CHAPTER X
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
The town of Evesham is most conveniently situated as a centre from which to visit the broad vale and the surrounding hills. Within a comparatively short distance a great variety may be noticed in the general aspect of the country, and this is due not only to the contour of the surface and the nature of the soil, but also to the manner of cultivation; and, as has already been indicated, to the material employed in the buildings. The vale itself is sheltered, and the soil productive and capable of high cultivation, consequently the greater part has been utilised for agriculture. Lately the market-gardening industry, originating possibly in monastic times, has increased enormously, and the appearance of the country for many miles round Evesham has been transformed. In springtime the effect of the plum-blossom is surprisingly beautiful; and in the autumn a luxuriant effect is given by the heavily-laden trees bending beneath their weight of yellow or purple fruit. But against these transient effects we must place the tiresome regularity of the fruit-trees, their uniform size and height, and the absence or monotony of colour during a great part of the year, when the ground, the bushes, and the trees are bare.
The prosperity brought to the inhabitants of the vale by this staple industry is "writ large" in the towns and villages wherever it is practised, and, from the picturesque point of view, the gain is more than doubtful.
But though fruit-growing has spread in every direction, we can with ease escape beyond its limits, and even within them we may still find cornfields, rich pasture and woodlands, thriving farms, and villages still unspoiled by the modern "jerry-builder."
The hill country does not come within the limits of this volume, but it may be easily reached—the nearest points being Broadway, and the villages of Ashton-under-hill and Elmley Castle, both lying under Bredon. The value of the hills as a shelter and background to the vale has been touched on in former pages; and the debt which the valley owes to the stone which they provide, and the architectural style which grew up amongst them, cannot be overestimated.
Close to the town many of the field-paths have been bereft of their charm, and almost lost in the intricate maze of currant bushes and plum trees; but the river meadows are still untouched, and without going far afield we may find villages yet retaining much of their old-world character, and offering much that is picturesque and interesting.
Hampton, which has been described in the last section may be approached as easily by road as by river; from the top of the village Clark's Hill may be gained, and from here the ferry may be crossed and the town re-entered by Boat Lane.
Badsey, and Wickhamford, with the hamlet of Aldington, are all in their different ways worth a visit. Badsey in addition to its church has many interesting old houses; and at Wickhamford the church and manor form an attractive group. In the church are some fine canopied monuments, of Jacobean style, of the Sandys family, who owned the adjacent manor house—a building of stone and timber, much of it dating from the sixteenth century. The circular dovecote belonging to monastic times is carefully preserved.
Bretforton, with its church built by the monks of Evesham, lies on the road between Badsey and Honeybourne.
The villages of Middle and South Littleton have been little affected by modern enterprise. They may be reached by way of Offenham or Bengeworth, or from the village station. In South Littleton the long, narrow church though much spoiled by restoration tells of the care of the parent Abbey at least as far back as the thirteenth century. Opposite the church is a striking brick house, dignified even in its present degraded condition. With windows blocked, neglected garden, and used only as a storehouse for the farm at the back, it suggests the haunted mansion of the imagination. The building dates from about the year 1700; and the beauty of the design, especially of the roof with its chimneys and its dormers, is worthy of a better fate. A field path at the end of the street soon brings us to Middle Littleton. Among the ricks and outhouses we catch sight of the grey stone gables of the manor house, with the perpendicular church tower so familiar in the district, close beside it. The old cross is thrown into relief by the dark and spreading yew, and a natural picture is completed by the sombre walls and tower of the church.
To the lover of architecture, or mediæval history, the greatest interest will attach to the large tythe barn which we come to on emerging into the field from the further side of the churchyard. The beautiful masonry and mouldings, the fine doorways and delicately designed finials at once mark the work as belonging to the fourteenth century, and in the chronicles of Evesham Abbey we read that it was built in the time of John de Ombresley who held the abbacy from 1367 to 1379.
In addition to the churches already mentioned St. Egwin's Church at Honeybourne was also in the "Deanery of the Vale," and under the special charge and jurisdiction of the Abbey. It may be reached either by road or rail. The fine tower and spire stamp it, at a glance, as different in style from the other churches of the neighbourhood; and these belong probably to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The porch, like that of Hampton, has a solid stone roof and dates from a century later. The chancel we learn was built by Abbot Brokehampton about 1300. The beautiful timber roof, of the Tudor period, has lately been most carefully repaired, and the interior replastered in the true mediæval manner.
Almost within sight of this churchyard, and not many minutes' walk from it is the church of Cow Honeybourne which, with the exception of the tower, has been entirely rebuilt. For many years the nave and chancel were occupied as cottages.
On the Evesham side of the river there is only one church which seems to have been entirely the property of the Abbey. This is the church of Saint Egwin, at Norton, between two and three miles along the main north road. Here we may see a lectern of Norman date, carved out of a block of alabaster with curious forms of beasts and foliage; and in the centre, rudely cut is the figure of a bishop, holding in his left hand a crozier, his right in the act of benediction. This lectern once graced a chapel in the great church of Evesham; and the figure pourtrayed is Bishop Egwin, the first Abbot, to whom we owe the beginnings of the great and powerful Abbey.
The north chapel, with its monuments of a fashion long passed away, and its heraldic adornments, suggestive of the age of chivalry, forms a picture at once imposing and pathetic. The monuments are of considerable interest, and are good examples of Renaissance ornament and sculpture of three successive periods. The Bigge family, to the memory of whom they were erected, inherited through Sir Philip Hoby much of the Abbey land in this district. Early in the seventeenth century their mansion and estates were purchased by Lord Craven, and it is to the family of this nobleman that the funereal flags, tabards, and arms suspended above the monuments, belong.
From Norton church we may return by a field path which leads into and crosses a lane known as King's Lane, and possibly connected with some cavalier episode. The hamlet which we see before us is Lenchwick, and if we take the village street, after passing the lane to Chadbury we presently come to a steep but short descent with a group of old barns on our left. Near this spot stood, until about a hundred years ago, a stately mansion built by Sir Thomas Bigge, whose tomb we have but now visited.
A letter is still extant from Sir Philip Hoby requesting permission from the King's agent to purchase stone from the Abbey ruins for building, and there can be little doubt that this house was constructed of the same material. By the "irony of fate" this mansion, born of the spoliation of that institution, in its turn fell a prey to the destroyer, and fragments of carved stones telling of Elizabethan days may be found in these and other farm buildings within the area of the parish.