insurance, UCAS (Universities & Colleges Admissions Service), Kohler Mira, Zurich Financial Services, Spirax Sarco and Kraft Foods' UK headquarters all have sites in and around Cheltenham.

Railway

Cheltenham Spa railway station is located on the main Bristol-Birmingham line, giving connections to Gloucester, Bristol, Swindon, London Paddington, Plymouth and the South West, Birmingham, Derby, the North West, the North East and Scotland.
The Cheltenham Spa Express, once known as the "Cheltenham Flyer", is a named passenger train, connecting Cheltenham with London.
In addition, a restored station at Cheltenham Racecourse is the south terminus for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway heritage railway.

Churches

★ St Philip and St James Church, Leckhampton - part of the Anglican Diocese of Gloucester

★ St. Gregory's - large Catholic church

★ St Mary's Church - the original church of the town and the only surviving medieval building.

★ St Matthew's Church - now a combined parish with St Mary's.

★ All Saints' Church - Church with a musical tradition - Solemn High Mass on Sundays. Gustav Holst was a Chorister at All Saints; his father, Adolph von Holst, was Organist and Master of the Choristers.

★ Christ Church

★ St Paul's Church

★ St Luke's Church

★ Trinity Church - one of the largest Anglican churches outside London.

★ Cambray Baptist Church

★ St Mark's - now the West Cheltenham Team Ministry

★ Christian City Church - located at Rowanfield Primary School

★ Elim Christian Centre or Elim Pentecostal Church

★ URC in Cheltenham - United Reformed Church
For a full list of churches in Cheltenham click here

Twin Towns

Cheltenham is twinned with ([1]):

★ - Annecy, France

★ - Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

★ - Göttingen, Germany

★ - Sochi, Russia

★ - Weihai, China
The town also has 'Friendship' status with:

★ - Stampersgat, Netherlands

★ - Kisumu, Kenya

Areas of Cheltenham

The districts of Cheltenham include Arle, Benhall, Charlton Kings, Fairview, Fiddlers Green, Hesters Way, Leckhampton, Montpellier, Pittville, Prestbury, The Reddings, Rowanfield, St Marks, St Paul's, St Peter's, Springbank, Spingfields, Swindon Village, Up Hatherley, Whaddon and Wyman's Brook.

Lansdown Crescent

Lansdown Crescent is a Regency terrace, designed by John Buonarotti Papworth for R.W. and C. Jearrad and constructed in the 1830s. The terrace is convex, and opposite the north-eastern part stands 'Lansdown Court', an Italianate villa possibly designed by Papworth but more probably by the Jearrads and built about 1830.

Notable Cheltonians

:''See List of notable Cheltonians''

References

★ David Verey, ''Gloucestershire: the Vale and the Forest of Dean'', The Buildings of England edited by Nikolaus Pevsner, 2nd ed (1976) ISBN 0-14-071041-8

See also

★ HMS Cheltenham, a Racecourse class minesweeper of 1916

★ Acclaim Cheltenham, a game studio that made Extreme-G 3 and

★ Cheltenham Racecourse Heliport, a heliport that serves the racecourse

External links

★ Cheltenham Borough Council

★ VisitCheltenham - Official tourism website

★ Art Gallery & Museum

★ Festivals website

★ Cheltenham Park and Ride

★ Historical genealogical information

★ Gloucestershire Echo (local newspaper)

★ All About Cheltenham

★ Cheltenham4u - Guide to Cheltenham

★ SoGlos — Online magazine for Gloucestershire including events, features, reviews and listings

★ Greenbelt Festival

★ Cheltenham Town Football Club

★ Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway