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.
[Illustration: St. Egwin's Church Honeybourne]
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.
THE END