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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13754-0.txt b/13754-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4df5002 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2050 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13754 *** + +EVESHAM + +WRITTEN AND +ILLUSTRATED BY +EDMUND H. NEW + + +LONDON: J.M. DENT & CO. +29 BEDFORD STREET + +NEW YORK: E.P. DUTTON CO. + +MDCCCCIV + +[Illustration: Bridge St. Evesham] + +DEDICATED +TO THE MEMORY OF + +_H.N._ +1820-1893 + +_D.N._ +1834-1901 + + +NOTE + +For the historical matter contained in the following pages the writer +is indebted mainly to George May's admirable history of the town +issued in 1845, a book which, since its publication, has been the +acknowledged authority on local history. + +To Mr. Oswald Knapp his thanks are especially due not only for +permission to make use of the series of articles, founded on the +monastic chronicles, which appeared some years ago in the _Evesham +Journal_, most of them under the title of "Evesham Episodes," but also +for much generous help and criticism. + + +CONTENTS + + I. INTRODUCTION + II. EVESHAM AND THE VALE + III. THE ABBEY + 1. THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY + 2. THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST. + 3. THE DISSOLUTION. + IV. THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY + V. THE PARISH CHURCHES + VI. THE TOWN--INCLUDING BENGEWORTH AND GREEN HILL + VII. THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM +VIII. CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS + IX. THE RIVER + X. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +_Bridge Street_ +_Evesham and Bredon Hill, from the Parks_ +_The Bell Tower_ +_The Gatehouse and Almonry_ +_Abbot Reginald's Gateway_ +_In the Market Place_ +_High Street_ +_The Bell Tower, from Bengeworth_ +_St. Egwin's, Honeybourne_ + + + + +Evesham + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +_Yonder lies our ... village--Art and Grace are less and less:_ +_Science grows and Beauty dwindles--roofs of slated hideousness!_ + + --LOCKSLEY HALL, SIXTY YEARS AFTER + + +Those who love with a deep reverence the work of their forefathers, +whether because of the character and beauty of their handiwork, or +from the historical associations which are indissolubly connected with +it, cannot but regard with pain and abhorrence any cause which tends +towards the demolition or destruction of the monuments of the past. To +these it is a significant and distressing fact that hardly any modern +English buildings or streets possess the qualities which give the +value and charm to the old cities, towns, and villages of which we are +the grateful inheritors. If any reader is inclined to doubt the truth +of this statement, or to consider the sentiment expressed extravagant +or groundless, let him consider the difference between the old towns +and the new. + +Evesham provides a typical and sufficiently striking instance of the +contrasted methods and results. Here there is hardly an old house +which has not a local and individual character. Many of them may be +plain, severely plain, some possibly ugly; but in each can be read by +all who will, a distinct and separate thought, or series of thoughts, +connecting the dwelling with its builders and owners, and with the +soil out of which it has sprung. + +As the varying undulations of the face of the country tell a plain +tale to the geologist, so the shape and materials of human habitations +tell their story to the student of architecture and the history of +man. + +The poet Wordsworth pointed out that one of the great charms of the +Lake country lay in the way in which the dwellings sprang out of the +hill side, as if a natural growth born of the requirements of the +peasant or farmer and the materials provided by nature. Throughout +England this was once the case; no two houses were precisely alike +because no two people had precisely the same ideas, wishes and +requirements; and the material was dictated by the stone or timber +provided by the district. Every building was in old times the +combined expression of the individual man and the _genius loci_. + +The timber cottages which are still to be found in the town tell of +the time when tracts of the original forest still lingered, and oak +was the cheapest material fit for building. Often the foundation of +the walls is of stone, and the earliest stone to be used was that +which could be had for the digging, the blue lias found in thin layers +embedded in the clay of which the vale is composed. In the back +streets which retain, as would be expected, more of their primitive +character than the more respectable thoroughfares, this blue stone has +been much used, and in the churches it can be seen in the earlier +parts making a very pretty wall with its thin horizontal lines. The +tower of the church of All Saints shows it to great advantage. + +Another stone is also employed, and one far better suited for +building, because it can be obtained in blocks of almost any size, and +carved with the utmost delicacy. This is oolite, the stone of which +the Bell Tower is built. From Norman times it was used in the more +important parts of the Abbey, as is shown in the foundations of the +great tower now exposed to view, and in Abbot Reginald's gateway. But +the oolite stone could not be got much nearer than Broadway, and what +was used by the monks in all probability came from the hill above +that village. In numerous old houses this stone is made use of, but in +almost all it must have come indirectly, having once formed part of +the structure of the monastic buildings, or perhaps of the castle +which for a short time flanked the bridge on the Bengeworth side of +the river. + +In the seventeenth century bricks came into fashion, and good clay for +their manufacture was amply provided by the neighbourhood. To the end +of the century belongs Dresden House in High Street, a fine example of +the style of William the Third's time, built by a wealthy lawyer, who +came to settle here, from the northern part of the county. Tower House +in Bridge Street, probably of later date, is beautiful in its +proportions and mouldings, the prominent lead spouts adding much to +the general design. Unfortunately to this fashion for formality and +brick-work, at a later period superseded by a covering of plaster, we +must attribute the demolition of the older fronts, generally of +timber, and often gabled and projecting, which gave such a pleasant +irregularity to our old streets. Though formal and lacking in artistic +qualities these Georgian screens have a certain historical value in +showing that our little town was prosperous through the century, and +able to support a decided air of respectability. But not without +reason do we deplore the change. + +The eighteenth century saw the beginning of the great development of +machinery, and in these Georgian house fronts, the productions of a +mechanical age, we see the deterioration of popular architecture. +Every line is rigid and without human feeling: the style, where any +exists, is exotic, not national or local; classical, not vernacular. +It is a learned importation, not a popular growth. The mason has +dwindled into an unreasoning tool in the hands of the architect; hence +the lack of personality, the absence of charm; and only in rare +instances has the architect proved himself capable of supplying those +qualities of design and proportion which to some slight degree +compensate for the loss of interest on the part of the craftsman. + +In almost all buildings the roof is a prominent feature. In Evesham +the old roofs are all made of oolite "slats," and as these are split +irregularly, we have tiles of various sizes and slightly varying in +shape. In roofing the plan was to place all the large tiles below, and +to decrease the size gradually towards the ridge, the result being +most pleasing to the eye. Besides the interest given by irregularity, +the delicate silver grey of the oolite roofs, varied with tints of +moss and lichen added by time, produces an effect unsurpassed by any +other form of roof covering. Even the clay tiles, introduced at a +later time, take their place when mellowed by sun and rain; and these +throw into unpleasant relief the modern glazed Staffordshire ware +which resists all softening influences. The Welsh slates, too, before +perfect mechanical regularity was obtained, made a pretty roofing, +though they, of course, have no local interest here. + +No one would wish to dwell long on the opposite side of the contrast. +We have already traced the beginning of the decline of domestic +architecture, and the present condition follows as a natural +development. In recent years the town has spread in every direction +that is possible. In the centre is the Evesham of the past, the +Evesham our forefathers built and our fathers knew. But it is +encircled by streets and houses which are not the product of the vale, +nor are they marked by any individual character. Rows upon rows of +dwellings, symmetrical, mechanical, and monotonous, can give no +pleasure to the eye, nor can the mind read in them any story save the +commercial enterprise of a commercial age. + +No one can note these differences without sometimes asking the cause +of this lamentable degradation in the character of the buildings which +compose our modern towns. They are many and complex, and too deeply +rooted in present-day commercialism for us even to hope for their +removal. Yet we may still turn to examples of individual effort +throughout the country and find satisfaction. Here and there are +houses possessing some of the finest qualities which have gone towards +making our ancient streets and cities; and here we have evidence that +beautiful building is still possible if we will but have it. It may be +claimed that even the streets we build are historical as our old towns +are historical; that they are the outcome of the age we live in. And +truly this is so; and for this very reason we must needs be patient if +we cannot be hopeful. + +But it is something to recognise the fact that we have in our old +buildings and streets records of unquestionable veracity, full of +character and meaning, and such as we are entirely unable, with all +our boasted advantages, to rival or even imitate. And more than this, +we have in most of the work that has been left to us examples of +craftsmanship, in every kind, which are invaluable as models of what +we once could do, and may do, under favourable conditions, again. + +Let us then guard this goodly heritage for ourselves and our children +with jealous care, trusting that in fulness of time their handiwork +may be not unworthy to stand beside the best that has been +accomplished in the past. These storied towns may then be with us +still to teach what no history book can tell, and to inspire us with +the spirit of emulation for those qualities which sleep with the +Genius of the Past. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EVESHAM AND THE VALE + +_Great Evesham's fertile glebe what tongue hath not extolled._ +_As though to her alone belonged the crown of gold_. + + --MICHAEL DRAYTON. + + +Evesham stands on a kind of peninsula formed by a deep loop of the +river Avon on its way from Stratford-on-Avon to Tewkesbury. The broad +vale in which it lies is enclosed by a semicircle of hills, which +provide a background to every varied landscape, and give a sense of +homeliness and seclusion which those who are familiar with unbroken +stretches of level country will at once recognise and appreciate. From +the east to the south-west range the Cotswolds, not striking in +outline but depending for their beauty in great part upon the play of +light and shade and the variety given by atmospheric effects. To +dwellers in the vale the appearance of the hills not only reflects the +feeling of the day but foretells the coming weather. When a delicate, +blue haze shrouds their forms, entirely obliterating the more distant +heights, the pleasure-seeker rests content in the promise of a fair +morn; but no pleasant expectations can be formed when, robed in +deepest purple, they seem to draw in and crowd together, and with +vastly increased bulk to frown upon the darkening vale. + +[Illustration: EVESHAM AND BREDON HILL FROM THE PARKS] + +At each end of the Cotswold range, as seen from Evesham, stands, +sentinel like, an isolated elevation, and in early times, as present +remains testify, both these were occupied as fortified posts. To the +east is Meon Hill, and to the south-west stands Bredon, the nearest +and most prominent of the group. In the south-east the position of +Broadway is decisively marked by its pseudo-Norman tower, and due +south the level outline ended by an abrupt escarpment to the eastward +is Cleeve Cloud, carrying the range on towards Cheltenham and Bristol. + +But the chief glory of the vale, so far as its background is +concerned, is the truly mountainous outline of the Malvern Hills, the +whole length of which is seen bounding the western horizon. The +breadth of the valley here is more than twenty miles from hill to +hill, and includes both the Severn and its tributary stream. To how +many does the thought of sunrise not recall this undulating range +illuminated and glorified by the clear beams of the early sun striking +across the vale and thrown back in glittering fragments by the long +line of houses at its base! And few more beautiful associations will +gather round the sunset than those in which Malvern plays its part, +the rocky skyline standing up sharp and clear against the +ever-changing brilliance. As we recall the scene the dazzling +effulgence fades into a glow, the glow diminishes almost imperceptibly +into twilight, and, as we watch, a line of twinkling lights becomes +visible beneath the hill, and one by one the stars appear in the +deepening sky. + +Northward there are no striking elevations, the ground sloping +gradually upward by the Lench Hills and the Ridge Way towards the +great central tableland; but opposite Malvern, continuing the horizon +to the north of Meon, can be seen, when the air is clear, beyond the +flat Stour valley, the outline of Edgehill, recalling as we gaze the +years of civil strife, full of terror and bloodshed, yet round which +Time has thrown his mantle of romance. + +So far we have been able to dwell on the broad features of the country +which it takes many ages to change or modify. From the earliest times +we can record the settlers on this chosen spot must have looked out on +the same hills and the same broad valley with its overarching sky. But +then, instead of the "crown of gold" of which Drayton sings, or the +silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face +of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and +forest trees. In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the +hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the +former character of this region. Only here and there was a clearing +with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and +hunters. In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow, +unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and +thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and overgrown with +rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific +in fish and fowl. + +During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and +is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not +bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages +of which we have knowledge. The site of the town was apparently +unoccupied by the Romans though their thoroughfares run not far +distant, and their camps are numerous on the neighbouring hills. Not +until Saxon times do we hear of this fertile peninsula being +inhabited, and then we are told by the chroniclers of a village called +Homme near this spot, the home of only a few peasants. Like many other +towns and cities, in England, Evesham is said to have had a monastic +origin, and for a long succession of years it is to the monastery +alone that she owes her existence and celebrity. The monastic +foundation dates from about A.D. 702, and from this time until the +Conquest we know little of the fortunes of the place. Access would +have been difficult in those days to so retired a spot protected on +three sides by a broad river, and though doubtless there was a ford +passable on horseback when the water was not in flood, yet until the +building of the bridge it must have been isolated indeed. More than +once we are told of ravages of the Danes. We know they penetrated far +into the country, and Evesham did not escape their vigilance. + +Side by side with the growth of the abbey the little village sprang +up, and gradually increased in importance. No doubt in times of stress +it was accustomed to look to that wealthy institution for succour. On +the Church the inhabitants would be dependent for all sacred rites and +the fulfilment of their spiritual needs; but occasionally we find them +waxing independent, and even defying the abbot himself. At best, +however, the fight must have been an unequal one, with wealth, +learning, and power on the one side, and poverty and ignorance on the +other. After an honourable career of eight hundred years the monastery +was overthrown. Even this great abbey, with its wealth and power and +integrity, was impotent to withstand the popular prejudice aroused by +the exposure of the degradation and vice prevailing in so many kindred +institutions, the greed of Henry VIII., and the ruthless energy of +Thomas Cromwell. In a few years it was swept away, leaving only a few +beautiful fragments to tell of its former grandeur. + +Evesham's next great claim to notice is as the field of the decisive +battle of 1265, ending in the defeat and death of Simon de Montfort, +and the allies still remaining faithful to their leader. This event, +we know, added much to the fame of the monastery, and reacted on the +town by bringing many pilgrims to the grave of that popular hero. The +tomb of the great Earl vied with, or exceeded in popularity, the many +sacred relics already enshrined in the abbey church. + +In early days, as has been pointed out, Evesham lay out of the common +beat; the Avon formed a _cul-de-sac_, and the main road from Worcester +to London and Oxford merely skirted the town, ascending Green Hill +from Chadbury, continuing its course by what is now known as Blayney's +Lane, and crossing the river by a ford or bridge at Offenham Ferry. In +consequence of the growing importance of the town, the road was +probably diverted to its present line. + +Although in pre-Reformation days the abbey dominated the town and the +abbot's will was practically law to the inhabitants, yet the townsmen +on the whole lived quite apart, doing their own work, managing their +own affairs, and enjoying themselves in their own way. The monastery, +too, was complete in itself, having its own staff of servants and +needing little, if any, outside help. The precincts of the abbey were +as entirely shut in with their high wall and strong gates, all +fortified in the Edwardian times, as any castle; and little of what +went on in this self-contained society would be known to the people +living without. It must be remembered also that the townsmen had their +own church, that of All Saints, and only on special occasions would +they be allowed entrance to the great church belonging to the monks. +It would seem that the second church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was +principally used by pilgrims, and this was connected with the monastic +buildings by a covered walk of stone. + +To Edward the Confessor we learn the town owed certain rights +connected with its market, and during the Middle Ages it was an +important centre for the trade of the district. On account of this +market, and from the fact that the greater part of the abbey lands lay +on the left bank of the river, it would seem probable that a bridge of +some kind was built quite early in the Middle Ages, if not before. In +monastic times there existed a Guildhall, which betokens of itself a +community of active citizens, and social and commercial organisation. +The education of the children was probably looked after by the monks, +and before the dissolution a grammar school was founded by the abbot. +In Merstow Green we have the public pasture and recreation ground. +When the parent abbey was removed, the town was quite able to take +care of itself: in the same century a new and more spacious Town Hall +and Market was built, suggesting that the old Booth Hall was +insufficient for the requirements of the time; and in the early years +of the reign of James I. a Royal Charter was granted to the +inhabitants in the name of Prince Henry, and the little town became a +corporate borough. + +In the seventeenth century a revolution was effected by the river +being rendered navigable from the Severn up to Stratford-on-Avon. +Wharves were built, and numerous barges plied their trade up and down +the stream. Through Stratford, Birmingham and the Midlands became +accessible for heavy traffic by canal. In this century the peaceful +vale is once more disturbed by the clang of arms. During the Civil War +Evesham was an important military post, on account of its position +between the Royalist cities of Worcester and Oxford, and the +engagement which took place here will be recounted in due order. + +No very notable events took place for many years; the gardening +industry flourished, the town retained its importance as an +agricultural trading centre, but progress was slow, and life free from +incident. But the change from those days of leisure to these in which +we live is great. Now the river has ceased to be utilised for +commerce: two railways connect the town with every other place of note +in the country, and the whole aspect of things is altered. The Evesham +of to-day is with us; over the past a glamour is spread. + +It may be that, even if we had the chance, we would not return to the +past, but over many of us few other studies exercise so great a +fascination as the contemplation of the "good old days" which are +gone. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ABBEY + +_Eoves here dwelt and was a swain,_ +_Wherefore men call this Eovesholme_. + + --LEGEND ON MONASTIC SEAL. + (_Modernised_.) + + +THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY + + +In the dim ages of antiquity, when the face of the country, now busy +and fertile, was one dense forest, with here and there a settlement of +dwellers in huts, tillers of the land, herdsmen, or hunters, there +lived near the spot now occupied by the thriving town of Evesham a +swineherd named Eoves. One day, we are told, a favourite sow was +missing, and her master hunted brake and briar, far and near, in +search of her. While on this errand he penetrated far into the depths +of the forest, when suddenly he was startled by a radiant light, in +which appeared three figures of women dazzling by their beauty. The +vision faded, and on the spot the joyful herdsman discovered his sow +with a litter of young. + +The news was soon noised abroad, and at length reached the ears of +Egwin, the Bishop of the diocese, at Worcester. Egwin inquired into +the matter, visited the place, and was himself rewarded by the +appearance of the three figures, whom he pronounced to be no other +than the Virgin Mary with two attendant angels. Moreover, he was +commanded by the Holy Virgin to build a church in that very place. The +Bishop, we know, built a church here, founded a monastery, and himself +became first abbot. These events occurred early in the eighth century. + +Egwin was a man of high connections and influence, and before long the +new institution was handsomely and sufficiently endowed. Ethelred, +King of Mercia, his nephew Kenred, who succeeded him, and Offa, King +of the East Saxons, being the chief donors. + +There is another picturesque legend concerning Egwin, which is +preserved in the coat-of-arms used by the monastery. It appears that +the prelate was falsely charged with certain offences, and to prove +his innocence he made a journey to Rome; but before setting off, he +fastened a chain and horselock to his ankle and threw the key into the +river Avon. On his arrival in the Holy City, a fish was caught by his +companions in whose belly the very key was found which had been cast +into the river before his departure! Another account relates that +the fish who had swallowed the key leapt on board before the +travellers reached their destination! The legend of the foundation of +the Abbey is engraved on the conventual seal in a series of scenes; +and we know it was also depicted in the glass of one of the large +windows in the church. + +[Illustration: The Bell Tower Evesham] + +How far the events of this early time are historical, how far +traditionary, or even mythical, it is impossible to say, but for many +years afterwards the record gives us merely the scanty information we +should expect. We hear of the depredations of the Danes, and the +destruction by them of the monastery, and later of discords and +dissensions between monks and canons; indeed, it is not until the +reign of Canute that the Benedictines gained complete and final +possession of the Abbey and its estates. The first church and +monastery were probably of wood. Later, in the Saxon period, stone +would have taken its place, but the form was no doubt primitive in the +extreme. The founder's tomb would be the principal treasure, but, as +time went on, other relics were acquired, and many shrines needed to +contain the precious remains. + +It was to King Canute that the monks owed the relics of Saint Wistan, +which held the place of honour in the church in mediæval days. They +were enclosed in a magnificent tomb erected behind the high altar, in +the position occupied by the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the +Abbey Church of Westminster. Soon afterwards we hear of the +acquisition by purchase of the body of Saint Odulf from some +travelling merchants, dealers in relics of sanctity, who, as will be +seen, had no right to have the remains of the saint in their +possession. + +Saint Wistan was a scion of the royal house of Mercia, heir to the +throne, and for a short period nominal monarch, but his nature was +more fitted for a religious than a political life, and he took little +part in the affairs of the state. In the year 849 he fell a victim to +the treachery of his cousin Britfard, a rival claimant to the kingdom. + +Saint Odulf was not an Englishman, his whole life having been spent at +the monasteries of Utrecht and Stavoren in the Netherlands. Several +miracles are recorded as having been worked by him both before and +after death. To the monastery of Stavoren, which he had founded, his +body belonged by right, but from here it was stolen and conveyed to +England. By unknown means it came into the hands of certain vendors of +holy wares, as related above, and from them it was purchased by Abbot +Aelfward, for something like a hundred pounds, about the year 1034. + +A curious story relating to the remains of this saint is told in the +monastic chronicles. Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, being +anxious to acquire some precious relic for purposes of her own, called +upon a number of the religious houses of England to send their +treasures to Gloucester, there to be inspected by her, and, among +others, the convent of Evesham sent the remains of Saint Odulf and +Saint Egwin. As the queen was examining the shrine of the former, she +was suddenly struck with a peculiar form of blindness, and not until +she had invoked the saint's intercession, and declared her intention +of restoring the sacred relics to the monks, did she regain her sight! + +Another interesting personality gained in a very different manner the +reverence, if not the worship, of the religious devotees of the time. +This was Saint Wulsy, a hermit of repute, who, we are told, lived for +seventy-five years a life of contemplation and seclusion. From +Crowland Abbey, his earlier home, Wulsy was led blindfolded, that he +might not be contaminated by the world, to Evesham, and near the +church he built with his own hands a chapel in honour of Saint Kenelm, +saint and martyr, with a cell adjoining, in which he spent the rest of +his life. + +In the reign of Edward the Confessor the church was rebuilt and +greatly enlarged by Abbot Mannie, noted as a skilful craftsman in gold +and silver; but even this must have seemed to the ambitious Norman +insignificant, and unworthy of its high purpose, for very soon after +the Conquest it was pulled down to make way for a much larger and more +dignified building. + + +THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST + + +William the Conqueror did not oust the prudent Abbot whom he found in +office at Evesham. A favourite at the court of Edward the Confessor, +Abbot Agelwy stood high also in Harold's regard, and was not only +unmolested when William took up the reins of power, but was appointed +to other offices of great trust and political importance. On his death +the abbacy was given to a Norman monk, Walter of Cerasia, and in his +time the great church of which some foundations still remain was +begun. The "wily Agelwy" had left "four chests of silver" towards this +reconstruction, but this was not enough to build even the crypt and +chancel, and we find Abbot Walter sending the chief treasures of the +monastery, namely, the shrines containing the relics of Saint Odulf +and Saint Egwin, round the country in charge of certain monks for the +collection of more funds. + +According to the monkish historian Saint Odulf refused to allow +himself to be used for this purpose, and after one experiment the +attempt was given up. The story goes that the shrine was carried to +Winchcomb and laid in the church there, with the intention of being +brought out next day into the market-place for exhibition, and +probably with the hope of some cures being effected. But when the +bearers tried to remove it from the church they could not with all +their strength raise it from the floor; so the sermon was preached +outside, a collection made, and the shrine (which now could be lifted +with perfect ease) brought home. The expedition with Saint Egwin was +quite successful, and a considerable sum of money collected towards +the building. + +As time went on the Monastery waxed in wealth and importance, and +succeeding abbots completed, furnished, and decorated the new church +planned by Abbot Walter. It had the usual choir, nave, central tower, +and transepts; and cloisters surrounded by monastic buildings. Those +who know the larger Norman churches of England will be able to form a +fairly correct impression of the church at this time; but it is +impossible to imagine truly the effect of the painted walls, arches +and columns, the rich monuments, shrines, and altars decorated with +fine embroideries, goldsmith's work, and jewellery; all illuminated +by windows of richly coloured glass. + +From time to time Abbots with a taste or genius for building added to +the structure. In the thirteenth century the central tower fell, and +this was in part rebuilt and the choir repaired by Marleberge, an +Abbot conspicuous by his ability, of whom we shall hear later. It was +Marleberge who helped to complete a bell tower, which also fell to the +ground not many years after, to be replaced by the beautiful campanile +which still remains. Although the great church of the Monastery was +the principal part of that institution, and on it was lavished all the +wealth and skill available, yet it was but a small part of the whole +group of buildings forming the "mitred Abbey" of Saint Mary and Saint +Egwin. Round the cloister were ranged the principal chambers +accommodating the abbot and the monks. Here were the chapter house in +which meetings of various kinds were held, the refectory where meals +were served and partaken of, the long dormitory where the monks slept, +and the scriptorium in which the writing and illuminating was done. +Round the outer courtyard, entered by the great gatehouse, which could +be defended in case of need, were other buildings, barns, stables, and +servants' quarters. Not far away was the hospital, and almost +adjoining the principal gatehouse was the Almonry where the poorer +guests were received and food served out to the needy. This building +exists at the present time, and it will be observed that it is not +enclosed within the boundary wall but is open on one side to the +public green. + +[Illustration: THE GATEHOUSE AND ALMONRY] + +The Monastery owned much land, mostly in the neighbourhood, and before +the dissolution the income through various channels has been +calculated at about eighty thousand pounds of our present money. Dr. +Jessop has described with wonderful realism the daily routine of the +Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided +him with some of his most valuable information. In addition to the +daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member +of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him. In a +well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time +permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening +and bowls both being favourite pastimes. Of course writing and +illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out +that in addition to the production of church service books, of music, +and educational work in connection with the school, "a small army of +writers" must have been needed in the "business department of the +scriptorium." The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed +with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the +monastery. + +Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most +part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are +not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham +contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants. The property did +not all lie in the near neighbourhood. In the fifteenth century the +Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery. At an earlier +period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this +wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a +religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea, +to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint +Benedict. This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey. + +Life in the Monastery of Evesham seems to have been sustained at a +high standard throughout its long career. If all the "religious +houses" had kept true to their vows and aims as that at Evesham did we +should no doubt have a very different story to tell. One abbot alone +appears to have been an exception to this general rule of good +conduct. This was Roger Norreys, a "dissolute monk" of Canterbury, who +was thrust upon the unwilling convent by Prince John when acting as +regent in King Richard's absence. After many years, and with much +difficulty, he was convicted "of seven or eight distinct offences" and +deposed. After the public exposure of his vicious life, and his unjust +and tyrannical rule, it is surprising that instead of being severely +punished he was sent to the cell of Penwortham and allowed to hold +office as Prior until his death. The story of the fight between the +convent, headed by Thomas de Marleberge, a clever and well educated +young monk who afterwards became abbot, and the wicked and shameless +Norreys, is related at full length in the chronicles which have come +down to us, written it would seem by Marleberge's own hand. The +scandalous behaviour of the Abbot and the neglected state of his house +was no secret, and the knowledge of it prompted the good bishop of +Worcester in an attempt to exceed his rights by visiting the Abbey in +order to inquire into the state of things existing there. In this act +he defeated his own ends, for the Abbot and monks immediately united +in common cause against so flagrant a breach of their privileges, +claiming, what was finally acceded to them, exemption from all +authority except that of Rome. The Abbot left the Monastery, and the +monks barricaded every entrance, so that when the bishop arrived he +was forced to encamp with his retinue upon the green outside the +walls. By the indiscretion of the bishop a legal point was raised upon +which the monks would by no means yield, preferring their present +miserable condition rather than allowing the slightest infringement of +what they believed to be their rights. The whole story, giving a +curious insight into the state of the country at that time, is too +long to relate here: an expensive and troublesome lawsuit followed, +which was carried from court to court in England and Rome, and was +finally settled some fifty years later in favour of the Monastery. + +The last of the abbots and one of the most striking figures on the +roll was Clement Lichfield. To him we owe much of the architectural +beauty of both the parish churches; and besides erecting the bell +tower he adorned the choir of the "great church," as it was called, +with perpendicular decoration. + + +THE DISSOLUTION + + +Philip Hawford cannot be counted on the list of abbots. After having +borne and yielded much, Lichfield resigned, and Hawford was appointed +in his place, merely that he might surrender his charge in due form to +the King, an act to which it was impossible for Abbot Lichfield to +condescend, Hawford afterwards became Dean of Worcester, and there in +the cathedral, in a recess behind the reredos, his effigy may still be +seen, in full abbatial vestments, mitre and staff. Abbot Lichfield was +allowed to retire to the manor house of Offenham, where he died in +1546, and was buried in the lovely chapel he had built in early life +on to the church of All Saints beneath the shelter of his own Abbey. + + * * * * * + +The story of the Monastery has now come to an end. In 1536 the lesser +priories and monasteries were suppressed, and we can well imagine the +tremor which this daring act of Henry must have sent through the +religious world. We can be sure the blow was unexpected by the monks +themselves. Only a few years before this Clement Lichfield had devoted +much labour and money to the decoration of the great church, and his +last work was the building of the tower which stands to this day. We +can never know whether the architectural additions which he made to +the parish churches were suggested by the suspicion that they might +survive that glorious edifice under whose shadow they reposed; but in +his later years of retirement surely we may believe that he +experienced a sorrowful gratification at the thought that some of his +work would remain for the admiration of future ages, and that his +mortal remains would lie in peace within the chapel which, in his +youth, he had planned and adorned. + +While Thomas Cromwell and his agents were engaged in their grim work +of destruction we can fancy how Rumour first made herself busy; how +the people talked of royal commissions and inquiries; tales would +reach them of priories and convents which were seized, and of monks +and nuns thrown upon the world. Messengers were seen to come and go, +and the great gatehouse of the Abbey was eagerly watched by the +curious and anxious townspeople. They talked from door to door, and in +clusters in the market-place, and on Merstow Green, from which the +precincts were entered. At last the blow fell! One by one the monks +filed out of their historic home in solemn procession, their heads +bent beneath a weight of misery they were hardly able to bear, though +not yet capable of realising the full meaning of the calamity which +had befallen them. It is true they were not sent into the world +entirely without means of subsistence; some who were in holy orders +had been appointed to livings by the Abbot and convent; to others +pensions were allowed, but what would this avail in their time of +sorrow! + +Then the grand pile of Gothic buildings was resigned to the King's +agents, and a great cloud hung over the little town. In a short time +the gorgeous shrines and altars were plundered and desecrated; the +buildings were sold; and before the eyes of the astonished inhabitants +tower and pinnacle, church and chapter-house, gatehouse and cloister, +fell a prey to the hand of the destroyer! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY + +"_... work, that stood inviolate_ + _When axe and hammer battered down the state_ + . . . . . . . . + _... the tall Belfry of the Abbey Gate_ + _Yet stands majestic, pinnacled, elate,_ + _And fills the Vale with music far and wide._" + + --HERBERT NEW. + + +The earliest architectural remains are the work of Norman abbots. The +most perfect relic of this period is Abbot Reginald's Gateway, now +leading from the market-place into the churchyard, which consists of +side walls both decorated with round arches and shafts. The building +above has been much "restored." As there are no signs of stone +groining, the superstructure was, in all probability, always of +timber, but the design of the arcades, and certain moulded arch stones +found embedded in the soil below would seem to point to the existence +in former times of two stone arches, one at each end, which would add +much to the strength of the building. This gateway stood in a line of +wall enclosing the monastic precincts and the outer yard in which +stand the parish churches, and stretching to the river eastwards and +westwards. The lower portions of the walls have recently been cleared +of earth and exposed to view. It will be noticed that the soil has +risen by gradual accumulation to a height of several feet above its +original level in the seven hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since the construction. In monastic times this gateway figured in the +important ceremony attending the installation of a new abbot. Before +entering the precincts of the monastery the destined prelate, +accompanied by his chaplains and personal following, halted in this +corner of the market-place, and after entering one of the adjoining +houses where his shoes were removed he proceeded barefoot into the +churchyard. The whole convent, duly accoutred, were in waiting, and as +soon as the new abbot appeared in the gate they emerged in ordered +procession from the north porch of the great church to meet him. After +various formalities he was solemnly escorted to the church, where +further important ceremonials were performed. + +[Illustration: ABBOT REGINALD'S GATEWAY] + +To the previous century may be assigned the bases of the substantial +piers which stood at the crossing of the nave and transept, and +supported the tower of the great church. These remains may be seen in +the excavated hollow a few steps from the southern side of bell tower. +The tower of the church was begun by Abbot Walter soon after the +Conquest, and there can be little doubt that these massive foundations +belong to his time. If we follow the line of wall to the south from +this point we come to an arch, bare on this side but elaborately +carved on the other with two rows of figures under canopies. This +archway was in the east walk of the cloisters, and gave entrance to a +vaulted passage connecting the cloisters with the chapter-house. +Though the figures have been considerably mutilated and weather-worn +it will be seen that the carving is of great beauty; the outer figures +are seated while the inner ones stand, and over both are placed +canopies of tabernacle work. We know this as the work of Abbot +Brokehampton, by whom it was erected early in the fourteenth century. +The bare face of the arch was originally hidden by the stone vault +forming the roof of the passage already referred to. The chapter-house +stood out in the field; but much farther, even to the edge of the bank +which slopes down to the monks' fish ponds, did the choir and Lady +chapel extend. + +As we retrace our steps we follow the line of the transepts. When we +reach the exposed foundations, let us pause awhile and allow our +imagination full sway. We are standing in the midst of the choir, in +the "dim religious light" of a great mediæval church. Above is the +"high embowed roof" of the central tower; around are the stalls set in +a screen of woodwork intricately carved. All is mellowed by the +"storied windows," which break the light into many coloured rays. +Looking westward, over the blank wall, we should see in vision the +tall rood screen and gallery, and, stretching far beyond, the long +vista of Norman arches and painted roof: and through the screen +glimpses would reach us of the many-coloured west window. Let us turn +round, and in place of sunlit trees and river conjure up the broad +flight of stone steps, the stately sanctuary above, with its glorious +reredos enriched with tabernacle work and carving, gold, silver, and +colours; and the clerestory lights shedding that sweet lustre we have +seen somewhere never to forget! + +The bell tower rising in solitary state beside us cannot wait for its +true chronological order. It is one of the few existing examples of +many separate belfries built to hold the bells either for convenience, +or in cases where the towers of the church were of insufficient +strength. As a rule these buildings were much broader and less +graceful in design. This tower has been critcised as "squat," but +considering its use it will be seen that a broad base is essential to +its character. In reality, it is remarkable how much delicacy and +grace have been given by form and proportion, without lessening the +strength or utility. The tower was built by Clement Lichfield in the +last years of his abbacy, and hardly finished at his resignation in +1539. That the builder and his local contemporaries were proud of this +last ornament to the town, is proved by the inscription on Lichfield's +grave, which concludes with the line "in whose time the new tower of +Evesham was built." + +The bell tower is indeed Evesham's chief glory, from some standpoints +her principal cause for pride. Unique in its character, it strikes +every beholder with surprise and pleasure in proportion to his +capacity for the appreciation of stately form and exquisite +workmanship. Built by the accomplished and learned Lichfield in the +pure perpendicular style, at a time when Gothic architecture was fast +sinking in its decline, it would seem to be, not only one of the +triumphs of mediæval art, but one of the very last efforts of a dying +tradition; in it we see embodied the lofty thought of one of our +noblest abbots. Though it has not witnessed the beginnings of the +conventual life, the early struggles, nor the palmy days of +monasticism, it forms a connecting link between the dim past and this +present time. It is, as it were, a monument perpetuating the memory of +a great period and a great institution. + +If the atmosphere be clear we should ascend the spiral staircase, and +from the summit, no great height indeed, we shall gain a view of the +town with the encircling river, and the vale with the surrounding +hills. The tower still performs its function, and every day the chimes +play a different tune, all familiar airs that never tire, but with +repetition seem rather to gain in association and charm. + +If we take the path from the tower which brings us to the left side of +Saint Lawrence's church, we skirt an old wall which bounded the great +courtyard of the Abbey, and joined the great church to the gate-house. +We soon come to a door of fifteenth century workmanship, and close by +is a curious Gothic chimney of about the same date. On the inner side +was the porter's lodge, and from here to the adjacent church of Saint +Lawrence ran a covered way, probably a vaulted passage like a cloister +walk, through which the officiating priest would enter. If we proceed +we soon find ourselves at the bottom of Vine Street, and looking +across Merstow Green; and over the house-tops, bounding the horizon we +see Clark's Hill, a steep bank on the opposite side of the river, +traditionally said to have been planted by the monks as a vineyard. On +our left is a large plastered building enclosed within substantial +iron railings. This was once the great gatehouse of the Monastery, and +was built in the fourteenth century by Abbot Chiriton, who obtained a +special licence from King Edward the Third to fortify the abbey +precincts. The windows and the wing projecting outwards are +comparatively modern, but a Gothic window may be seen in the wall +facing the churchyard, and the original arches can be traced on the +garden front. Close by, and possibly adjoining, was the Barton Gate +which led to the stables and outhouses. The long low building of +stone and timber, washed over in the old manner with lime, which rises +from the grass on our left was once the Almonry of the Abbey. It is +now occupied as offices and separate dwellings. The front is extremely +picturesque with its buttresses, perpendicular window and quaint +openings. The western portion, built mainly of timber, with here and +there the remains of carving, and a diaper imprinted on the plaster, +contains the great fireplace, clearly indicated on this side by the +mass of solid stonework. Turning the corner into Little Abbey Lane we +come to the yard at the back, and we may be allowed to view the +interior of the Almoner's kitchen, which still retains some of its +primitive character. From this apartment a passage runs through the +entire length of the building, and this was no doubt originally +continued, forming a communication with the main buildings of the +Monastery. In the corner of the courtyard, beneath a brick gable which +is mere modern patchwork, the passage takes an abrupt turn, and in the +angle is placed a curious "lantern" of stone, which, from its +character, may very probably be the work of the Gloucester school of +masons of the fifteenth century. The proper position and use of this +curious relic is only guessed at. The chambers below are said to have +served the purpose of a prison at one time, the prisoners' food being +placed in the lantern, and taken by the unfortunate inmates through +the hatch cut in the wall behind. The passage is continued from this +corner to the outer wall of the building where it abruptly terminates +in a screen of modern construction. If we go farther round this block +into the garden we shall come to another cottage, and in the front +room we may see a well-carved fireplace ornamented with five +quatrefoils. It is composed of the oolite stone used for all the finer +and more important work in the Monastery, but has been lately painted, +with unfortunate result. Beyond a partition is a beautifully carved +fragment which would seem to have formed part of an elaborate shrine +or chantry, but now serves as the lintel of the scullery window. +Overlooking the garden in which we stand as we leave the door is the +gable end of a plain rectangular building, now cottages, but formerly +the Abbot's stables. + +One more relic completes the list of the remains of the "late Abbey," +as Leland pathetically alludes to that important establishment. +Walking across the Green we see before us an old stone porch embattled +above, and behind it a plain building of two storeys. This was the +Grammar School of Abbot Lichfield, and his inscription over the door +may still be deciphered, "ORATE PRO ANIMA CLEMENTIS ABBAT." The +schoolhouse is of timber, and has been little altered, except that the +front is spoiled by the substitution of brick for wood and plaster; +the ornamental battlement on the porch is also of recent date. + +For more than a hundred years after the destruction of the noble pile +the site was used as a stone quarry, and fragments may be found in +almost all the older houses in the town, and in many farm buildings in +the neighbourhood. There is hardly an old garden near that has not +some carved stones of curious shape recognisable by the antiquary as +having once formed part of a shaft, a window, or an archway of the +proud Abbey. Of these scattered fragments the most important is the +lectern of alabaster, Romanesque in style, now, after long misuse and +neglect serving its original purpose in the church of Saint Egwin at +Norton, a village lying nearly three miles to the north of the town. A +description of this relic will be found in the last section of this +work. + +The local tradition of the splendour of the Monastery is no doubt +handed down to us by Thomas Habington, the antiquary, who visited the +town in 1640. "There was not to be found," he writes, with pardonable +exaggeration, "out of Oxford or Cambridge, so great an assemblage of +religious buildings in the kingdom"! