Lechlade | |
---|---|
Lechlade shown within Gloucestershire | |
Population | 2,850 (2011 Census) |
OS grid reference | SU2199 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Lechlade |
Postcode district | GL7 |
Dialling code | 01367 |
Police | Gloucestershire |
Fire | Gloucestershire |
Ambulance | South Western |
EU Parliament | South West England |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Lechlade-on-Thames official website |
Lechlade, or Lechlade-on-Thames, is a town at the southern edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is the highest point at which the River Thames is navigable. The town is named after the River Leach that joins the Thames near The Trout Inn.
The town is a popular venue for tourism and river-based activities. There are several pubs, some antique shops, a convenience store, food outlets, a garden centre and a Christmas shop. Near the 15th century Church of England parish church of Saint Lawrence, in the centre of the town, there is a large open space which is now a car park. The main roads through the town are busy, as the town is at the crossroads of the A417 and A361. Where the A361 enters the town from the south it crosses the River Thames on Halfpenny Bridge. Another tributary of the Thames, the River Coln, joins the Thames at the Inglesham Round House. Lechlade has hosted a music festival since 2011. In 2015 the festival's headline act was Status Quo.
Lechlade falls in the Kempsford–Lechlade electoral ward. This ward stretches from Lechlade in the east to Kempsford in the west. The total population of this ward taken from the 2011 census was 3,973.
Although in Gloucestershire, and traditionally in the hundred of Brightwells Barrow, from 1894 till 1935 the town was administered as part of Faringdon Rural District in Oxfordshire. From 1935 till 1974 it was part of Cirencester Rural District in Gloucestershire, and since 1974 it has been a part of Cotswold District.