Wotton-under-Edge is attractively situated in the hills. In Church Street you will find the Perry and Dawes alms-houses, built in the 17th century round a small quadrangle with a chapel. The history of the town is illustrated in the The Heritage Centre, at The Chipping, in the centre of town-opposite the main car park. There was a Saxon village here, which was burned to the ground by supporters of King John who objected to Lord Berkeley`s contribution to the preparations for the Magna Carta. In the Middle Ages it became an important wool town. There is a brass to Katherine, Lady Berkeley, in the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin - she was the first woman to found a school (in 1384). Isaac Pitman, the 19th century creator of the shorthand system, was a master at the British School in Bear Lane.