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PARISH CHURCHES + + +The two parish churches, placed together in one yard, make with the +bell tower an unusually striking group. What then would be the +feelings aroused in the spectator were the great church, a cathedral +in magnitude and splendour, still visible, rising majestically above +roofs and spires. To us the Abbey which is gone can do no more than +add solemnity to the scene which once it graced. It matters little by +which entrance we approach the churchyard, for from every side the +buildings group harmoniously; each of the steeples acting as it were +as a foil to the other: and both the spires unite in adding dignity to +the bell tower. The churchyard in Norman times would seem to have been +part of the Abbey precincts, as it is enclosed within Abbot Reginald's +wall already described, and a second wall, part of which is still +standing, divided it from the Monastery and the monastic grounds. + +The Church of All Saints seems to have served, from very early times, +as the parish church. As we examine it we read, as in an ancient and +partly illegible manuscript, its long story. The restorer, more +ruthless than Age or Time, has, with the best intentions, laid his +heavy hand upon it, and obliterated much of its character and history; +but enough remains to interest us, though pleasure is now mingled with +much vain regret. In the simple Norman arch through which we pass as +we enter the nave, and perhaps the western wall with the small +round-headed windows, we find the earliest records. The slight tower +with its sharply-pointed windows and delicate spire was added, +probably supplanting an earlier and simple porch, in the time of the +Edwards. The arches and northern clerestory of the nave belong to a +rather later period when the church was found too narrow for the +increasing population; while the arches on the southern side with no +clerestory above, are probably later still. The choir and north wall +of the nave are the work of the restorer, and tell us nothing but a +tale of culpable neglect and mistaken zeal! The head of the north door +of the chancel is, however, a relic of the original building, and this +should be carefully examined. It is beautifully cut with double rows +of cusps, and is of fourteenth century workmanship. The latest Gothic +additions are the work of Clement Lichfield. To this Abbot we owe the +outer porch so deeply panelled, with its two entrance doorways, its +pierced battlements, and finely carved timber roof; to him also do we +breathe our thanks as we stand looking up at the lovely vaulting of +the Lichfield Chapel built by him in his younger days when Prior of +the Monastery. Here was Lichfield buried, and beneath the floor his +body lies; formerly a memorial brass engraved with effigy and +inscription marked the spot, but this has long since disappeared. The +inscription, however, can be read on a tablet lately erected by pious +hands to perpetuate his memory. Over the entrance we may still see the +initials of the builder carved upon an ornamental shield. The windows +are now filled with modern glass, not unworthily telling the +oft-repeated story of the "vanished Abbey." In the upper lights are +represented figures of the Virgin Mary, and of Eoves with his swine. +The shields on either side of the former figure bear the lily and the +rose; to the left of Eoves are the arms of the Borough of Evesham, and +on the right those attributed to the ancient Earls of Mercia. The +figures below show Saint Egwin, with the arms of the See of Worcester +to the left, those of the Monastery to the right; and Abbot Lichfield, +with his own arms (Lichfield alias Wych) on the left, and those of the +Rev. F.W. Holland, to whose memory the windows were glazed, oh the +right. In the west window of the chapel is Simon de Montfort, Earl of +Leicester, with the arms of de Montfort on the left, and those of +James the First, who granted the Borough its charter, on the right. +Above him is his opponent and conqueror, Prince Edward; to the left +his own arms as eldest son of the monarch, and to the right the +traditional arms of Edward the Confessor; who according to the Abbey +Chronicles first granted the town a market and the right of levying +tolls. In one of the carved panels below these windows is a variation +of the coat-of-arms of the Monastery. + +As we leave the church porch we shall notice the black and white house +adjoining Abbot Reginald's gateway on the right. This is now a private +house, but was until lately the Vicarage. The lower rooms have been +made to project to the level of the first floor, and the +picturesqueness given by an overhanging storey has thus been lost. In +one of these rooms is a large fifteenth-century fireplace of stone. + +The Church of Saint Lawrence has little to say to us of its history. +Though an old foundation the irregular western tower is the earliest +part now standing, and this is not older than the fourteenth or +fifteenth century; the rest of the church was built in Lichfield's +time, but after having lain in ruins for many years it underwent a +complete restoration towards the middle of last century, with the +result that much of the Gothic character is lost. The general plan of +the church with its panelled arcade and open clerestory is original, +but the northern side is modern, and compared with the old work hard +and lacking in feeling. The east window and the chapel now used as the +baptistery are both fine examples of perpendicular architecture and +worthy of careful study. The carved detail round the east window with +its playful treatment of flying buttresses, battlements, and pinnacles +is charming in its delicacy and proportion; and some of the detail is +almost as sharp as when it left the mason's hand four hundred years +ago. The chapel is, in its way, perfect, a complete vault of fan +tracery. The decayed condition of the broken canopies, once flanking +an altar, and which were the work of the same hands as the east +window, shows into what a dilapidated condition the church had fallen. +There was a corresponding chapel on the north side of the nave, but +this has been long demolished. The present font is an unsympathetic +copy of the old one, dating from the fifteenth century and still +preserved at Abbey Manor. Outside the tower on the north side, and set +on a level with the eye, should be noticed a carving of the +Crucifixion, much worn by weather and rough usage; but even yet may be +traced a master hand in the attitudes and proportion of the figures. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TOWN + +_The towne of Evesham is meetly large and well builded of tymbre ... +The market is very celebrate_.--LELAND, _circ._ 1540. + + +The town of Evesham consists, by reason of its insular position, of +only one thoroughfare. The river winds round enclosing it on three +sides, so that, there being but one bridge, there is no other outlet +except towards the north. There are four principal streets: High +Street, which was in all probability an extension of the "celebrate" +market along the Worcester and North Road; Vine Street and Bridge +Street, both skirting the boundary wall of the abbey precincts, and so +probably the oldest in their origin; and Port Street, the main +thoroughfare of Bengeworth, forming part of the London road beyond the +river bridge. High Street, Bridge Street, and Vine Street lead from +the Market Place, and here we will stand and look around. On the north +side is the "market-sted," "fayre and large" as when Leland viewed +it, but now converted to private uses. It is a fine example of Gothic +timber construction; but to think of it as it appeared to Leland's +admiring gaze, we must imagine the walls and partitions of the lower +storey cleared away, and fancy it supported only by massive pillars of +oak, roughly hewn and of great strength. Below was the market +sheltered from the rain, and such as may still be seen at Ledbury and +other places; and above were chambers devoted to the business of the +town, and presumably of the various guilds, of which little is now +known. + +About 1586 the "New Town Hall" was erected, probably of stone from the +ruins of the Abbey, on the west side of the square; but from this +point the older part of the building is entirely obscured by recent +additions, and to understand its first appearance we must walk round +it into Vine Street. The general plan, though the difference in +material necessitates changes in form, is much the same as in the +older Booth Hall, for by this name the older market hall is known. +There is the basement, open until lately and used as a market, and +above is the large hall, and the rooms for public business. The clock +turret and ornamented gable were added in commemoration of Queen +Victoria's Jubilee of 1887. Little else calls for notice, but the +group of timber gables in the corner near the churchyard will +certainly attract the eye by their picturesque grouping. The most +prominent of these gables is carved with a flowing design, and in the +upper angle can be seen a large T, and some smaller letters which have +not been deciphered. Above the chimneys rise the tower and spire of +All Saints Church. + +[Illustration: _In the_ Market Place, _Evesham_] + +The breadth of High Street may be accounted for by the supposition +that the roadsides in this direction were broad and grass-grown, and +used for the market, which was large and important. Indeed, until +quite lately, the fairs now carried on in a closed market were held in +the open street, the animals being penned up by hurdles. Bordering the +green sward houses would have sprung up to cater for the wants of the +farmers and drovers, and, as the town grew larger, a continuous line +of street would be formed, and the grass edge would naturally be paved +for cleanliness and convenience. The irregularity of the houses in +shape, size, and colour will at once strike the visitor. The primitive +timber has been almost entirely superseded by the more "respectable" +and secure brick front, but the interiors and the backs of the houses +show that the construction is often really of wood with a thin veneer +of old-fashioned respectability. High Street leads on to Green Hill, +now severed from the town by the railway, and becomes the main road +northwards. Near the end of the street, towards the railway stations, +is a building of stone and brick thinly coated with plaster, roofed +with stone tiles, and with a recessed porch and balcony. The railing +of the balcony especially should be noticed, being of unusual design, +and very likely the work of the local blacksmith more than two hundred +years ago. The name, Almswood, reminds us that here was once a wood +belonging to the office of the Almoner to the Abbey. On the same side +of the street, nearer the centre of the town, is another interesting +house. It is a mansion of brick, and in front are some very fine +railings fixed on a low wall of stone. The door, which is in the +middle of the front, is approached by wide steps, and over it is a +heavy canopy supported by wrought-iron brackets of decorated scroll +work. This house belonged to a certain Thomas Cookes, whose family +were large landowners in the neighbourhood of Tardebigg in the +northern part of the county, and was built by him in the time of King +William III. It contains a fine staircase, ornamental fireplaces, and +panelled walls. At the back is a paved yard enclosed by short wings, +and from here a stairway and tunnel lead under a narrow street into +what was once a large and beautiful garden. Though now sadly curtailed +and overlooked, enough is left to show what it must have been like in +former days. Beside the main path is a tall and well-cut sundial of +stone, with a weather-vane at the top pierced with the initials of +Robert Cookes, and the date 1720. At the end of the garden is a break +in the wall, formerly railed across, and flanked on either side by +tapering columns. This was a favourite device for obtaining a long +vista extending beyond the garden, and when it was constructed the +view over the meadows and river to Clark's Hill must have formed a +charming outlook. It is now obstructed and spoiled by a modern street. +In the farther corner of this old-fashioned garden is a tower of wood +known as the Temple, and at the back of this an external staircase +winds, giving access to the upper rooms, both curiously decorated with +carving and painting. There is little doubt that some of the woodwork +came from the Abbey. Facing this is an arbour formed of a huge +Jacobean mantel of carved oak, bearing in the centre the arms of the +Borough of Evesham. + +[Illustration: (High Street)] + +An eighteenth century romance attaches to this property. A young +doctor, skilful, extravagant, and presumably attractive, won the hand +of a Miss Cookes, who inherited the place from her father. After the +death of his wife this physician, Baylies by name, being deeply in +debt, and having mortgaged his property, disappeared. The house and +garden were taken possession of by one of the principal creditors, who +must have justified his claim, for the house long remained in his +family. The enterprising doctor was next heard of in Prussia, where he +became court physician and adviser to the Emperor Frederick the Great. + +Three old streets lead out of High Street. To the west, Magpie Lane +ends in the river meadows; and to the east, Swan Lane and Oat Street +reach the river at the Mill. + +Vine Street is little more than a continuation of the Market Place +towards Merstow Green; and its old name, Pig Market, shows that it was +used in the same manner. Here, again, many of the old houses have been +refronted, thus appearing of a much later date than they are in +reality. The Georgian dislike of gabled irregularity is once more +exemplified. But Vine Street is saved from becoming commonplace by the +low line of buildings at the end, still known as the Almonry, and over +which the Gatehouse, in spite of its dismantled and modernised state, +still seems to keep guard. + +Bridge Street is probably the most ancient of the streets. The houses +on the south side have gardens reaching to the Abbey walls, a position +which would add greatly to their security in early times, and the +narrowness of the roadway also goes towards proving its antiquity. +This must have been the most frequented thoroughfare, leading as it +did in old times to the ford, and afterwards to the bridge and the +Abbot's mill beside it. Here were the oldest inns; and though all the +house-fronts have been sadly modernised, either by the insertion of +huge plateglass windows or in some less defensible manner, yet the eye +still passes with pleasure from house to house, and the effect of the +irregularity, heightened by the contrast of light and shade, is +picturesque in the extreme. + +Starting at the top we have on one side the old Booth Hall already +described. On this side the bay windows projecting from the level of +the first floor add much to the quaint effect. Almost opposite is "The +Alley" continuing one side of High Street into Bridge Street and the +Market Place. As seen from the High Street side this narrow passage +between the shops retains much of its old character, and the windows +with their wooden frames and mullions are worth notice. The house on +the left next to the Bank with its prominent bay windows was at one +time the town house of a family named Langstone, and it was here that +King Charles the First stayed and held his "Court" in 1644. Almost +opposite is a stately front of brick dating from the next century, of +elegant proportions and with well-designed spouts. Further down on the +right side is a much renovated gabled building of timber, possessing +a fine doorway of the fifteenth century with its massive door and +wrought-iron hinges intact. Almost next door is "The Crown," one of +the old coaching inns with the courtyard opening on the street. At one +time an open gallery ran round the first floor, and traces of this may +be seen on the further side. A little above the old house we have just +noticed was the White Hart Inn, the most celebrated house when country +inns were in their prime. It is now in the occupation of a market +gardener and has been much altered, but some of the passages and rooms +are still to be seen in the back premises. An amusing story connected +with the White Hart Inn has been revived by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, +who by means of it has endeavoured to explain the line in "Troilus and +Cressida." "The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break." The +anecdote is related by Robert Armin, who claims to have been an +eye-witness of the incident; and this would seem probable, as the +local touches are correct and Armin was for some time a member of the +company alluded to. It is to be found in a work entitled, _Foole Vpon +Foole, or Sixte Sortes of Sottes_, published in 1605, and re-edited +and issued, with the author's name attached, in 1608, as _A Nest of +Ninnies_. The fool referred to in the line quoted above is suspected +to be not merely the imaginary representative of a type but the +popular local Fool of Shakespeare's time, a fellow of brilliant parts, +but eccentric, and, we must suppose, lacking in balance and common +sense. We are told that one winter Lord Chandos's players visited +Evesham, and Jack Miller, our Fool, became greatly attached to the +company and in particular to Grumball the clown; indeed, so greatly +was he enamoured that he "swore he would goe all the world over with +Grumball." The townspeople being loth to lose so popular a character, +Jack was locked in a room at the back of the White Hart Inn from which +he could see the players journeying on their way to Pershore, their +next stage, by the road on the farther side of the river. With +difficulty he contrived to escape by the window, and ran down to the +water's edge. The stream, says our author, "was frozen over thinely," +but Miller "makes no more adoe, but venters over the haven, which is +by the long bridge, as I gesse some forty yards over; yet he made +nothing of it, but my hart aked when my eares heard the ise crack all +the way. When he was come unto me," continues Armin, "I was amazed, +and tooke up a brick-bat, which lay there by, and threw it, which no +sooner fell upon the ise but it burst. Was not this strange that a +foole of thirty yeeres was borne of that ise which would not endure +the fall of a brick-bat?"! The fact that Robert Armin and William +Shakespeare were fellow-actors at the Globe Theatre lends probability +to Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' elucidation. + +Continuing our way beyond the Crown Hotel we see on our right, below +the level of the street, a quaint row of gables with little shops +below quite unchanged by the present conditions of trade. Passing +onward towards the bridge we shall see to the best advantage the full +effect of this most picturesque of streets. + +Alas! that modern enterprise and modern requirements should have +demanded the removal of such a bridge as fifty years ago spanned the +stream in eight irregular arches. Here we have convenience, but will +this condone for the charm of picturesqueness and long association? We +cannot but mourn over the loss. From the bridge we look up the river +to the weir, mill and water-meadows. On the right, by the yard not far +up the stream, stood, in the troublous reign of King Stephen a castle; +and from this fortress William de Beauchamp sallied forth, forcibly +entered the Abbey, and carried away the goods of the Church. But an +abbot in those days was quite equal to meeting a hereditary sheriff on +his own ground. Abbot William de Andeville descended on the castle, +took it, razed it to the ground, and consecrated the site as a +cemetery; no vestige of either castle or cemetery now remains. Old +Bengeworth is hardly more than one long street, and there is little +now to claim our attention. On the right side of the street, set back +behind some iron railings, is a school founded early in the eighteenth +century by John Deacle, a man of humble origin and a native of +Bengeworth, who, moving to London became a wealthy woollen draper with +a shop in Saint Paul's churchyard, and finally an Alderman of the +City. In the new church is his tomb with an elaborate effigy in the +costume of the period. Passing up the street we should turn before +coming to the Talbot Inn and look back: from this point the irregular +houses and roofs with the Bell Tower rising beyond make an attractive +vignette. The old churchyard can be seen behind the Talbot Inn. The +church is gone in favour of the modern and "handsome" structure which +we saw before us as we turned out of the main street. Here are only +the graves and the base of the old tower. Opposite the remains of the +tower is an old stone house, once the manor, where a little chapel can +still be seen in an upper room. Except the monument to John Deacle +there is nothing in the new church to call forth our interest. + +[Illustration: THE BELL TOWER FROM BENGEWORTH] + +By pursuing our way past the old burial-ground, and taking the turn to +the right we find ourselves in Cooper's Lane, associated with a family +long connected with the borough. To our left is a pretty cottage, and +beyond, seen among the trees but with outhouses abutting on the road, +is the Mansion House, still retaining in every feature that old-world +sense of remoteness and repose so precious in these days; like a +backwater of a rapid river, lying unmoved while the stream of life +rushes vociferously by; a veritable "haunt of ancient peace." + +The lane leads us into the Cheltenham Road, and we should turn into +the public Pleasure Grounds, or, better still, walk a few steps +farther along the road, until we have passed them, in order to see the +true situation chosen by the monks for their church and +dwelling-place. + +How dignified does the Bell Tower appear, with the twin spires, rising +from the summit of the bank, above the willows which edge the fish +ponds! And below in the smooth waters their image is reflected, broken +and clear at intervals. All the morning does the sun glorify the +scene, and beneath its intense rays the towers gleam white against the +blue heavens. Every third hour the bells in Lichfield's tower play an +old tune fraught with sweet memories. The horses browse in the meadows +or stand beneath the shade of the tall elms. Often a brightly-coloured +caravan is to be seen encamped near the ponds, and beside it a fire +which sends a faint cloud of blue smoke up against the dark green of +the foliage. Out come the children to play on the green slope, to fish +in the ponds or gather flowers in the meadow below. An old barge, +perhaps, lies under the bank, towed up with much labour from the +Severn. Pleasure boats pass now and again, disturbing the water and +breaking the reflections into a thousand fragments. Evening comes on; +the sun declines, and the face of the tower is dark against the +glittering beams; the water receives the glow and reflects the +radiance. Tower, spires, trees and landscape assume one sombre hue; +clear cut against the sky their forms appear; and, as night falls, the +single deep-toned bell rings out the "Curfew" across the silent vale. + +Though lying outside the town, and separated from it by the railway, +Green Hill is included within the limits of the borough, and forms +part of the Evesham parishes. The hill is memorable on account of the +well-known battle, described in the next chapter, in which Prince +Edward gained the victory over Simon de Montfort, thus concluding the +Barons' War. The exact site of the encounter is not known, but +tradition points to a spot in the Abbey Manor grounds called +Battlewell, on which it is averred de Montfort was slain; and the +fight probably extended over a great part of the level plateau on both +sides of the present main road. + +Unfortunately Battlewell lies in private grounds, but the position may +be seen from Clark's Hill. It lies a hundred yards to the left of the +road nearly opposite a pretty thatched lodge, but cannot be seen from +the highway. + +Just beyond is a double cottage dividing the road into two, and on the +right is a shady lane. This is Blayney's Lane, and, as already +mentioned, it was once the London road; by pursuing it we come to the +river meadows and Offenham Ferry. The main road runs straight on, and +leads, through the village of Norton, to Alcester, Stratford, +Birmingham, &c. The way to the left is the old Worcester road, and +skirts the grounds of the Abbey Manor. If we take this lane and +descend the hill we may turn sharply to the left near the bottom and +return to the town by the "New Road"; or walk on a short distance with +Wood Norton--the Duke of Orleans' house--on its wooded slope, in full +view, and follow a lane on the left leading to Chadbury Mill. + +The Abbey Manor, with its pretty grounds, is not open to the public. +In addition to the beautiful views obtained from its walks and lawns +it contains many treasures of local interest. Chief among these are +fragments of columns, window tracery, sculpture, and other relics +brought by an ancestor of the present owner, a noted antiquary, from +the site of the Monastery. Here are carefully preserved a splendid +abbatial chair richly carved and of great size, bearing the monastic +arms, and in remarkable preservation; also two quaint effigies of men +in plate armour fashioned in solid oak about three-quarters of the +size of life. These figures stood on the face of the belfry tower, +and, by turning on a pivot, struck the hours; they are in all +probability coeval with that building. + +In one of the shrubberies, hidden from public view, is an obelisk +commemorating the fall of Simon de Montfort, and in the plantation +near the lower road is a tower, like the house denoting the period of +the late Georgian Gothic revival, and bearing the name of the Earl of +Leicester. