Chipping Norton is left by the road to Evesham, and a run of eight miles brings one into the long, wide street of Moreton-in-the-Marsh, a little market town without any exceptional features needing special reference here. The next place, however, is Bourton-on-the-Hill, a lovely village, with its old cottages perched either above or below the steeply ascending road. Of the gardens gaily decked with flowers one could write many pages; but not far off is Broadway, one of those delightful villages of the always lovely Cotswolds, full of pleasing stone architecture, in spite of the evil tendencies which have marred, if not destroyed, the beauty of so many pleasant old-world haunts. At the picturesque Lygon Arms, at the lower end of the village, Charles I. is said to have stayed on more than one occasion, and near it is a house called the 'Abbot's Grange,' where Mr. Millet, the artist, has his studio. This was the manor-house of the Abbots of Pershore, a Benedictine abbey possessing much property at Broadway. There is a large hall open to the roof, a solar, and a small chapel chiefly dating from Decorated times. The old church of Broadway, dedicated to St. Eadburgh, is three-quarters of a mile away, in the Snowshill Valley. It contains a plain Norman font, a painted wooden pulpit of the fourteenth century, and some good brasses. From the tower, built in 1797, above the village one can see a wide panoramic view over the beautiful rounded hills, broken up by belts of beech and larch.
If there is no need to economize time, it would certainly be unwise to pass so near the picturesque old town of Chipping Camden without having a peep at its fine market hall, its church, and beautiful array of stone-built houses. After this the hills are left behind, and Evesham, on the river which flows past Shakespeare's birthplace, is reached.
EVESHAM
This picturesque little town owed its importance to the great Benedictine abbey, which up to the Dissolution had, according to Grose, such a great assemblage of religious buildings that its equal was not to be found out of Oxford and Cambridge. Of these, however, there remain to-day only the beautiful Perpendicular bell-tower, the almonry, the mutilated Norman gatehouse, and the archway leading to the chapter-house, now the entrance to allotments. Many houses in the town are built of stones from the destroyed abbey. The Booth Hall, in the market-place, is a charming old building, and in the High Street and in Bridge Street there are many fine old houses.
The two churches of Evesham stand in one churchyard, and both were founded by the monks of the abbey as secular chapels for the town. The Church of St. Lawrence was practically rebuilt a century ago, but All Saints, which existed in 1223, has an Early English north aisle and chancel, and examples of the succeeding periods in the other parts of the building. The Battle of Evesham was fought on August 4, 1265, rather less than a mile from the town, on high ground to the north, marked by an obelisk. Simon de Montfort, who held Henry III. prisoner, was crushingly defeated by Prince Edward, and both he and his son Henry were killed, their bodies being buried in Evesham Abbey Church before the high-altar.
Town Plan No. 10—Tewkesbury.
TEWKESBURY
is the last place passed through on this extensive loop, and going in this direction one finds the best wine reserved to the last, for this exceptionally picturesque old town, with its solemn abbey church, surrounded by tall ancient trees, and the sweet green meadows, where Severn and Avon are only separated by a belt of level greensward, is one of those places that have a way of fixing themselves in the memory, even if one has never read Miss Mulock's 'John Halifax, Gentleman.' If one has done so, and remembers the descriptions of 'Norton Bury,' the old town will never be forgotten. One can hardly think of Tewkesbury without the dominating presence of its great Norman abbey church, but even without it the long street contains so many delightful sixteenth-century houses, each possessing individual charms, that the town would still make an irresistible appeal to all for whom the architecture of the vanished centuries has some message.