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM + + _When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,_ + _Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;_ + _A leader of courage undaunted was hee,_ + _And oft-times he made their enemyes flee._ + + _At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine_ + _The barons were routed and Montfort was slaine._ + + --THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN. + + +One of the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin at +Evesham was the tomb of the great and popular hero Simon de Montfort. +Such tombs were a source of much profit to the ecclesiastical +institutions of those days. Hither pilgrims flocked in great numbers, +particularly on the day specially devoted to the memory of the saint +or martyr, and offerings were made proportionate to the wealth of the +devotee. Not only was it supposed that spiritual advantages could be +gained by devotion at these holy places, but cures innumerable were +believed to have been worked through the intercession of the departed +spirit. Hence the great monasteries often partook of the nature of our +present-day hospitals, "the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" +thronging thither; and, if at first unsuccessful, trying shrine after +shrine in the hope of eventual restoration to health. + +Though de Montfort was not canonised as a saint and martyr, yet he +appears to have been regarded in such a light by the common people, +and among the archives of the Monastery was preserved a long list of +accredited cures and miracles reported to have been worked at his +tomb. + +It was on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th, 1265, that the memorable +battle, ending in the death of Simon de Montfort, was fought. Earl +Simon was travelling on the previous day from the neighbourhood of +Worcester to join his eldest son, also named Simon, at Kenilworth. +With the Earl was King Henry the Third as prisoner or hostage, and on +the night of Monday, the 3rd of August, the Earl and his retinue were +received as guests in the Abbey, his army being quartered or encamping +in the town. + +Prince Edward, King Henry's eldest son, was in the neighbourhood with +a large army, but his movements for some days past were unknown to de +Montfort. On the Saturday before the arrival of the Barons' army at +Evesham the Prince had surprised the younger Simon at Kenilworth, +killed or taken as prisoners the greater part of his army, and seized +all the baggage and standards. The same day he had returned to +Worcester and joined the Earl of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer, both +leading considerable forces. + +Thus we see the Earl, with his adherents, resting at Evesham, +unconscious of the fact that, unaided, he must soon face three +powerful foes. Next day saw his fate decided. + +Early on Tuesday morning all was stir and bustle in the Monastery and +in the little town. The troops were preparing to depart at daybreak +towards Kenilworth, where father and son were to meet and arrange +their future tactics. In the early dawn Nicholas, the Earl's barber, +ascended one of the towers of the Abbey, and, gazing northwards, over +Green Hill he descried soldiers bearing standards which were evidently +those of the younger Simon. For a few moments joy prevailed at the +thought of so happy a meeting; but this feeling soon gave place to +anxiety and dread. Closer examination showed that though the standards +were those of the Earl's son the soldiers who carried them were not +Simon's but Prince Edward's followers. In a moment all was clear: the +younger Simon had been defeated, perhaps slain, and de Montfort must +fight single-handed or yield his cause ingloriously. Retreat over the +bridge by which the army had entered the town was useless, for soon +it became known that Roger Mortimer was following the route the barons +had taken the day before, and would soon be on their rear. With the +river on both sides of them, and both ways blocked by enemies, two +alternatives alone presented themselves, to fight or to yield. To add +to the hopelessness of their position the Earl of Gloucester, with his +army, was now joining Prince Edward by the upper Worcester road. De +Montfort knew that against such odds the fight would be a hopeless +one, and urged his supporters to flee while there was yet time, and +not to lose their lives in an unavailing struggle; but none would +desert their leader in the hour of peril. "Then," exclaimed the Earl, +"may the Lord have mercy on our souls for our bodies are in the power +of our enemies." + + * * * * * + +It is recorded that on this fatal Tuesday all the elements seemed to +unite in adding horror to the scene of carnage. Shortly before this a +great comet had made men fear and wonder; and now, on this morning the +sky was overcast with such dense clouds that the land was in darkness; +so black were the heavens that nothing like it had been known within +the memory of man. A violent tempest, with a deluge of rain and +terrific thunder and lightning, swept over the country. The terrified +monks could not see their books as they chanted the Psalms in the +darkened choir, and as they sat in the refectory they could not tell +what food lay upon their trenchers. + +Meanwhile the battle raged on the hill above the town; desperately the +barons fought, but, one by one, they fell overpowered by numbers. +Though the earl was sixty-five years of age he fought "stoutly, like a +giant, for the liberties of England" to the end. + +We will not dwell on the horror of the battle. Popular tradition still +points to the spot where the great leader was slain, and there, beside +a spring called Battlewell, was placed a sacred rood. Two young de +Montforts fell by their father's side, and many barons, knights, and +common soldiers; but few fled. The stragglers from the defeated army +were, many of them, slaughtered, as they attempted their escape; and +by Offenham Ferry, where in those times probably stood a bridge, there +is a meadow, once an island, which to this day bears the name of +"Deadman's Ait." The chroniclers tell of the shameful mutilation of +the earl's corpse, and how the limbs were distributed through the +country, but the dismembered body was buried reverently by the monks +in the most sacred part of their church, even before the High Altar. +The severed hands were sent by a servant to the wife of Roger +Mortimer, at Wigmore Castle in Shropshire. They arrived, so says the +legend, while the Mass was being celebrated, and, at the raising of +the Host, they were seen, before the bag containing them was opened, +clasped in the attitude of prayer above the head of the messenger. In +fear and trembling, Lady Mortimer returned the bloody trophy. + +Prince Edward himself attended the funeral of Henry de Montfort, his +cousin and friend, in the Abbey church. + +"Such," sings Robert of Gloucester, "was the murder of Evesham, for +battle none it was." + +As in the case of other national heroes of old times, popular fancy +was allowed to play unfettered round the memory of this noble family. +In the well-known ballad preserved by Bishop Percy, of "The Beggar's +Daughter of Bednall Green," it is imagined that Henry de Montfort was +rescued at night from the field of battle while still living, by "a +baron's faire daughter," in search of her father's body; that she +nursed him, and that, on his recovery they married, their daughter +being "prettye Bessee." + +The miracles we read of, and to which reference has been made, are +many and varied. For some time the fear of royal censure and +punishment prevented cures being openly attributed to "Saint Simon," +but it was not long before the fame of his healing power spread, and +persons were brought from all parts of the country to "be measured by" +Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as +simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a +cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to +meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal. + +The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at +the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be +cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the +battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power +not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around +that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be +slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes +on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast, +personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of +the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or +incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the +"judgements" may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the +manners of some of the clergy of that date. + +A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and +by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish +the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I +reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a +servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in +chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise +abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from +the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict." + +In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife, +whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet +Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit +"Saint Simon's" relics. + +For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a +paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe +the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed +"saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:-- + + "Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious! + Noblest flower of chivalry! + O'er the pains of death victorious, + England's saviour, praise to thee. + More than all the saints in story, + Ere they gained their rest in glory, + Thou of cruel wrongs hast borne; + Foully foes thy corpse insulted, + O'er thy head and limbs exulted + From thy mangled body torn. + Once of wrongs the great redresser + Be thou now our intercessor, + Pray for us with God on high." + +"Pray for us, blessed Simon, that we may be made worthy to obtain the +promises of Christ." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS + +"_Who was he that went out from the command at Gloucester in such a +blaze, to adde glory unto conquest, and crown hit actions with a +never-dying honour, when he took the strong garrisoned Evesham in a +storme of fire and leaden haile; the loss whereof did make a king shed +tears? Was it not Massey_?" + + --CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLET. + + +Once more the peaceful vale was destined to become a field of battle. +At an early stage in the conflict between King and people Evesham was +fortified and garrisoned by the Royal party, and Samuel Sandys was +appointed military governor. The exact nature of the fortifications we +cannot exactly know, but it is certain they were complete, and +sufficient to withstand a siege if properly manned. A ditch, and +rampart of earth surmounted by timber palisades was the probable form +of defence, but no signs of such earthworks now remain, and the +position of them is unknown. + +King Charles paid his first visit early in July, 1644, and he is said +to have stayed in what was at that time a large house, probably +gabled, with projecting bay windows, on the north side of Bridge +Street. This mansion, for it was no less though now divided into +shops, was the town house of the Langstones, an influential family in +the neighbourhood. Here the King remained two nights, and from "our +Court at Evesham" he despatched a conciliatory message "To the Lords +and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster." + +Sir William Waller, the Parliamentary general, was hanging in the rear +of the royal army, and so without more delay the King moved towards +Worcester, taking with him the garrison, guns, and ammunition. Before +leaving, the army partly destroyed the outworks and rendered the +bridge over the river impassable. The townspeople were evidently more +in sympathy with the Roundheads than the Cavaliers, for on the +departure of the royal forces they immediately repaired the bridge, +and Waller entered and remained some days before following the chase. + +A week later the King returned, on his way back to the loyal city of +Oxford, much to the dismay of the inhabitants. For their rebellious +behaviour a fine of two hundred pounds was imposed on the borough, and +in addition to this they were forced to provide the royal army with a +thousand pairs of shoes. + +A year later we find the King once more passing through Evesham. This +time he left a garrison in charge of the town under Colonel Legge. But +Evesham was too important a place in this conflict, being a connecting +link between the "loyal cities" of Worcester and Oxford, to be left in +the hands of the King's party unchallenged. Almost immediately, in the +same month of May, 1645, Colonel Massey, Governor of Gloucester, with +a troop of horse and foot collected from the neighbouring counties, +attacked the town, and after vainly calling upon Colonel Legge to +yield, they assailed the fortifications at the bridge and in five +other places at the same time. After a short but hard fought encounter +the Royalists surrendered, and until the end of the struggle Evesham +remained in the hands of the Parliament. + +On the 29th of May the House of Commons ordered the Speaker to convey +their thanks to the colonel and his officers in acknowledgment of +their great service. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RIVER + + _There is a willow grows aslant a brook,_ + _That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;_ + _There with fantastic garlands did she come,_ + _Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples._ + + --SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet. + + +In tracing the history of our little town from its origin it has often +been observed how important a part has been played in its fortunes by +the river that flows through and partly encircles it. It is to the +river that the town owes its position, and its very existence probably +depended upon the advantages which the stream provided. To the early +settlers a good supply of water and natural means of protection were +necessary to life, and both these were offered by this narrow tongue +of land. + +For a long period the river was of little use for traffic, and not +until the seventeenth century was it made properly navigable. Now, +through the neglect of the owners of the navigation rights, it is once +more reverting in places to its primitive character. From Evesham to +Tewkesbury the stream is still in good order, but for a short +distance only towards Stratford-on-Avon. + +Apart from the fascination exercised on the mind by the ever changing +surface of water, varied and rippled by motion and by wind, the beauty +of this river is mainly due to the delicate and varied foliage of the +willows and other trees which grow freely beside it, the luxuriant +growth of flowers along its banks--"of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, +and long purples"--and the variety of blossoming water plants. Few +trees are more graceful than the willow when a slight breeze fans its +branches, mingling the "hoar leaves" with the grey green of the upper +side of the foliage; and many, before and since Shakespeare, have +preserved in the "inward eye" such a vision, reflected in "the glassy +stream" or more usually in the slightly ruffled surface below. The +level meadows, or sloping banks, which skirt the stream have a quiet +charm, and beautiful indeed are they in June, when thickly carpetted +with buttercups and ox-eye daisies. At almost every turn rise the blue +hills, completing the landscape and throwing the sunny meadows into +relief. + +We can hardly realise to ourselves the protective value of the river +in old times without rowing both up and down the stream for a mile or +more. Above the town, before reaching the railway bridge we should +look back and notice how steeply the land rises from the river on this +side. On the margin is the mill, and above are the houses, roof over +roof, descending again in steps to the river bridge. At the top is the +Bell Tower, and the church spires are seen near it. From the railway +embankment, or the higher ground beyond, the best picture which the +town affords is to be seen. Below us winds the river, and over the +meadows on an eminence is the cluster of houses forming the town; as a +background we have Bredon Hill, delicately outlined, or dark blue as +if overhanging the vale. + +Beyond the bridge we soon come to a picturesquely-situated farmhouse, +standing on a steep bank, and looking down upon the meadows. This is +the Parks Farm, and all the fields on this side bordering the river +were once the deer park of the great Abbey. Presently we reach +Offenham Ferry, while a little beyond, set back behind willow trees +and plough-land, is the village; and we soon catch sight of the old +church tower peering over the bank. At the further extremity of the +village, quite near the bank, is the "Court" farm, once protected by a +moat fed by the river, and used by the Evesham Abbots as a country +retreat. Hither Clement Lichfield, the last Abbot, retired on his +resignation, and here he probably died. + +The village of Offenham is peculiar in lying away from any main road, +and this gives it an air of repose and antiquity, which is pleasant in +these days. Whether the place owes its name to Offa, King of Mercia, +is an open question, but according to tradition this monarch owned +land and had a palace here, the site of which is pointed out by the +villagers. + +Beside the ferry we have passed there was in old times a bridge, and +still, when the water is very low, the solid foundations of the piers +may be seen with pointed buttresses facing up and down the stream. +When this bridge was destroyed no one can tell; but once upon a time +the road from Worcester to London came over Green Hill, and leaving +Evesham more than a mile to the south, descended the steep hill where +now a grass-grown track marks its course, crossing the river by this +bridge. The farm on the right bank is known by the name of Twyford, +and so we guess that the creek which leaves the main stream a little +way above the ferry once continued its course, forming an island with +a ford on either side. Deadman's Ait is the traditional name of this +island field, and it is supposed some of the stragglers from the +battle of 1265 were slain here while attempting to escape by the ford +or bridge. + +The irregularity of the river banks, now nearly level with the water, +sloping gently upwards, or steep and at times almost precipitous, is +much marked as we proceed on our way up the stream. After passing some +gardens, and a steep bank overgrown with gorse, the sluggish stream +quickens its pace, and we soon reach an abrupt turn where the current +is met by an unyielding wall of lias. Under the bare limestone the +water is deep and rushes swiftly, but above, the bank is covered with +tangled growth of blackberry and wild clematis, and in spring the +ground beneath the trees is blue with hyacinths. This sudden turn is +Norton Corner, and though no signs of that village can be seen it +stands hardly a mile away over the ridge of fields. The whole course +we have come may be followed on foot by the old tow-path from the +mill. From this point, after crossing the railway, a farm road will +take us to the end of the village; or we may take the footpath through +the arch beneath the line that we passed a few hundred yards further +down. + +After leaving Norton Corner by boat, the river, for a space slow and +easy, soon becomes swift, and as we approach the ruins of an old lock +the passage is attended with difficulties by reason of the shallow +water and the stony bed. If we successfully pass these rapids and gain +the next mill further progress is easy, but the mill can only be +passed by lifting the boat over the steep weir. On the way we pass +the old Fish and Anchor Inn, and a new ford calculated rather for the +convenience of vehicles than of boating parties. From the "Fish and +Anchor" we may ascend the long ridge of Cleeve Bank, and command a +fine view of the valley and the winding of the stream below. +Harvington Mill is at our feet, and the spire of the village church is +visible beyond; further up the stream, some distance beyond the +hanging wood, is Cleeve Mill, one of the prettiest spots on the river. +The village of Cleeve Prior lies behind the bank, and there may be +seen, besides the picturesque cottages and church, the old Manor, now +a farmhouse, with a quaint avenue of box, elaborately clipped, leading +to the front door. Over the fields on the further bank are the +Salfords, and among the trees the curved gables of a fine old Jacobean +mansion may be distinguished. The next place of interest on the stream +is Bidford with its many arched bridge of mediæval date. + +If we follow the downward course of the Avon we find ourselves making +a circuit of the town; for a considerable distance the Bell Tower does +not leave us but seems to follow our boat, and ever and anon it +reappears over the meadows and among the trees on our right hand. +Hampton Church stands on rising ground, among the trees, on our left, +and soon we are at Hampton Ferry. If we prefer the walk we can take a +footpath by the bridge or the Bell Tower, and follow the winding +stream to this point. According to the old chronicles a church was +built at Hampton, in the reign of Canute, by Leofric and Godiva, so +well known in the regions of romance, and they gave land here to the +Abbey. The church we see was built and rebuilt by the Monastery, but +whether on the ancient site we know not. It is a small but beautiful +example of perpendicular architecture, and with the dark spreading yew +tree, the remains of the old cross, and the delicately weathered +tombstones, it makes a picture upon which the eye dwells with calm +satisfaction. + +The hill above the ferry is Clark's Hill, and the bank we are told was +terraced by the monks of old as a vineyard. Whether tradition is true +to facts we cannot surely say; a field beyond the ridge still bears +the name of the vineyard, and this may have been the actual site. The +ascent of the steep bank is rewarded on a clear day by the splendid +panorama which lies around. From the terrace walk we look down upon +the town, noticing with regret the predominating hues of brick and +slate which mark the modern suburbs; but the old tower, the churches, +and the gatehouse, despoiled but yet dignified, unconsciously hold +the eye. The old wall of the Abbey precincts ended here at the river, +and beside it runs Boat Lane, which would bring us out on the Green. + +Looking down the stream, over the railway bridges, we see Green Hill, +with the Abbey Manor and its grounds the most prominent feature. At +some little distance to the right of the house is a grassy comb, and +at the upper end is the spring to which legend points as the spot +where Simon de Montfort was slain, and which still bears the name +Battlewell. + +Stretched around us are the Cotswolds, and if we take a path, or lane, +leading over the hill westward we may, from the brow, behold Malvern's +rugged length and the isolated mass of Bredon. Further northward, if +the atmosphere be clear, we should distinguish the most striking +height of the Abberly range, a peak which on one side would almost +seem to overhang, and, away beyond, the Clee heights looking down on +the beautiful and historic town of Ludlow. + +Returning to our boat, we glide beneath the Abbey Manor, with its +wooded slopes, and presently we reach Chadbury Lock and Mill. On a +fair and warm day we may rest here in perfect content, listening to +the rush of the weir, watching the swallows flit and skim over the +calm water and break the glassy surface into circling ripples; or +gazing with silent pleasure down the stream as it continues its +peaceful course by wood and meadow. + +Not far below Chadbury, past Wood Norton--a country seat of the Duke +of Orleans, and by him lately rebuilt--its deer park and plantations, +past flowery banks, and thick beds of rushes haunted by waterfowl, is +the village of Fladbury. Pleasant-looking houses with trim gardens +border the river on our right, and beyond are two mills, with the +rushing weir between. That on our left is Cropthorne Mill, now a +dwelling-house. + +In Fladbury Church are some coats-of-arms in stained glass, said to +have come from the Abbey of Evesham. One shield bears the device of +Earl Simon. There is also a fine altar tomb, inlaid with brasses, +bearing the effigies of some members of the Throckmorton family. The +building is architecturally interesting, but the internal effect is +marred by the removal of the plaster, thus exposing the rough masonry +of "rubble," and the irregularity is much emphasised by "pointing." + +On the opposite side of the river is Cropthorne, surmounting a steep +bank. Here are many picturesque cottages of timber and thatch, and in +this village of orchards, the effect of the street is much heightened +if it be seen in the time of the apple-blossom. In this and the +neighbouring parishes we may still find much of that rustic beauty +which we have learned to associate with the names of Birket Foster and +Mrs. Allingham. + +The church contains many points of interest. As we enter we cannot but +be impressed by the simple arches of the Norman nave, the carved pews +of mediæval date, and the Jacobean monuments--their once gaudy +colouring mellowed by age. Few churches have been treated with such +gentle consideration, and rarely do we find the true Gothic feeling so +carefully preserved. A beautiful Saxon cross, intricately carved, and +the ancient altar stone, lately discovered buried beneath the floor, +are two valued treasures. + + + + +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. + +[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 + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. New + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13754 *** diff --git a/13754-h/13754-h.htm b/13754-h/13754-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f00a28 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/13754-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2158 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. New. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13754 ***</div> + +<h1>EVESHAM</h1> + +<a name="img002"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img002.gif"> +<img src="images/img002s.png" width="320" height="572" +alt="Title" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<hr /> + +<h1>EVESHAM</h1> + +<h3>WRITTEN AND<br /> +ILLUSTRATED BY</h3> +<h2>EDMUND H. NEW</h2> + +<br /> +<h4>LONDON: J.M. DENT & CO.<br /> +29 BEDFORD STREET<br /> +NEW YORK: E.P. DUTTON CO.<br /> +MDCCCCIV</h4><br /> + +<hr /> + +<a name="img001"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img001.gif"> +<img src="images/img001s.png" width="240" height="457" +alt="Bridge St. Evesham" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<hr /> + +<h4>DEDICATED<br /> +TO THE MEMORY OF<br /> +<i>H.N.</i><br /> +1820-1893<br /> +<i>D.N.</i><br /> +1834-1901</h4> +<br /> +<hr /> + +<h3>NOTE</h3> + +<p>For the historical matter contained in the following pages the writer +is indebted mainly to George May's admirable history of the town +issued in 1845, a book which, since its publication, has been the +acknowledged authority on local history.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Oswald Knapp his thanks are especially due not only for +permission to make use of the series of articles, founded on the +monastic chronicles, which appeared some years ago in the <i>Evesham +Journal</i>, most of them under the title of "Evesham Episodes," but also +for much generous help and criticism.</p> +<hr /> + +<p><b>CONTENTS</b></p> + +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">I. INTRODUCTION</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. EVESHAM AND THE VALE</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. THE ABBEY</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III_1">1. THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III_2">2. THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST.</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III_3">3. THE DISSOLUTION.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. THE PARISH CHURCHES</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. THE TOWN—INCLUDING BENGEWORTH AND GREEN HILL</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. THE RIVER</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD</a><br /> +<hr /> + +<p><b>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</b></p> + +<a href="#img001"><i>Bridge Street</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img003"><i>Evesham and Bredon Hill, from the Parks</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img004"><i>The Bell Tower</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img005"><i>The Gatehouse and Almonry</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img006"><i>Abbot Reginald's Gateway</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img007"><i>In the Market Place</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img008"><i>High Street</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img009"><i>The Bell Tower, from Bengeworth</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img010"><i>St. Egwin's, Honeybourne</i></a><br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page1"></a> +<a name="Evesham"></a><h1>Evesham</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>Yonder lies our ... village—Art and Grace are less and less:</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Science grows and Beauty dwindles—roofs of slated hideousness!</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—LOCKSLEY HALL, SIXTY YEARS AFTER</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>Those who love with a deep reverence the work of their forefathers, +whether because of the character and beauty of their handiwork, or +from the historical associations which are indissolubly connected with +it, cannot but regard with pain and abhorrence any cause which tends +towards the demolition or destruction of the monuments of the past. To +these it is a significant and distressing fact that hardly any modern +English buildings or streets possess the qualities which give the +value and charm to the old cities, towns, and villages of which we are +the grateful inheritors. If any reader is inclined to doubt the truth +of this statement, or to <a name="Page2"></a>consider the sentiment expressed extravagant +or groundless, let him consider the difference between the old towns +and the new.</p> + +<p>Evesham provides a typical and sufficiently striking instance of the +contrasted methods and results. Here there is hardly an old house +which has not a local and individual character. Many of them may be +plain, severely plain, some possibly ugly; but in each can be read by +all who will, a distinct and separate thought, or series of thoughts, +connecting the dwelling with its builders and owners, and with the +soil out of which it has sprung.</p> + +<p>As the varying undulations of the face of the country tell a plain +tale to the geologist, so the shape and materials of human habitations +tell their story to the student of architecture and the history of +man.</p> + +<p>The poet Wordsworth pointed out that one of the great charms of the +Lake country lay in the way in which the dwellings sprang out of the +hill side, as if a natural growth born of the requirements of the +peasant or farmer and the materials provided by nature. Throughout +England this was once the case; no two houses were precisely alike +because no two people had precisely the same ideas, wishes and +requirements; and the material was dictated by the stone or timber +provided by the <a name="Page3"></a>district. Every building was in old times the +combined expression of the individual man and the <i>genius loci</i>.</p> + +<p>The timber cottages which are still to be found in the town tell of +the time when tracts of the original forest still lingered, and oak +was the cheapest material fit for building. Often the foundation of +the walls is of stone, and the earliest stone to be used was that +which could be had for the digging, the blue lias found in thin layers +embedded in the clay of which the vale is composed. In the back +streets which retain, as would be expected, more of their primitive +character than the more respectable thoroughfares, this blue stone has +been much used, and in the churches it can be seen in the earlier +parts making a very pretty wall with its thin horizontal lines. The +tower of the church of All Saints shows it to great advantage.</p> + +<p>Another stone is also employed, and one far better suited for +building, because it can be obtained in blocks of almost any size, and +carved with the utmost delicacy. This is oolite, the stone of which +the Bell Tower is built. From Norman times it was used in the more +important parts of the Abbey, as is shown in the foundations of the +great tower now exposed to view, and in Abbot Reginald's gateway. But +the oolite stone could not be got much nearer than Broadway, and what +was used <a name="Page4"></a>by the monks in all probability came from the hill above +that village. In numerous old houses this stone is made use of, but in +almost all it must have come indirectly, having once formed part of +the structure of the monastic buildings, or perhaps of the castle +which for a short time flanked the bridge on the Bengeworth side of +the river.</p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century bricks came into fashion, and good clay for +their manufacture was amply provided by the neighbourhood. To the end +of the century belongs Dresden House in High Street, a fine example of +the style of William the Third's time, built by a wealthy lawyer, who +came to settle here, from the northern part of the county. Tower House +in Bridge Street, probably of later date, is beautiful in its +proportions and mouldings, the prominent lead spouts adding much to +the general design. Unfortunately to this fashion for formality and +brick-work, at a later period superseded by a covering of plaster, we +must attribute the demolition of the older fronts, generally of +timber, and often gabled and projecting, which gave such a pleasant +irregularity to our old streets. Though formal and lacking in artistic +qualities these Georgian screens have a certain historical value in +showing that our little town was prosperous through the century, and +able to support a decided <a name="Page5"></a>air of respectability. But not without +reason do we deplore the change.</p> + +<p>The eighteenth century saw the beginning of the great development of +machinery, and in these Georgian house fronts, the productions of a +mechanical age, we see the deterioration of popular architecture. +Every line is rigid and without human feeling: the style, where any +exists, is exotic, not national or local; classical, not vernacular. +It is a learned importation, not a popular growth. The mason has +dwindled into an unreasoning tool in the hands of the architect; hence +the lack of personality, the absence of charm; and only in rare +instances has the architect proved himself capable of supplying those +qualities of design and proportion which to some slight degree +compensate for the loss of interest on the part of the craftsman.</p> + +<p>In almost all buildings the roof is a prominent feature. In Evesham +the old roofs are all made of oolite "slats," and as these are split +irregularly, we have tiles of various sizes and slightly varying in +shape. In roofing the plan was to place all the large tiles below, and +to decrease the size gradually towards the ridge, the result being +most pleasing to the eye. Besides the interest given by irregularity, +the delicate silver grey of the oolite roofs, varied with tints of +moss and lichen added by time, produces an effect unsurpassed by <a name="Page6"></a>any +other form of roof covering. Even the clay tiles, introduced at a +later time, take their place when mellowed by sun and rain; and these +throw into unpleasant relief the modern glazed Staffordshire ware +which resists all softening influences. The Welsh slates, too, before +perfect mechanical regularity was obtained, made a pretty roofing, +though they, of course, have no local interest here.</p> + +<p>No one would wish to dwell long on the opposite side of the contrast. +We have already traced the beginning of the decline of domestic +architecture, and the present condition follows as a natural +development. In recent years the town has spread in every direction +that is possible. In the centre is the Evesham of the past, the +Evesham our forefathers built and our fathers knew. But it is +encircled by streets and houses which are not the product of the vale, +nor are they marked by any individual character. Rows upon rows of +dwellings, symmetrical, mechanical, and monotonous, can give no +pleasure to the eye, nor can the mind read in them any story save the +commercial enterprise of a commercial age.</p> + +<p>No one can note these differences without sometimes asking the cause +of this lamentable degradation in the character of the buildings which +compose our modern towns. They are many and complex, and <a name="Page7"></a>too deeply +rooted in present-day commercialism for us even to hope for their +removal. Yet we may still turn to examples of individual effort +throughout the country and find satisfaction. Here and there are +houses possessing some of the finest qualities which have gone towards +making our ancient streets and cities; and here we have evidence that +beautiful building is still possible if we will but have it. It may be +claimed that even the streets we build are historical as our old towns +are historical; that they are the outcome of the age we live in. And +truly this is so; and for this very reason we must needs be patient if +we cannot be hopeful.</p> + +<p>But it is something to recognise the fact that we have in our old +buildings and streets records of unquestionable veracity, full of +character and meaning, and such as we are entirely unable, with all +our boasted advantages, to rival or even imitate. And more than this, +we have in most of the work that has been left to us examples of +craftsmanship, in every kind, which are invaluable as models of what +we once could do, and may do, under favourable conditions, again.</p> + +<p>Let us then guard this goodly heritage for ourselves and our children +with jealous care, trusting that in fulness of time their handiwork +may be not unworthy to stand beside the best that has been +accomplished <a name="Page8"></a>in the past. These storied towns may then be with us +still to teach what no history book can tell, and to inspire us with +the spirit of emulation for those qualities which sleep with the +Genius of the Past.</p><a name="Page9"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a><h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>EVESHAM AND THE VALE</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>Great Evesham's fertile glebe what tongue hath not extolled.</i><br /></span> +<span><i>As though to her alone belonged the crown of gold</i>.</span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—MICHAEL DRAYTON.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>Evesham stands on a kind of peninsula formed by a deep loop of the +river Avon on its way from Stratford-on-Avon to Tewkesbury. The broad +vale in which it lies is enclosed by a semicircle of hills, which +provide a background to every varied landscape, and give a sense of +homeliness and seclusion which those who are familiar with unbroken +stretches of level country will at once recognise and appreciate. From +the east to the south-west range the Cotswolds, not striking in +outline but depending for their beauty in great part upon the play of +light and shade and the variety given by atmospheric effects. To +dwellers in the vale the appearance of the hills not only reflects the +feeling of the day but foretells the coming weather. When a delicate, +blue haze shrouds their forms, entirely obliterating the more distant +heights, the pleasure-seeker rests content <a name="Page10"></a>in the promise of a fair +morn; but no pleasant expectations can be formed when, robed in +deepest purple, they seem to draw in and crowd together, and with +vastly increased bulk to frown upon the darkening vale.</p> + +<a name="img003"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img003.gif"> +<img src="images/img003s.png" width="300" height="291" +alt="EVESHAM AND BREDON HILL FROM THE PARKS" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>At each end of the Cotswold range, as seen from Evesham, stands, +sentinel like, an isolated elevation, and in early times, as present +remains testify, both these were occupied as fortified posts. To the +east is Meon Hill, and to the south-west stands<a name="Page11"></a> Bredon, the nearest +and most prominent of the group. In the south-east the position of +Broadway is decisively marked by its pseudo-Norman tower, and due +south the level outline ended by an abrupt escarpment to the eastward +is Cleeve Cloud, carrying the range on towards Cheltenham and Bristol.</p> + +<p>But the chief glory of the vale, so far as its background is +concerned, is the truly mountainous outline of the Malvern Hills, the +whole length of which is seen bounding the western horizon. The +breadth of the valley here is more than twenty miles from hill to +hill, and includes both the Severn and its tributary stream. To how +many does the thought of sunrise not recall this undulating range +illuminated and glorified by the clear beams of the early sun striking +across the vale and thrown back in glittering fragments by the long +line of houses at its base! And few more beautiful associations will +gather round the sunset than those in which Malvern plays its part, +the rocky skyline standing up sharp and clear against the +ever-changing brilliance. As we recall the scene the dazzling +effulgence fades into a glow, the glow diminishes almost imperceptibly +into twilight, and, as we watch, a line of twinkling lights becomes +visible beneath the hill, and one by one the stars appear in the +deepening sky.</p> + +<p>Northward there are no striking elevations, <a name="Page12"></a>the ground sloping +gradually upward by the Lench Hills and the Ridge Way towards the +great central tableland; but opposite Malvern, continuing the horizon +to the north of Meon, can be seen, when the air is clear, beyond the +flat Stour valley, the outline of Edgehill, recalling as we gaze the +years of civil strife, full of terror and bloodshed, yet round which +Time has thrown his mantle of romance.</p> + +<p>So far we have been able to dwell on the broad features of the country +which it takes many ages to change or modify. From the earliest times +we can record the settlers on this chosen spot must have looked out on +the same hills and the same broad valley with its overarching sky. But +then, instead of the "crown of gold" of which Drayton sings, or the +silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face +of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and +forest trees. In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the +hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the +former character of this region. Only here and there was a clearing +with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and +hunters. In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow, +unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and +thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and <a name="Page13"></a>overgrown with +rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific +in fish and fowl.</p> + +<p>During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and +is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not +bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages +of which we have knowledge. The site of the town was apparently +unoccupied by the Romans though their thoroughfares run not far +distant, and their camps are numerous on the neighbouring hills. Not +until Saxon times do we hear of this fertile peninsula being +inhabited, and then we are told by the chroniclers of a village called +Homme near this spot, the home of only a few peasants. Like many other +towns and cities, in England, Evesham is said to have had a monastic +origin, and for a long succession of years it is to the monastery +alone that she owes her existence and celebrity. The monastic +foundation dates from about A.D. 702, and from this time until the +Conquest we know little of the fortunes of the place. Access would +have been difficult in those days to so retired a spot protected on +three sides by a broad river, and though doubtless there was a ford +passable on horseback when the water was not in flood, yet until the +building of the bridge it must have been isolated indeed. More than +once we are told of <a name="Page14"></a>ravages of the Danes. We know they penetrated far +into the country, and Evesham did not escape their vigilance.</p> + +<p>Side by side with the growth of the abbey the little village sprang +up, and gradually increased in importance. No doubt in times of stress +it was accustomed to look to that wealthy institution for succour. On +the Church the inhabitants would be dependent for all sacred rites and +the fulfilment of their spiritual needs; but occasionally we find them +waxing independent, and even defying the abbot himself. At best, +however, the fight must have been an unequal one, with wealth, +learning, and power on the one side, and poverty and ignorance on the +other. After an honourable career of eight hundred years the monastery +was overthrown. Even this great abbey, with its wealth and power and +integrity, was impotent to withstand the popular prejudice aroused by +the exposure of the degradation and vice prevailing in so many kindred +institutions, the greed of Henry VIII., and the ruthless energy of +Thomas Cromwell. In a few years it was swept away, leaving only a few +beautiful fragments to tell of its former grandeur.</p> + +<p>Evesham's next great claim to notice is as the field of the decisive +battle of 1265, ending in the defeat and death of Simon <a name="Page15"></a>de Montfort, +and the allies still remaining faithful to their leader. This event, +we know, added much to the fame of the monastery, and reacted on the +town by bringing many pilgrims to the grave of that popular hero. The +tomb of the great Earl vied with, or exceeded in popularity, the many +sacred relics already enshrined in the abbey church.</p> + +<p>In early days, as has been pointed out, Evesham lay out of the common +beat; the Avon formed a <i>cul-de-sac</i>, and the main road from Worcester +to London and Oxford merely skirted the town, ascending Green Hill +from Chadbury, continuing its course by what is now known as Blayney's +Lane, and crossing the river by a ford or bridge at Offenham Ferry. In +consequence of the growing importance of the town, the road was +probably diverted to its present line.</p> + +<p>Although in pre-Reformation days the abbey dominated the town and the +abbot's will was practically law to the inhabitants, yet the townsmen +on the whole lived quite apart, doing their own work, managing their +own affairs, and enjoying themselves in their own way. The monastery, +too, was complete in itself, having its own staff of servants and +needing little, if any, outside help. The precincts of the abbey were +as entirely shut in with their high wall and strong <a name="Page16"></a>gates, all +fortified in the Edwardian times, as any castle; and little of what +went on in this self-contained society would be known to the people +living without. It must be remembered also that the townsmen had their +own church, that of All Saints, and only on special occasions would +they be allowed entrance to the great church belonging to the monks. +It would seem that the second church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was +principally used by pilgrims, and this was connected with the monastic +buildings by a covered walk of stone.</p> + +<p>To Edward the Confessor we learn the town owed certain rights +connected with its market, and during the Middle Ages it was an +important centre for the trade of the district. On account of this +market, and from the fact that the greater part of the abbey lands lay +on the left bank of the river, it would seem probable that a bridge of +some kind was built quite early in the Middle Ages, if not before. In +monastic times there existed a Guildhall, which betokens of itself a +community of active citizens, and social and commercial organisation. +The education of the children was probably looked after by the monks, +and before the dissolution a grammar school was founded by the abbot. +In Merstow Green we have the public pasture and recreation ground. +When the parent <a name="Page17"></a>abbey was removed, the town was quite able to take +care of itself: in the same century a new and more spacious Town Hall +and Market was built, suggesting that the old Booth Hall was +insufficient for the requirements of the time; and in the early years +of the reign of James I. a Royal Charter was granted to the +inhabitants in the name of Prince Henry, and the little town became a +corporate borough.</p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century a revolution was effected by the river +being rendered navigable from the Severn up to Stratford-on-Avon. +Wharves were built, and numerous barges plied their trade up and down +the stream. Through Stratford, Birmingham and the Midlands became +accessible for heavy traffic by canal. In this century the peaceful +vale is once more disturbed by the clang of arms. During the Civil War +Evesham was an important military post, on account of its position +between the Royalist cities of Worcester and Oxford, and the +engagement which took place here will be recounted in due order.</p> + +<p>No very notable events took place for many years; the gardening +industry flourished, the town retained its importance as an +agricultural trading centre, but progress was slow, and life free from +incident. But the change from those days of leisure to these in which +we live is great. Now <a name="Page18"></a>the river has ceased to be utilised for +commerce: two railways connect the town with every other place of note +in the country, and the whole aspect of things is altered. The Evesham +of to-day is with us; over the past a glamour is spread.</p> + +<p>It may be that, even if we had the chance, we would not return to the +past, but over many of us few other studies exercise so great a +fascination as the contemplation of the "good old days" which are +gone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page19"></a> +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a><h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE ABBEY</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>Eoves here dwelt and was a swain,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Wherefore men call this Eovesholme</i>.<br /></span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—LEGEND ON MONASTIC SEAL.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">(<i>Modernised</i>.)</span><br /> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III_1"></a><h3>THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In the dim ages of antiquity, when the face of the country, now busy +and fertile, was one dense forest, with here and there a settlement of +dwellers in huts, tillers of the land, herdsmen, or hunters, there +lived near the spot now occupied by the thriving town of Evesham a +swineherd named Eoves. One day, we are told, a favourite sow was +missing, and her master hunted brake and briar, far and near, in +search of her. While on this errand he penetrated far into the depths +of the forest, when suddenly he was startled by a radiant light, in +which appeared three figures of women dazzling by their beauty. The +vision faded, and on the spot the joyful herdsman discovered his sow +with a litter of young.</p> + +<p>The news was soon noised abroad, and at length reached the ears of +Egwin, the<a name="Page20"></a> Bishop of the diocese, at Worcester. Egwin inquired into +the matter, visited the place, and was himself rewarded by the +appearance of the three figures, whom he pronounced to be no other +than the Virgin Mary with two attendant angels. Moreover, he was +commanded by the Holy Virgin to build a church in that very place. The +Bishop, we know, built a church here, founded a monastery, and himself +became first abbot. These events occurred early in the eighth century.</p> + +<p>Egwin was a man of high connections and influence, and before long the +new institution was handsomely and sufficiently endowed. Ethelred, +King of Mercia, his nephew Kenred, who succeeded him, and Offa, King +of the East Saxons, being the chief donors.</p> + +<p>There is another picturesque legend concerning Egwin, which is +preserved in the coat-of-arms used by the monastery. It appears that +the prelate was falsely charged with certain offences, and to prove +his innocence he made a journey to Rome; but before setting off, he +fastened a chain and horselock to his ankle and threw the key into the +river Avon. On his arrival in the Holy City, a fish was caught by his +companions in whose belly the very key was found which had been cast +into the river before his departure! Another account relates <a name="Page22"></a><a name="Page21"></a>that +the fish who had swallowed the key leapt on board before the +travellers reached their destination! The legend of the foundation of +the Abbey is engraved on the conventual seal in a series of scenes; +and we know it was also depicted in the glass of one of the large +windows in the church.</p> + +<a name="img004"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img004.gif"> +<img src="images/img004s.png" width="240" height="454" +alt="The Bell Tower Evesham" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>How far the events of this early time are historical, how far +traditionary, or even mythical, it is impossible to say, but for many +years afterwards the record gives us merely the scanty information we +should expect. We hear of the depredations of the Danes, and the +destruction by them of the monastery, and later of discords and +dissensions between monks and canons; indeed, it is not until the +reign of Canute that the Benedictines gained complete and final +possession of the Abbey and its estates. The first church and +monastery were probably of wood. Later, in the Saxon period, stone +would have taken its place, but the form was no doubt primitive in the +extreme. The founder's tomb would be the principal treasure, but, as +time went on, other relics were acquired, and many shrines needed to +contain the precious remains.</p> + +<p>It was to King Canute that the monks owed the relics of Saint Wistan, +which held the place of honour in the church in mediæval days. They +were enclosed in a <a name="Page23"></a>magnificent tomb erected behind the high altar, in +the position occupied by the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the +Abbey Church of Westminster. Soon afterwards we hear of the +acquisition by purchase of the body of Saint Odulf from some +travelling merchants, dealers in relics of sanctity, who, as will be +seen, had no right to have the remains of the saint in their +possession.</p> + +<p>Saint Wistan was a scion of the royal house of Mercia, heir to the +throne, and for a short period nominal monarch, but his nature was +more fitted for a religious than a political life, and he took little +part in the affairs of the state. In the year 849 he fell a victim to +the treachery of his cousin Britfard, a rival claimant to the kingdom.</p> + +<p>Saint Odulf was not an Englishman, his whole life having been spent at +the monasteries of Utrecht and Stavoren in the Netherlands. Several +miracles are recorded as having been worked by him both before and +after death. To the monastery of Stavoren, which he had founded, his +body belonged by right, but from here it was stolen and conveyed to +England. By unknown means it came into the hands of certain vendors of +holy wares, as related above, and from them it was purchased by Abbot +Aelfward, for something like a hundred pounds, about the year 1034.</p><a name="Page24"></a> + +<p>A curious story relating to the remains of this saint is told in the +monastic chronicles. Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, being +anxious to acquire some precious relic for purposes of her own, called +upon a number of the religious houses of England to send their +treasures to Gloucester, there to be inspected by her, and, among +others, the convent of Evesham sent the remains of Saint Odulf and +Saint Egwin. As the queen was examining the shrine of the former, she +was suddenly struck with a peculiar form of blindness, and not until +she had invoked the saint's intercession, and declared her intention +of restoring the sacred relics to the monks, did she regain her sight!</p> + +<p>Another interesting personality gained in a very different manner the +reverence, if not the worship, of the religious devotees of the time. +This was Saint Wulsy, a hermit of repute, who, we are told, lived for +seventy-five years a life of contemplation and seclusion. From +Crowland Abbey, his earlier home, Wulsy was led blindfolded, that he +might not be contaminated by the world, to Evesham, and near the +church he built with his own hands a chapel in honour of Saint Kenelm, +saint and martyr, with a cell adjoining, in which he spent the rest of +his life.</p> + +<p>In the reign of Edward the Confessor <a name="Page25"></a>the church was rebuilt and +greatly enlarged by Abbot Mannie, noted as a skilful craftsman in gold +and silver; but even this must have seemed to the ambitious Norman +insignificant, and unworthy of its high purpose, for very soon after +the Conquest it was pulled down to make way for a much larger and more +dignified building.</p> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III_2"></a><h3>THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST</h3> +<br /> + +<p>William the Conqueror did not oust the prudent Abbot whom he found in +office at Evesham. A favourite at the court of Edward the Confessor, +Abbot Agelwy stood high also in Harold's regard, and was not only +unmolested when William took up the reins of power, but was appointed +to other offices of great trust and political importance. On his death +the abbacy was given to a Norman monk, Walter of Cerasia, and in his +time the great church of which some foundations still remain was +begun. The "wily Agelwy" had left "four chests of silver" towards this +reconstruction, but this was not enough to build even the crypt and +chancel, and we find Abbot Walter sending the chief treasures of the +monastery, namely, the shrines containing the relics of Saint Odulf +and Saint Egwin, round the country in charge of certain monks for the +collection of more funds.</p><a name="Page26"></a> + +<p>According to the monkish historian Saint Odulf refused to allow +himself to be used for this purpose, and after one experiment the +attempt was given up. The story goes that the shrine was carried to +Winchcomb and laid in the church there, with the intention of being +brought out next day into the market-place for exhibition, and +probably with the hope of some cures being effected. But when the +bearers tried to remove it from the church they could not with all +their strength raise it from the floor; so the sermon was preached +outside, a collection made, and the shrine (which now could be lifted +with perfect ease) brought home. The expedition with Saint Egwin was +quite successful, and a considerable sum of money collected towards +the building.</p> + +<p>As time went on the Monastery waxed in wealth and importance, and +succeeding abbots completed, furnished, and decorated the new church +planned by Abbot Walter. It had the usual choir, nave, central tower, +and transepts; and cloisters surrounded by monastic buildings. Those +who know the larger Norman churches of England will be able to form a +fairly correct impression of the church at this time; but it is +impossible to imagine truly the effect of the painted walls, arches +and columns, the rich monuments, shrines, and altars decorated with +fine embroideries, goldsmith's <a name="Page27"></a>work, and jewellery; all illuminated +by windows of richly coloured glass.</p> + +<p>From time to time Abbots with a taste or genius for building added to +the structure. In the thirteenth century the central tower fell, and +this was in part rebuilt and the choir repaired by Marleberge, an +Abbot conspicuous by his ability, of whom we shall hear later. It was +Marleberge who helped to complete a bell tower, which also fell to the +ground not many years after, to be replaced by the beautiful campanile +which still remains. Although the great church of the Monastery was +the principal part of that institution, and on it was lavished all the +wealth and skill available, yet it was but a small part of the whole +group of buildings forming the "mitred Abbey" of Saint Mary and Saint +Egwin. Round the cloister were ranged the principal chambers +accommodating the abbot and the monks. Here were the chapter house in +which meetings of various kinds were held, the refectory where meals +were served and partaken of, the long dormitory where the monks slept, +and the scriptorium in which the writing and illuminating was done. +Round the outer courtyard, entered by the great gatehouse, which could +be defended in case of need, were other buildings, barns, stables, and +servants' quarters. Not far away was the hospital, and almost +adjoining the principal gatehouse was the<a name="Page28"></a> Almonry where the poorer +guests were received and food served out to the needy. This building +exists at the present time, and it will be observed that it is not +enclosed within the boundary wall but is open on one side to the +public green.</p> + +<a name="img005"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img005.gif"> +<img src="images/img005s.png" width="300" height="301" +alt="THE GATEHOUSE AND ALMONRY" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>The Monastery owned much land, mostly in the neighbourhood, and before +the dissolution the income through various channels has been +calculated at about eighty thousand pounds of our present money. Dr. +Jessop has described with <a name="Page29"></a>wonderful realism the daily routine of the +Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided +him with some of his most valuable information. In addition to the +daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member +of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him. In a +well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time +permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening +and bowls both being favourite pastimes. Of course writing and +illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out +that in addition to the production of church service books, of music, +and educational work in connection with the school, "a small army of +writers" must have been needed in the "business department of the +scriptorium." The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed +with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the +monastery.</p> + +<p>Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most +part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are +not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham +contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants. The property did +not all lie in the near neighbourhood. In the fifteenth century the +Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery.<a name="Page30"></a> At an earlier +period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this +wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a +religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea, +to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint +Benedict. This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey.</p> + +<p>Life in the Monastery of Evesham seems to have been sustained at a +high standard throughout its long career. If all the "religious +houses" had kept true to their vows and aims as that at Evesham did we +should no doubt have a very different story to tell. One abbot alone +appears to have been an exception to this general rule of good +conduct. This was Roger Norreys, a "dissolute monk" of Canterbury, who +was thrust upon the unwilling convent by Prince John when acting as +regent in King Richard's absence. After many years, and with much +difficulty, he was convicted "of seven or eight distinct offences" and +deposed. After the public exposure of his vicious life, and his unjust +and tyrannical rule, it is surprising that instead of being severely +punished he was sent to the cell of Penwortham and allowed to hold +office as Prior until his death. The story of the fight between the +convent, headed by Thomas de Marleberge, a clever and well educated +young monk who afterwards became <a name="Page31"></a>abbot, and the wicked and shameless +Norreys, is related at full length in the chronicles which have come +down to us, written it would seem by Marleberge's own hand. The +scandalous behaviour of the Abbot and the neglected state of his house +was no secret, and the knowledge of it prompted the good bishop of +Worcester in an attempt to exceed his rights by visiting the Abbey in +order to inquire into the state of things existing there. In this act +he defeated his own ends, for the Abbot and monks immediately united +in common cause against so flagrant a breach of their privileges, +claiming, what was finally acceded to them, exemption from all +authority except that of Rome. The Abbot left the Monastery, and the +monks barricaded every entrance, so that when the bishop arrived he +was forced to encamp with his retinue upon the green outside the +walls. By the indiscretion of the bishop a legal point was raised upon +which the monks would by no means yield, preferring their present +miserable condition rather than allowing the slightest infringement of +what they believed to be their rights. The whole story, giving a +curious insight into the state of the country at that time, is too +long to relate here: an expensive and troublesome lawsuit followed, +which was carried from court to court in England and Rome, and was +finally <a name="Page32"></a>settled some fifty years later in favour of the Monastery.</p> + +<p>The last of the abbots and one of the most striking figures on the +roll was Clement Lichfield. To him we owe much of the architectural +beauty of both the parish churches; and besides erecting the bell +tower he adorned the choir of the "great church," as it was called, +with perpendicular decoration.</p> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III_3"></a><h3>THE DISSOLUTION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Philip Hawford cannot be counted on the list of abbots. After having +borne and yielded much, Lichfield resigned, and Hawford was appointed +in his place, merely that he might surrender his charge in due form to +the King, an act to which it was impossible for Abbot Lichfield to +condescend, Hawford afterwards became Dean of Worcester, and there in +the cathedral, in a recess behind the reredos, his effigy may still be +seen, in full abbatial vestments, mitre and staff. Abbot Lichfield was +allowed to retire to the manor house of Offenham, where he died in +1546, and was buried in the lovely chapel he had built in early life +on to the church of All Saints beneath the shelter of his own Abbey.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The story of the Monastery has now <a name="Page33"></a>come to an end. In 1536 the lesser +priories and monasteries were suppressed, and we can well imagine the +tremor which this daring act of Henry must have sent through the +religious world. We can be sure the blow was unexpected by the monks +themselves. Only a few years before this Clement Lichfield had devoted +much labour and money to the decoration of the great church, and his +last work was the building of the tower which stands to this day. We +can never know whether the architectural additions which he made to +the parish churches were suggested by the suspicion that they might +survive that glorious edifice under whose shadow they reposed; but in +his later years of retirement surely we may believe that he +experienced a sorrowful gratification at the thought that some of his +work would remain for the admiration of future ages, and that his +mortal remains would lie in peace within the chapel which, in his +youth, he had planned and adorned.</p> + +<p>While Thomas Cromwell and his agents were engaged in their grim work +of destruction we can fancy how Rumour first made herself busy; how +the people talked of royal commissions and inquiries; tales would +reach them of priories and convents which were seized, and of monks +and nuns thrown upon the world. Messengers were seen to come and go, +and the great gatehouse <a name="Page34"></a>of the Abbey was eagerly watched by the +curious and anxious townspeople. They talked from door to door, and in +clusters in the market-place, and on Merstow Green, from which the +precincts were entered. At last the blow fell! One by one the monks +filed out of their historic home in solemn procession, their heads +bent beneath a weight of misery they were hardly able to bear, though +not yet capable of realising the full meaning of the calamity which +had befallen them. It is true they were not sent into the world +entirely without means of subsistence; some who were in holy orders +had been appointed to livings by the Abbot and convent; to others +pensions were allowed, but what would this avail in their time of +sorrow!</p> + +<p>Then the grand pile of Gothic buildings was resigned to the King's +agents, and a great cloud hung over the little town. In a short time +the gorgeous shrines and altars were plundered and desecrated; the +buildings were sold; and before the eyes of the astonished inhabitants +tower and pinnacle, church and chapter-house, gatehouse and cloister, +fell a prey to the hand of the destroyer!</p><a name="Page35"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a><h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span>"<i>... work, that stood inviolate</i><br /></span> +<span><i>When axe and hammer battered down the state</i><br /></span> +<span><i> . . . . .</i><br /></span> +<span><i>... the tall Belfry of the Abbey Gate</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Yet stands majestic, pinnacled, elate,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>And fills the Vale with music far and wide.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—HERBERT NEW.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>The earliest architectural remains are the work of Norman abbots. The +most perfect relic of this period is Abbot Reginald's Gateway, now +leading from the market-place into the churchyard, which consists of +side walls both decorated with round arches and shafts. The building +above has been much "restored." As there are no signs of stone +groining, the superstructure was, in all probability, always of +timber, but the design of the arcades, and certain moulded arch stones +found embedded in the soil below would seem to point to the existence +in former times of two stone arches, one at each end, which would add +much to the strength of the building. This gateway stood in a line of +wall enclosing the monastic precincts and the outer yard in which +stand the parish <a name="Page36"></a>churches, and stretching to the river eastwards and +westwards. The lower portions of the walls have recently been cleared +of earth and exposed to view. It will be noticed that the soil has +risen by gradual accumulation to a height of several feet above its +original level in the seven hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since the construction. In monastic times this gateway figured in the +important ceremony attending the installation of a new abbot.<a name="Page37"></a> Before +entering the precincts of the monastery the destined prelate, +accompanied by his chaplains and personal following, halted in this +corner of the market-place, and after entering one of the adjoining +houses where his shoes were removed he proceeded barefoot into the +churchyard. The whole convent, duly accoutred, were in waiting, and as +soon as the new abbot appeared in the gate they emerged in ordered +procession from the north porch of the great church to meet him. After +various formalities he was solemnly escorted to the church, where +further important ceremonials were performed.</p> + +<a name="img006"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img006.gif"> +<img src="images/img006s.png" width="300" height="320" +alt="ABBOT REGINALD'S GATEWAY" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>To the previous century may be assigned the bases of the substantial +piers which stood at the crossing of the nave and transept, and +supported the tower of the great church. These remains may be seen in +the excavated hollow a few steps from the southern side of bell tower. +The tower of the church was begun by Abbot Walter soon after the +Conquest, and there can be little doubt that these massive foundations +belong to his time. If we follow the line of wall to the south from +this point we come to an arch, bare on this side but elaborately +carved on the other with two rows of figures under canopies. This +archway was in the east walk of the cloisters, and gave entrance to a +vaulted passage connecting the cloisters with the <a name="Page38"></a>chapter-house. +Though the figures have been considerably mutilated and weather-worn +it will be seen that the carving is of great beauty; the outer figures +are seated while the inner ones stand, and over both are placed +canopies of tabernacle work. We know this as the work of Abbot +Brokehampton, by whom it was erected early in the fourteenth century. +The bare face of the arch was originally hidden by the stone vault +forming the roof of the passage already referred to. The chapter-house +stood out in the field; but much farther, even to the edge of the bank +which slopes down to the monks' fish ponds, did the choir and Lady +chapel extend.</p> + +<p>As we retrace our steps we follow the line of the transepts. When we +reach the exposed foundations, let us pause awhile and allow our +imagination full sway. We are standing in the midst of the choir, in +the "dim religious light" of a great mediæval church. Above is the +"high embowed roof" of the central tower; around are the stalls set in +a screen of woodwork intricately carved. All is mellowed by the +"storied windows," which break the light into many coloured rays. +Looking westward, over the blank wall, we should see in vision the +tall rood screen and gallery, and, stretching far beyond, the long +vista of Norman arches and painted roof: and through the screen +glimpses would reach us of the many-coloured <a name="Page39"></a>west window. Let us turn +round, and in place of sunlit trees and river conjure up the broad +flight of stone steps, the stately sanctuary above, with its glorious +reredos enriched with tabernacle work and carving, gold, silver, and +colours; and the clerestory lights shedding that sweet lustre we have +seen somewhere never to forget!</p> + +<p>The bell tower rising in solitary state beside us cannot wait for its +true chronological order. It is one of the few existing examples of +many separate belfries built to hold the bells either for convenience, +or in cases where the towers of the church were of insufficient +strength. As a rule these buildings were much broader and less +graceful in design. This tower has been critcised as "squat," but +considering its use it will be seen that a broad base is essential to +its character. In reality, it is remarkable how much delicacy and +grace have been given by form and proportion, without lessening the +strength or utility. The tower was built by Clement Lichfield in the +last years of his abbacy, and hardly finished at his resignation in +1539. That the builder and his local contemporaries were proud of this +last ornament to the town, is proved by the inscription on Lichfield's +grave, which concludes with the line "in whose time the new tower of +Evesham was built."</p> + +<p>The bell tower is indeed Evesham's chief <a name="Page40"></a>glory, from some standpoints +her principal cause for pride. Unique in its character, it strikes +every beholder with surprise and pleasure in proportion to his +capacity for the appreciation of stately form and exquisite +workmanship. Built by the accomplished and learned Lichfield in the +pure perpendicular style, at a time when Gothic architecture was fast +sinking in its decline, it would seem to be, not only one of the +triumphs of mediæval art, but one of the very last efforts of a dying +tradition; in it we see embodied the lofty thought of one of our +noblest abbots. Though it has not witnessed the beginnings of the +conventual life, the early struggles, nor the palmy days of +monasticism, it forms a connecting link between the dim past and this +present time. It is, as it were, a monument perpetuating the memory of +a great period and a great institution.</p> + +<p>If the atmosphere be clear we should ascend the spiral staircase, and +from the summit, no great height indeed, we shall gain a view of the +town with the encircling river, and the vale with the surrounding +hills. The tower still performs its function, and every day the chimes +play a different tune, all familiar airs that never tire, but with +repetition seem rather to gain in association and charm.</p> + +<p>If we take the path from the tower which brings us to the left side of +Saint<a name="Page41"></a> Lawrence's church, we skirt an old wall which bounded the great +courtyard of the Abbey, and joined the great church to the gate-house. +We soon come to a door of fifteenth century workmanship, and close by +is a curious Gothic chimney of about the same date. On the inner side +was the porter's lodge, and from here to the adjacent church of Saint +Lawrence ran a covered way, probably a vaulted passage like a cloister +walk, through which the officiating priest would enter. If we proceed +we soon find ourselves at the bottom of Vine Street, and looking +across Merstow Green; and over the house-tops, bounding the horizon we +see Clark's Hill, a steep bank on the opposite side of the river, +traditionally said to have been planted by the monks as a vineyard. On +our left is a large plastered building enclosed within substantial +iron railings. This was once the great gatehouse of the Monastery, and +was built in the fourteenth century by Abbot Chiriton, who obtained a +special licence from King Edward the Third to fortify the abbey +precincts. The windows and the wing projecting outwards are +comparatively modern, but a Gothic window may be seen in the wall +facing the churchyard, and the original arches can be traced on the +garden front. Close by, and possibly adjoining, was the Barton Gate +which led to the stables and outhouses.<a name="Page42"></a> The long low building of +stone and timber, washed over in the old manner with lime, which rises +from the grass on our left was once the Almonry of the Abbey. It is +now occupied as offices and separate dwellings. The front is extremely +picturesque with its buttresses, perpendicular window and quaint +openings. The western portion, built mainly of timber, with here and +there the remains of carving, and a diaper imprinted on the plaster, +contains the great fireplace, clearly indicated on this side by the +mass of solid stonework. Turning the corner into Little Abbey Lane we +come to the yard at the back, and we may be allowed to view the +interior of the Almoner's kitchen, which still retains some of its +primitive character. From this apartment a passage runs through the +entire length of the building, and this was no doubt originally +continued, forming a communication with the main buildings of the +Monastery. In the corner of the courtyard, beneath a brick gable which +is mere modern patchwork, the passage takes an abrupt turn, and in the +angle is placed a curious "lantern" of stone, which, from its +character, may very probably be the work of the Gloucester school of +masons of the fifteenth century. The proper position and use of this +curious relic is only guessed at. The chambers below are said to have +served the purpose of a <a name="Page43"></a>prison at one time, the prisoners' food being +placed in the lantern, and taken by the unfortunate inmates through +the hatch cut in the wall behind. The passage is continued from this +corner to the outer wall of the building where it abruptly terminates +in a screen of modern construction. If we go farther round this block +into the garden we shall come to another cottage, and in the front +room we may see a well-carved fireplace ornamented with five +quatrefoils. It is composed of the oolite stone used for all the finer +and more important work in the Monastery, but has been lately painted, +with unfortunate result. Beyond a partition is a beautifully carved +fragment which would seem to have formed part of an elaborate shrine +or chantry, but now serves as the lintel of the scullery window. +Overlooking the garden in which we stand as we leave the door is the +gable end of a plain rectangular building, now cottages, but formerly +the Abbot's stables.</p> + +<p>One more relic completes the list of the remains of the "late Abbey," +as Leland pathetically alludes to that important establishment. +Walking across the Green we see before us an old stone porch embattled +above, and behind it a plain building of two storeys. This was the +Grammar School of Abbot Lichfield, and his inscription over the door +may still be deciphered, "ORATE PRO ANIMA CLEMENTIS ABBAT."<a name="Page44"></a> The +schoolhouse is of timber, and has been little altered, except that the +front is spoiled by the substitution of brick for wood and plaster; +the ornamental battlement on the porch is also of recent date.</p> + +<p>For more than a hundred years after the destruction of the noble pile +the site was used as a stone quarry, and fragments may be found in +almost all the older houses in the town, and in many farm buildings in +the neighbourhood. There is hardly an old garden near that has not +some carved stones of curious shape recognisable by the antiquary as +having once formed part of a shaft, a window, or an archway of the +proud Abbey. Of these scattered fragments the most important is the +lectern of alabaster, Romanesque in style, now, after long misuse and +neglect serving its original purpose in the church of Saint Egwin at +Norton, a village lying nearly three miles to the north of the town. A +description of this relic will be found in the last section of this +work.</p> + +<p>The local tradition of the splendour of the Monastery is no doubt +handed down to us by Thomas Habington, the antiquary, who visited the +town in 1640. "There was not to be found," he writes, with pardonable +exaggeration, "out of Oxford or Cambridge, so great an assemblage of +religious buildings in the kingdom"!</p><a name="Page45"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a><h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE PARISH CHURCHES</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The two parish churches, placed together in one yard, make with the +bell tower an unusually striking group. What then would be the +feelings aroused in the spectator were the great church, a cathedral +in magnitude and splendour, still visible, rising majestically above +roofs and spires. To us the Abbey which is gone can do no more than +add solemnity to the scene which once it graced. It matters little by +which entrance we approach the churchyard, for from every side the +buildings group harmoniously; each of the steeples acting as it were +as a foil to the other: and both the spires unite in adding dignity to +the bell tower. The churchyard in Norman times would seem to have been +part of the Abbey precincts, as it is enclosed within Abbot Reginald's +wall already described, and a second wall, part of which is still +standing, divided it from the Monastery and the monastic grounds.</p> + +<p>The Church of All Saints seems to have served, from very early times, +as the parish<a name="Page46"></a> church. As we examine it we read, as in an ancient and +partly illegible manuscript, its long story. The restorer, more +ruthless than Age or Time, has, with the best intentions, laid his +heavy hand upon it, and obliterated much of its character and history; +but enough remains to interest us, though pleasure is now mingled with +much vain regret. In the simple Norman arch through which we pass as +we enter the nave, and perhaps the western wall with the small +round-headed windows, we find the earliest records. The slight tower +with its sharply-pointed windows and delicate spire was added, +probably supplanting an earlier and simple porch, in the time of the +Edwards. The arches and northern clerestory of the nave belong to a +rather later period when the church was found too narrow for the +increasing population; while the arches on the southern side with no +clerestory above, are probably later still. The choir and north wall +of the nave are the work of the restorer, and tell us nothing but a +tale of culpable neglect and mistaken zeal! The head of the north door +of the chancel is, however, a relic of the original building, and this +should be carefully examined. It is beautifully cut with double rows +of cusps, and is of fourteenth century workmanship. The latest Gothic +additions are the work of Clement Lichfield. To this Abbot we owe the +outer<a name="Page47"></a> porch so deeply panelled, with its two entrance doorways, its +pierced battlements, and finely carved timber roof; to him also do we +breathe our thanks as we stand looking up at the lovely vaulting of +the Lichfield Chapel built by him in his younger days when Prior of +the Monastery. Here was Lichfield buried, and beneath the floor his +body lies; formerly a memorial brass engraved with effigy and +inscription marked the spot, but this has long since disappeared. The +inscription, however, can be read on a tablet lately erected by pious +hands to perpetuate his memory. Over the entrance we may still see the +initials of the builder carved upon an ornamental shield. The windows +are now filled with modern glass, not unworthily telling the +oft-repeated story of the "vanished Abbey." In the upper lights are +represented figures of the Virgin Mary, and of Eoves with his swine. +The shields on either side of the former figure bear the lily and the +rose; to the left of Eoves are the arms of the Borough of Evesham, and +on the right those attributed to the ancient Earls of Mercia. The +figures below show Saint Egwin, with the arms of the See of Worcester +to the left, those of the Monastery to the right; and Abbot Lichfield, +with his own arms (Lichfield alias Wych) on the left, and those of the +Rev. F.W. Holland, to whose memory the windows<a name="Page48"></a> were glazed, oh the +right. In the west window of the chapel is Simon de Montfort, Earl of +Leicester, with the arms of de Montfort on the left, and those of +James the First, who granted the Borough its charter, on the right. +Above him is his opponent and conqueror, Prince Edward; to the left +his own arms as eldest son of the monarch, and to the right the +traditional arms of Edward the Confessor; who according to the Abbey +Chronicles first granted the town a market and the right of levying +tolls. In one of the carved panels below these windows is a variation +of the coat-of-arms of the Monastery.</p> + +<p>As we leave the church porch we shall notice the black and white house +adjoining Abbot Reginald's gateway on the right. This is now a private +house, but was until lately the Vicarage. The lower rooms have been +made to project to the level of the first floor, and the +picturesqueness given by an overhanging storey has thus been lost. In +one of these rooms is a large fifteenth-century fireplace of stone.</p> + +<p>The Church of Saint Lawrence has little to say to us of its history. +Though an old foundation the irregular western tower is the earliest +part now standing, and this is not older than the fourteenth or +fifteenth century; the rest of the church<a name="Page49"></a> was built in Lichfield's +time, but after having lain in ruins for many years it underwent a +complete restoration towards the middle of last century, with the +result that much of the Gothic character is lost. The general plan of +the church with its panelled arcade and open clerestory is original, +but the northern side is modern, and compared with the old work hard +and lacking in feeling. The east window and the chapel now used as the +baptistery are both fine examples of perpendicular architecture and +worthy of careful study. The carved detail round the east window with +its playful treatment of flying buttresses, battlements, and pinnacles +is charming in its delicacy and proportion; and some of the detail is +almost as sharp as when it left the mason's hand four hundred years +ago. The chapel is, in its way, perfect, a complete vault of fan +tracery. The decayed condition of the broken canopies, once flanking +an altar, and which were the work of the same hands as the east +window, shows into what a dilapidated condition the church had fallen. +There was a corresponding chapel on the north side of the nave, but +this has been long demolished. The present font is an unsympathetic +copy of the old one, dating from the fifteenth century and still +preserved at Abbey Manor. Outside the tower on the north side, and set +on a level with the eye,<a name="Page50"></a> should be noticed a carving of the +Crucifixion, much worn by weather and rough usage; but even yet may be +traced a master hand in the attitudes and proportion of the figures.</p><a name="Page51"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a><h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE TOWN</h3> + +<p><i>The towne of Evesham is meetly large and well builded of tymbre ... +The market is very celebrate</i>.—LELAND, circ. 1540.</p> +<br /> + +<p>The town of Evesham consists, by reason of its insular position, of +only one thoroughfare. The river winds round enclosing it on three +sides, so that, there being but one bridge, there is no other outlet +except towards the north. There are four principal streets: High +Street, which was in all probability an extension of the "celebrate" +market along the Worcester and North Road; Vine Street and Bridge +Street, both skirting the boundary wall of the abbey precincts, and so +probably the oldest in their origin; and Port Street, the main +thoroughfare of Bengeworth, forming part of the London road beyond the +river bridge. High Street, Bridge Street, and Vine Street lead from +the Market Place, and here we will stand and look around. On the north +side is the "market-sted," "fayre and large" as when Leland viewed<a name="Page52"></a> +it, but now converted to private uses. It is a fine example of Gothic +timber construction; but to think of it as it appeared to Leland's +admiring gaze, we must imagine the walls and partitions of the lower +storey cleared away, and fancy it supported only by massive pillars of +oak, roughly hewn and of great strength. Below was the market +sheltered from the rain, and such as may still be seen at Ledbury and +other places; and above were chambers devoted to the business of the +town, and presumably of the various guilds, of which little is now +known.</p> + +<p>About 1586 the "New Town Hall" was erected, probably of stone from the +ruins of the Abbey, on the west side of the square; but from this +point the older part of the building is entirely obscured by recent +additions, and to understand its first appearance we must walk round +it into Vine Street. The general plan, though the difference in +material necessitates changes in form, is much the same as in the +older Booth Hall, for by this name the older market hall is known. +There is the basement, open until lately and used as a market, and +above is the large hall, and the rooms for public business. The clock +turret and ornamented gable were added in commemoration of Queen +Victoria's Jubilee of 1887. Little else calls for notice, but the +group of timber gables in<a name="Page53"></a><a name="Page54"></a> the corner near the churchyard will +certainly attract the eye by their picturesque grouping. The most +prominent of these gables is carved with a flowing design, and in the +upper angle can be seen a large T, and some smaller letters which have +not been deciphered. Above the chimneys rise the tower and spire of +All Saints Church.</p> + +<a name="img007"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img007.gif"> +<img src="images/img007s.png" width="240" height="436" +alt="In the Market Place, Evesham" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>The breadth of High Street may be accounted for by the supposition +that the roadsides in this direction were broad and grass-grown, and +used for the market, which was large and important. Indeed, until +quite lately, the fairs now carried on in a closed market were held in +the open street, the animals being penned up by hurdles. Bordering the +green sward houses would have sprung up to cater for the wants of the +farmers and drovers, and, as the town grew larger, a continuous line +of street would be formed, and the grass edge would naturally be paved +for cleanliness and convenience. The irregularity of the houses in +shape, size, and colour will at once strike the visitor. The primitive +timber has been almost entirely superseded by the more "respectable" +and secure brick front, but the interiors and the backs of the houses +show that the construction is often really of wood with a thin veneer +of old-fashioned respectability. High Street leads on to Green<a name="Page55"></a> Hill, +now severed from the town by the railway, and becomes the main road +northwards. Near the end of the street, towards the railway stations, +is a building of stone and brick thinly coated with plaster, roofed +with stone tiles, and with a recessed porch<a name="Page56"></a> and balcony. The railing +of the balcony especially should be noticed, being of unusual design, +and very likely the work of the local blacksmith more than two hundred +years ago. The name, Almswood, reminds us that here was once a wood +belonging to the office of the Almoner to the Abbey. On the same side +of the street, nearer the centre of the town, is another interesting +house. It is a mansion of brick, and in front are some very fine +railings fixed on a low wall of stone. The door, which is in the +middle of the front, is approached by wide steps, and over it is a +heavy canopy supported by wrought-iron brackets of decorated scroll +work. This house belonged to a certain Thomas Cookes, whose family +were large landowners in the neighbourhood of Tardebigg in the +northern part of the county, and was built by him in the time of King +William III. It contains a fine staircase, ornamental fireplaces, and +panelled walls. At the back is a paved yard enclosed by short wings, +and from here a stairway and tunnel lead under a narrow street into +what was once a large and beautiful garden. Though now sadly curtailed +and overlooked, enough is left to show what it must have been like in +former days. Beside the main path is a tall and well-cut sundial of +stone, with a weather-vane at the top pierced with the initials of<a name="Page57"></a> +Robert Cookes, and the date 1720. At the end of the garden is a break +in the wall, formerly railed across, and flanked on either side by +tapering columns. This was a favourite device for obtaining a long +vista extending beyond the garden, and when it was constructed the +view over the meadows and river to Clark's Hill must have formed a +charming outlook. It is now obstructed and spoiled by a modern street. +In the farther corner of this old-fashioned garden is a tower of wood +known as the Temple, and at the back of this an external staircase +winds, giving access to the upper rooms, both curiously decorated with +carving and painting. There is little doubt that some of the woodwork +came from the Abbey. Facing this is an arbour formed of a huge +Jacobean mantel of carved oak, bearing in the centre the arms of the +Borough of Evesham.</p> + +<a name="img008"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img008.gif"> +<img src="images/img008s.png" width="240" height="331" +alt="(High Street)" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>An eighteenth century romance attaches to this property. A young +doctor, skilful, extravagant, and presumably attractive, won the hand +of a Miss Cookes, who inherited the place from her father. After the +death of his wife this physician, Baylies by name, being deeply in +debt, and having mortgaged his property, disappeared. The house and +garden were taken possession of by one of the principal creditors, who +must have justified his claim, for the house<a name="Page58"></a> long remained in his +family. The enterprising doctor was next heard of in Prussia, where he +became court physician and adviser to the Emperor Frederick the Great.</p> + +<p>Three old streets lead out of High Street. To the west, Magpie Lane +ends in the river meadows; and to the east, Swan Lane and Oat Street +reach the river at the Mill.</p> + +<p>Vine Street is little more than a continuation of the Market Place +towards Merstow Green; and its old name, Pig Market, shows that it was +used in the same manner. Here, again, many of the old houses have been +refronted, thus appearing of a much later date than they are in +reality. The Georgian dislike of gabled irregularity is once more +exemplified. But Vine Street is saved from becoming commonplace by the +low line of buildings at the end, still known as the Almonry, and over +which the Gatehouse, in spite of its dismantled and modernised state, +still seems to keep guard.</p> + +<p>Bridge Street is probably the most ancient of the streets. The houses +on the south side have gardens reaching to the Abbey walls, a position +which would add greatly to their security in early times, and the +narrowness of the roadway also goes towards proving its antiquity. +This must have been the most frequented<a name="Page59"></a> thoroughfare, leading as it +did in old times to the ford, and afterwards to the bridge and the +Abbot's mill beside it. Here were the oldest inns; and though all the +house-fronts have been sadly modernised, either by the insertion of +huge plateglass windows or in some less defensible manner, yet the eye +still passes with pleasure from house to house, and the effect of the +irregularity, heightened by the contrast of light and shade, is +picturesque in the extreme.</p> + +<p>Starting at the top we have on one side the old Booth Hall already +described. On this side the bay windows projecting from the level of +the first floor add much to the quaint effect. Almost opposite is "The +Alley" continuing one side of High Street into Bridge Street and the +Market Place. As seen from the High Street side this narrow passage +between the shops retains much of its old character, and the windows +with their wooden frames and mullions are worth notice. The house on +the left next to the Bank with its prominent bay windows was at one +time the town house of a family named Langstone, and it was here that +King Charles the First stayed and held his "Court" in 1644. Almost +opposite is a stately front of brick dating from the next century, of +elegant proportions and with well-designed spouts. Further down on the +right side is a much renovated gabled building of timber,<a name="Page60"></a> possessing +a fine doorway of the fifteenth century with its massive door and +wrought-iron hinges intact. Almost next door is "The Crown," one of +the old coaching inns with the courtyard opening on the street. At one +time an open gallery ran round the first floor, and traces of this may +be seen on the further side. A little above the old house we have just +noticed was the White Hart Inn, the most celebrated house when country +inns were in their prime. It is now in the occupation of a market +gardener and has been much altered, but some of the passages and rooms +are still to be seen in the back premises. An amusing story connected +with the White Hart Inn has been revived by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, +who by means of it has endeavoured to explain the line in "Troilus and +Cressida." "The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break." The +anecdote is related by Robert Armin, who claims to have been an +eye-witness of the incident; and this would seem probable, as the +local touches are correct and Armin was for some time a member of the +company alluded to. It is to be found in a work entitled, <i>Foole Vpon +Foole, or Sixte Sortes of Sottes</i>, published in 1605, and re-edited +and issued, with the author's name attached, in 1608, as <i>A Nest of +Ninnies</i>. The fool referred to in the line quoted above is suspected +to be not merely the imaginary representative<a name="Page61"></a> of a type but the +popular local Fool of Shakespeare's time, a fellow of brilliant parts, +but eccentric, and, we must suppose, lacking in balance and common +sense. We are told that one winter Lord Chandos's players visited +Evesham, and Jack Miller, our Fool, became greatly attached to the +company and in particular to Grumball the clown; indeed, so greatly +was he enamoured that he "swore he would goe all the world over with +Grumball." The townspeople being loth to lose so popular a character, +Jack was locked in a room at the back of the White Hart Inn from which +he could see the players journeying on their way to Pershore, their +next stage, by the road on the farther side of the river. With +difficulty he contrived to escape by the window, and ran down to the +water's edge. The stream, says our author, "was frozen over thinely," +but Miller "makes no more adoe, but venters over the haven, which is +by the long bridge, as I gesse some forty yards over; yet he made +nothing of it, but my hart aked when my eares heard the ise crack all +the way. When he was come unto me," continues Armin, "I was amazed, +and tooke up a brick-bat, which lay there by, and threw it, which no +sooner fell upon the ise but it burst. Was not this strange that a +foole of thirty yeeres was borne of that ise which would not<a name="Page62"></a> endure +the fall of a brick-bat?"! The fact that Robert Armin and William +Shakespeare were fellow-actors at the Globe Theatre lends probability +to Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' elucidation.</p> + +<p>Continuing our way beyond the Crown Hotel we see on our right, below +the level of the street, a quaint row of gables with little shops +below quite unchanged by the present conditions of trade. Passing +onward towards the bridge we shall see to the best advantage the full +effect of this most picturesque of streets.</p> + +<p>Alas! that modern enterprise and modern requirements should have +demanded the removal of such a bridge as fifty years ago spanned the +stream in eight irregular arches. Here we have convenience, but will +this condone for the charm of picturesqueness and long association? We +cannot but mourn over the loss. From the bridge we look up the river +to the weir, mill and water-meadows. On the right, by the yard not far +up the stream, stood, in the troublous reign of King Stephen a castle; +and from this fortress William de Beauchamp sallied forth, forcibly +entered the Abbey, and carried away the goods of the Church. But an +abbot in those days was quite equal to meeting a hereditary sheriff on +his own ground. Abbot William de Andeville descended on the castle, +took it, razed it to the ground, and consecrated<a name="Page63"></a> the site as a +cemetery; no vestige of either castle or cemetery now remains. Old +Bengeworth is hardly more than one long street, and there is little +now to claim our attention. On the right side of the street, set back +behind some iron railings, is a school founded early in the eighteenth +century by John Deacle, a man of humble origin and a native of +Bengeworth, who, moving to London became a wealthy woollen draper with +a shop in Saint Paul's churchyard, and finally an Alderman of the +City. In the new church is his tomb<a name="Page64"></a> with an elaborate effigy in the +costume of the period. Passing up the street we should turn before +coming to the Talbot Inn and look back: from this point the irregular +houses and roofs with the Bell Tower rising beyond make an attractive +vignette. The old churchyard can be seen behind the Talbot Inn. The +church is gone in favour of the modern and "handsome" structure which +we saw before us as we turned out of the main street. Here are only +the graves and the base of the old tower. Opposite the remains of the +tower is an old stone house, once the manor, where a little chapel can +still be seen in an upper room. Except the monument to John Deacle +there is nothing in the new church to call forth our interest.</p> + +<a name="img009"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img009.gif"> +<img src="images/img009s.png" width="320" height="329" +alt="THE BELL TOWER FROM BENGEWORTH" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>By pursuing our way past the old burial-ground, and taking the turn to +the right we find ourselves in Cooper's Lane, associated with a family +long connected with the borough. To our left is a pretty cottage, and +beyond, seen among the trees but with outhouses abutting on the road, +is the Mansion House, still retaining in every feature that old-world +sense of remoteness and repose so precious in these days; like a +backwater of a rapid river, lying unmoved while the stream of life +rushes vociferously by; a veritable "haunt of ancient peace."</p><a name="Page65"></a> + +<p>The lane leads us into the Cheltenham Road, and we should turn into +the public Pleasure Grounds, or, better still, walk a few steps +farther along the road, until we have passed them, in order to see the +true situation chosen by the monks for their church and +dwelling-place.</p> + +<p>How dignified does the Bell Tower appear, with the twin spires, rising +from the summit of the bank, above the willows which edge the fish +ponds! And below in the smooth waters their image is reflected, broken +and clear at intervals. All the morning does the sun glorify the +scene, and beneath its intense rays the towers gleam white against the +blue heavens. Every third hour the bells in Lichfield's tower play an +old tune fraught with sweet memories. The horses browse in the meadows +or stand beneath the shade of the tall elms. Often a brightly-coloured +caravan is to be seen encamped near the ponds, and beside it a fire +which sends a faint cloud of blue smoke up against the dark green of +the foliage. Out come the children to play on the green slope, to fish +in the ponds or gather flowers in the meadow below. An old barge, +perhaps, lies under the bank, towed up with much labour from the +Severn. Pleasure boats pass now and again, disturbing the water and +breaking the reflections into a thousand fragments. Evening comes on; +the sun<a name="Page66"></a> declines, and the face of the tower is dark against the +glittering beams; the water receives the glow and reflects the +radiance. Tower, spires, trees and landscape assume one sombre hue; +clear cut against the sky their forms appear; and, as night falls, the +single deep-toned bell rings out the "Curfew" across the silent vale.</p> + +<p>Though lying outside the town, and separated from it by the railway, +Green Hill is included within the limits of the borough, and forms +part of the Evesham parishes. The hill is memorable on account of the +well-known battle, described in the next chapter, in which Prince +Edward gained the victory over Simon de Montfort, thus concluding the +Barons' War. The exact site of the encounter is not known, but +tradition points to a spot in the Abbey Manor grounds called +Battlewell, on which it is averred de Montfort was slain; and the +fight probably extended over a great part of the level plateau on both +sides of the present main road.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately Battlewell lies in private grounds, but the position may +be seen from Clark's Hill. It lies a hundred yards to the left of the +road nearly opposite a pretty thatched lodge, but cannot be seen from +the highway.</p> + +<p>Just beyond is a double cottage dividing the road into two, and on the +right is a shady lane. This is Blayney's Lane, and,<a name="Page67"></a> as already +mentioned, it was once the London road; by pursuing it we come to the +river meadows and Offenham Ferry. The main road runs straight on, and +leads, through the village of Norton, to Alcester, Stratford, +Birmingham, &c. The way to the left is the old Worcester road, and +skirts the grounds of the Abbey Manor. If we take this lane and +descend the hill we may turn sharply to the left near the bottom and +return to the town by the "New Road"; or walk on a short distance with +Wood Norton—the Duke of Orleans' house—on its wooded slope, in full +view, and follow a lane on the left leading to Chadbury Mill.</p> + +<p>The Abbey Manor, with its pretty grounds, is not open to the public. +In addition to the beautiful views obtained from its walks and lawns +it contains many treasures of local interest. Chief among these are +fragments of columns, window tracery, sculpture, and other relics +brought by an ancestor of the present owner, a noted antiquary, from +the site of the Monastery. Here are carefully preserved a splendid +abbatial chair richly carved and of great size, bearing the monastic +arms, and in remarkable preservation; also two quaint effigies of men +in plate armour fashioned in solid oak about three-quarters of the +size of life. These figures stood on the face of the belfry tower, +and, by turning<a name="Page68"></a> on a pivot, struck the hours; they are in all +probability coeval with that building.</p> + +<p>In one of the shrubberies, hidden from public view, is an obelisk +commemorating the fall of Simon de Montfort, and in the plantation +near the lower road is a tower, like the house denoting the period of +the late Georgian Gothic revival, and bearing the name of the Earl of +Leicester.</p><a name="Page69"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a><h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;</i><br /></span> +<span><i>A leader of courage undaunted was hee,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>And oft-times he made their enemyes flee.</i><br /></span> + <br /> +<span><i>At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine</i><br /></span> +<span><i>The barons were routed and Montfort was slaine.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>One of the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin at +Evesham was the tomb of the great and popular hero Simon de Montfort. +Such tombs were a source of much profit to the ecclesiastical +institutions of those days. Hither pilgrims flocked in great numbers, +particularly on the day specially devoted to the memory of the saint +or martyr, and offerings were made proportionate to the wealth of the +devotee. Not only was it supposed that spiritual advantages could be +gained by devotion at these holy places, but cures innumerable were +believed to have been worked through the intercession of the departed +spirit. Hence the great monasteries often partook of the nature of our +present-day hospitals, "the maimed, and<a name="Page70"></a> the halt, and the blind" +thronging thither; and, if at first unsuccessful, trying shrine after +shrine in the hope of eventual restoration to health.</p> + +<p>Though de Montfort was not canonised as a saint and martyr, yet he +appears to have been regarded in such a light by the common people, +and among the archives of the Monastery was preserved a long list of +accredited cures and miracles reported to have been worked at his +tomb.</p> + +<p>It was on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th, 1265, that the memorable +battle, ending in the death of Simon de Montfort, was fought. Earl +Simon was travelling on the previous day from the neighbourhood of +Worcester to join his eldest son, also named Simon, at Kenilworth. +With the Earl was King Henry the Third as prisoner or hostage, and on +the night of Monday, the 3rd of August, the Earl and his retinue were +received as guests in the Abbey, his army being quartered or encamping +in the town.</p> + +<p>Prince Edward, King Henry's eldest son, was in the neighbourhood with +a large army, but his movements for some days past were unknown to de +Montfort. On the Saturday before the arrival of the Barons' army at +Evesham the Prince had surprised the younger Simon at Kenilworth, +killed or taken as prisoners the greater part of his army, and seized +all<a name="Page71"></a> the baggage and standards. The same day he had returned to +Worcester and joined the Earl of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer, both +leading considerable forces.</p> + +<p>Thus we see the Earl, with his adherents, resting at Evesham, +unconscious of the fact that, unaided, he must soon face three +powerful foes. Next day saw his fate decided.</p> + +<p>Early on Tuesday morning all was stir and bustle in the Monastery and +in the little town. The troops were preparing to depart at daybreak +towards Kenilworth, where father and son were to meet and arrange +their future tactics. In the early dawn Nicholas, the Earl's barber, +ascended one of the towers of the Abbey, and, gazing northwards, over +Green Hill he descried soldiers bearing standards which were evidently +those of the younger Simon. For a few moments joy prevailed at the +thought of so happy a meeting; but this feeling soon gave place to +anxiety and dread. Closer examination showed that though the standards +were those of the Earl's son the soldiers who carried them were not +Simon's but Prince Edward's followers. In a moment all was clear: the +younger Simon had been defeated, perhaps slain, and de Montfort must +fight single-handed or yield his cause ingloriously. Retreat over the +bridge by which the army<a name="Page72"></a> had entered the town was useless, for soon +it became known that Roger Mortimer was following the route the barons +had taken the day before, and would soon be on their rear. With the +river on both sides of them, and both ways blocked by enemies, two +alternatives alone presented themselves, to fight or to yield. To add +to the hopelessness of their position the Earl of Gloucester, with his +army, was now joining Prince Edward by the upper Worcester road. De +Montfort knew that against such odds the fight would be a hopeless +one, and urged his supporters to flee while there was yet time, and +not to lose their lives in an unavailing struggle; but none would +desert their leader in the hour of peril. "Then," exclaimed the Earl, +"may the Lord have mercy on our souls for our bodies are in the power +of our enemies."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It is recorded that on this fatal Tuesday all the elements seemed to +unite in adding horror to the scene of carnage. Shortly before this a +great comet had made men fear and wonder; and now, on this morning the +sky was overcast with such dense clouds that the land was in darkness; +so black were the heavens that nothing like it had been known within +the memory of man. A violent tempest, with a deluge<a name="Page73"></a> of rain and +terrific thunder and lightning, swept over the country. The terrified +monks could not see their books as they chanted the Psalms in the +darkened choir, and as they sat in the refectory they could not tell +what food lay upon their trenchers.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the battle raged on the hill above the town; desperately the +barons fought, but, one by one, they fell overpowered by numbers. +Though the earl was sixty-five years of age he fought "stoutly, like a +giant, for the liberties of England" to the end.</p> + +<p>We will not dwell on the horror of the battle. Popular tradition still +points to the spot where the great leader was slain, and there, beside +a spring called Battlewell, was placed a sacred rood. Two young de +Montforts fell by their father's side, and many barons, knights, and +common soldiers; but few fled. The stragglers from the defeated army +were, many of them, slaughtered, as they attempted their escape; and +by Offenham Ferry, where in those times probably stood a bridge, there +is a meadow, once an island, which to this day bears the name of +"Deadman's Ait." The chroniclers tell of the shameful mutilation of +the earl's corpse, and how the limbs were distributed through the +country, but the dismembered body was buried reverently by the monks +in the most sacred<a name="Page74"></a> part of their church, even before the High Altar. +The severed hands were sent by a servant to the wife of Roger +Mortimer, at Wigmore Castle in Shropshire. They arrived, so says the +legend, while the Mass was being celebrated, and, at the raising of +the Host, they were seen, before the bag containing them was opened, +clasped in the attitude of prayer above the head of the messenger. In +fear and trembling, Lady Mortimer returned the bloody trophy.</p> + +<p>Prince Edward himself attended the funeral of Henry de Montfort, his +cousin and friend, in the Abbey church.</p> + +<p>"Such," sings Robert of Gloucester, "was the murder of Evesham, for +battle none it was."</p> + +<p>As in the case of other national heroes of old times, popular fancy +was allowed to play unfettered round the memory of this noble family. +In the well-known ballad preserved by Bishop Percy, of "The Beggar's +Daughter of Bednall Green," it is imagined that Henry de Montfort was +rescued at night from the field of battle while still living, by "a +baron's faire daughter," in search of her father's body; that she +nursed him, and that, on his recovery they married, their daughter +being "prettye Bessee."</p> + +<p>The miracles we read of, and to which reference has been made, are +many and<a name="Page75"></a> varied. For some time the fear of royal censure and +punishment prevented cures being openly attributed to "Saint Simon," +but it was not long before the fame of his healing power spread, and +persons were brought from all parts of the country to "be measured by" +Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as +simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a +cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to +meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal.</p> + +<p>The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at +the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be +cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the +battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power +not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around +that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be +slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes +on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast, +personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of +the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or +incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the +"judgements"<a name="Page76"></a> may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the +manners of some of the clergy of that date.</p> + +<p>A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and +by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish +the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I +reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a +servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in +chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise +abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from +the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict."</p> + +<p>In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife, +whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet +Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit +"Saint Simon's" relics.</p> + +<p>For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a +paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe +the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed +"saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span> "Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Noblest flower of chivalry!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">O'er the pains of death victorious,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">England's saviour, praise to thee.<br /></span><a name="Page77"></a> +<span class="i1">More than all the saints in story,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Ere they gained their rest in glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thou of cruel wrongs hast borne;<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Foully foes thy corpse insulted,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">O'er thy head and limbs exulted<br /></span> +<span class="i3">From thy mangled body torn.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Once of wrongs the great redresser<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Be thou now our intercessor,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Pray for us with God on high."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Pray for us, blessed Simon, that we may be made worthy to obtain the +promises of Christ."</p><a name="Page78"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS</h3> + +<p>"<i>Who was he that went out from the command at Gloucester in such a +blaze, to adde glory unto conquest, and crown hit actions with a +never-dying honour, when he took the strong garrisoned Evesham in a +storme of fire and leaden haile; the loss whereof did make a king shed +tears? Was it not Massey</i>?"</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLET.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>Once more the peaceful vale was destined to become a field of battle. +At an early stage in the conflict between King and people Evesham was +fortified and garrisoned by the Royal party, and Samuel Sandys was +appointed military governor. The exact nature of the fortifications we +cannot exactly know, but it is certain they were complete, and +sufficient to withstand a siege if properly manned. A ditch, and +rampart of earth surmounted by timber palisades was the probable form +of defence, but no signs of such earthworks now remain, and the +position of them is unknown.</p> + +<p>King Charles paid his first visit early in July, 1644, and he is said +to have stayed in what was at that time a large house,<a name="Page79"></a> probably +gabled, with projecting bay windows, on the north side of Bridge +Street. This mansion, for it was no less though now divided into +shops, was the town house of the Langstones, an influential family in +the neighbourhood. Here the King remained two nights, and from "our +Court at Evesham" he despatched a conciliatory message "To the Lords +and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster."</p> + +<p>Sir William Waller, the Parliamentary general, was hanging in the rear +of the royal army, and so without more delay the King moved towards +Worcester, taking with him the garrison, guns, and ammunition. Before +leaving, the army partly destroyed the outworks and rendered the +bridge over the river impassable. The townspeople were evidently more +in sympathy with the Roundheads than the Cavaliers, for on the +departure of the royal forces they immediately repaired the bridge, +and Waller entered and remained some days before following the chase.</p> + +<p>A week later the King returned, on his way back to the loyal city of +Oxford, much to the dismay of the inhabitants. For their rebellious +behaviour a fine of two hundred pounds was imposed on the borough, and +in addition to this they were forced to provide the royal army with a +thousand pairs of shoes.</p><a name="Page80"></a> + +<p>A year later we find the King once more passing through Evesham. This +time he left a garrison in charge of the town under Colonel Legge. But +Evesham was too important a place in this conflict, being a connecting +link between the "loyal cities" of Worcester and Oxford, to be left in +the hands of the King's party unchallenged. Almost immediately, in the +same month of May, 1645, Colonel Massey, Governor of Gloucester, with +a troop of horse and foot collected from the neighbouring counties, +attacked the town, and after vainly calling upon Colonel Legge to +yield, they assailed the fortifications at the bridge and in five +other places at the same time. After a short but hard fought encounter +the Royalists surrendered, and until the end of the struggle Evesham +remained in the hands of the Parliament.</p> + +<p>On the 29th of May the House of Commons ordered the Speaker to convey +their thanks to the colonel and his officers in acknowledgment of +their great service.</p><a name="Page81"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a><h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE RIVER</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>There is a willow grows aslant a brook,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;</i><br /></span> +<span><i>There with fantastic garlands did she come,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples</i>.</span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>In tracing the history of our little town from its origin it has often +been observed how important a part has been played in its fortunes by +the river that flows through and partly encircles it. It is to the +river that the town owes its position, and its very existence probably +depended upon the advantages which the stream provided. To the early +settlers a good supply of water and natural means of protection were +necessary to life, and both these were offered by this narrow tongue +of land.</p> + +<p>For a long period the river was of little use for traffic, and not +until the seventeenth century was it made properly navigable. Now, +through the neglect of the owners of the navigation rights, it is once +more reverting in places to its primitive character. From Evesham to +Tewkesbury the<a name="Page82"></a> stream is still in good order, but for a short +distance only towards Stratford-on-Avon.</p> + +<p>Apart from the fascination exercised on the mind by the ever changing +surface of water, varied and rippled by motion and by wind, the beauty +of this river is mainly due to the delicate and varied foliage of the +willows and other trees which grow freely beside it, the luxuriant +growth of flowers along its banks—"of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, +and long purples"—and the variety of blossoming water plants. Few +trees are more graceful than the willow when a slight breeze fans its +branches, mingling the "hoar leaves" with the grey green of the upper +side of the foliage; and many, before and since Shakespeare, have +preserved in the "inward eye" such a vision, reflected in "the glassy +stream" or more usually in the slightly ruffled surface below. The +level meadows, or sloping banks, which skirt the stream have a quiet +charm, and beautiful indeed are they in June, when thickly carpetted +with buttercups and ox-eye daisies. At almost every turn rise the blue +hills, completing the landscape and throwing the sunny meadows into +relief.</p> + +<p>We can hardly realise to ourselves the protective value of the river +in old times without rowing both up and down the stream for a mile or +more. Above the town, before reaching the railway bridge<a name="Page83"></a> we should +look back and notice how steeply the land rises from the river on this +side. On the margin is the mill, and above are the houses, roof over +roof, descending again in steps to the river bridge. At the top is the +Bell Tower, and the church spires are seen near it. From the railway +embankment, or the higher ground beyond, the best picture which the +town affords is to be seen. Below us winds the river, and over the +meadows on an eminence is the cluster of houses forming the town; as a +background we have Bredon Hill, delicately outlined, or dark blue as +if overhanging the vale.</p> + +<p>Beyond the bridge we soon come to a picturesquely-situated farmhouse, +standing on a steep bank, and looking down upon the meadows. This is +the Parks Farm, and all the fields on this side bordering the river +were once the deer park of the great Abbey. Presently we reach +Offenham Ferry, while a little beyond, set back behind willow trees +and plough-land, is the village; and we soon catch sight of the old +church tower peering over the bank. At the further extremity of the +village, quite near the bank, is the "Court" farm, once protected by a +moat fed by the river, and used by the Evesham Abbots as a country +retreat. Hither Clement Lichfield, the last Abbot, retired on his +resignation, and here he probably died.</p><a name="Page84"></a> + +<p>The village of Offenham is peculiar in lying away from any main road, +and this gives it an air of repose and antiquity, which is pleasant in +these days. Whether the place owes its name to Offa, King of Mercia, +is an open question, but according to tradition this monarch owned +land and had a palace here, the site of which is pointed out by the +villagers.</p> + +<p>Beside the ferry we have passed there was in old times a bridge, and +still, when the water is very low, the solid foundations of the piers +may be seen with pointed buttresses facing up and down the stream. +When this bridge was destroyed no one can tell; but once upon a time +the road from Worcester to London came over Green Hill, and leaving +Evesham more than a mile to the south, descended the steep hill where +now a grass-grown track marks its course, crossing the river by this +bridge. The farm on the right bank is known by the name of Twyford, +and so we guess that the creek which leaves the main stream a little +way above the ferry once continued its course, forming an island with +a ford on either side. Deadman's Ait is the traditional name of this +island field, and it is supposed some of the stragglers from the +battle of 1265 were slain here while attempting to escape by the ford +or bridge.</p> + +<p>The irregularity of the river banks, now<a name="Page85"></a> nearly level with the water, +sloping gently upwards, or steep and at times almost precipitous, is +much marked as we proceed on our way up the stream. After passing some +gardens, and a steep bank overgrown with gorse, the sluggish stream +quickens its pace, and we soon reach an abrupt turn where the current +is met by an unyielding wall of lias. Under the bare limestone the +water is deep and rushes swiftly, but above, the bank is covered with +tangled growth of blackberry and wild clematis, and in spring the +ground beneath the trees is blue with hyacinths. This sudden turn is +Norton Corner, and though no signs of that village can be seen it +stands hardly a mile away over the ridge of fields. The whole course +we have come may be followed on foot by the old tow-path from the +mill. From this point, after crossing the railway, a farm road will +take us to the end of the village; or we may take the footpath through +the arch beneath the line that we passed a few hundred yards further +down.</p> + +<p>After leaving Norton Corner by boat, the river, for a space slow and +easy, soon becomes swift, and as we approach the ruins of an old lock +the passage is attended with difficulties by reason of the shallow +water and the stony bed. If we successfully pass these rapids and gain +the next mill further progress is easy, but the mill can only be +passed by lifting the boat over<a name="Page86"></a> the steep weir. On the way we pass +the old Fish and Anchor Inn, and a new ford calculated rather for the +convenience of vehicles than of boating parties. From the "Fish and +Anchor" we may ascend the long ridge of Cleeve Bank, and command a +fine view of the valley and the winding of the stream below. +Harvington Mill is at our feet, and the spire of the village church is +visible beyond; further up the stream, some distance beyond the +hanging wood, is Cleeve Mill, one of the prettiest spots on the river. +The village of Cleeve Prior lies behind the bank, and there may be +seen, besides the picturesque cottages and church, the old Manor, now +a farmhouse, with a quaint avenue of box, elaborately clipped, leading +to the front door. Over the fields on the further bank are the +Salfords, and among the trees the curved gables of a fine old Jacobean +mansion may be distinguished. The next place of interest on the stream +is Bidford with its many arched bridge of mediæval date.</p> + +<p>If we follow the downward course of the Avon we find ourselves making +a circuit of the town; for a considerable distance the Bell Tower does +not leave us but seems to follow our boat, and ever and anon it +reappears over the meadows and among the trees on our right hand. +Hampton Church stands on rising ground,<a name="Page87"></a> among the trees, on our left, +and soon we are at Hampton Ferry. If we prefer the walk we can take a +footpath by the bridge or the Bell Tower, and follow the winding +stream to this point. According to the old chronicles a church was +built at Hampton, in the reign of Canute, by Leofric and Godiva, so +well known in the regions of romance, and they gave land here to the +Abbey. The church we see was built and rebuilt by the Monastery, but +whether on the ancient site we know not. It is a small but beautiful +example of perpendicular architecture, and with the dark spreading yew +tree, the remains of the old cross, and the delicately weathered +tombstones, it makes a picture upon which the eye dwells with calm +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The hill above the ferry is Clark's Hill, and the bank we are told was +terraced by the monks of old as a vineyard. Whether tradition is true +to facts we cannot surely say; a field beyond the ridge still bears +the name of the vineyard, and this may have been the actual site. The +ascent of the steep bank is rewarded on a clear day by the splendid +panorama which lies around. From the terrace walk we look down upon +the town, noticing with regret the predominating hues of brick and +slate which mark the modern suburbs; but the old tower, the churches, +and the gatehouse, despoiled but yet dignified, unconsciously<a name="Page88"></a> hold +the eye. The old wall of the Abbey precincts ended here at the river, +and beside it runs Boat Lane, which would bring us out on the Green.</p> + +<p>Looking down the stream, over the railway bridges, we see Green Hill, +with the Abbey Manor and its grounds the most prominent feature. At +some little distance to the right of the house is a grassy comb, and +at the upper end is the spring to which legend points as the spot +where Simon de Montfort was slain, and which still bears the name +Battlewell.</p> + +<p>Stretched around us are the Cotswolds, and if we take a path, or lane, +leading over the hill westward we may, from the brow, behold Malvern's +rugged length and the isolated mass of Bredon. Further northward, if +the atmosphere be clear, we should distinguish the most striking +height of the Abberly range, a peak which on one side would almost +seem to overhang, and, away beyond, the Clee heights looking down on +the beautiful and historic town of Ludlow.</p> + +<p>Returning to our boat, we glide beneath the Abbey Manor, with its +wooded slopes, and presently we reach Chadbury Lock and Mill. On a +fair and warm day we may rest here in perfect content, listening to +the rush of the weir, watching the swallows flit and skim over the +calm water and break the glassy surface into circling ripples; or +gazing with silent pleasure<a name="Page89"></a> down the stream as it continues its +peaceful course by wood and meadow.</p> + +<p>Not far below Chadbury, past Wood Norton—a country seat of the Duke +of Orleans, and by him lately rebuilt—its deer park and plantations, +past flowery banks, and thick beds of rushes haunted by waterfowl, is +the village of Fladbury. Pleasant-looking houses with trim gardens +border the river on our right, and beyond are two mills, with the +rushing weir between. That on our left is Cropthorne Mill, now a +dwelling-house.</p> + +<p>In Fladbury Church are some coats-of-arms in stained glass, said to +have come from the Abbey of Evesham. One shield bears the device of +Earl Simon. There is also a fine altar tomb, inlaid with brasses, +bearing the effigies of some members of the Throckmorton family. The +building is architecturally interesting, but the internal effect is +marred by the removal of the plaster, thus exposing the rough masonry +of "rubble," and the irregularity is much emphasised by "pointing."</p> + +<p>On the opposite side of the river is Cropthorne, surmounting a steep +bank. Here are many picturesque cottages of timber and thatch, and in +this village of orchards, the effect of the street is much heightened +if it be seen in the time of the apple-blossom. In this and the +neighbouring parishes we may still find much<a name="Page90"></a> of that rustic beauty +which we have learned to associate with the names of Birket Foster and +Mrs. Allingham.</p> + +<p>The church contains many points of interest. As we enter we cannot but +be impressed by the simple arches of the Norman nave, the carved pews +of mediæval date, and the Jacobean monuments—their once gaudy +colouring mellowed by age. Few churches have been treated with such +gentle consideration, and rarely do we find the true Gothic feeling so +carefully preserved. A beautiful Saxon cross, intricately carved, and +the ancient altar stone, lately discovered buried beneath the floor, +are two valued treasures.</p><a name="Page91"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X"></a><h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE NEIGHBOURHOOD</h3> +<br /> + +<p>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<a name="Page92"></a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<a name="img010"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img010.gif"> +<img src="images/img010s.png" width="240" height="419" +alt="St. Egwin's Church Honeybourne" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>Close to the town many of the field-paths have been bereft of their +charm, and<a name="Page93"></a><a name="Page94"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Bretforton, with its church built by the monks of Evesham, lies on the +road between Badsey and Honeybourne.</p> + +<p>The villages of Middle and South Littleton have been little affected +by modern enterprise. They may be reached<a name="Page95"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="Page96"></a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="Page97"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Page98"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<h5>THE END</h5> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13754 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13754-h/images/img001.gif b/13754-h/images/img001.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ca1f34 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img001.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img001s.png b/13754-h/images/img001s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a61c03 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img001s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img002.gif b/13754-h/images/img002.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..279bfce --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img002.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img002s.png b/13754-h/images/img002s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..805d014 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img002s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img003.gif b/13754-h/images/img003.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e5bbb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img003.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img003s.png b/13754-h/images/img003s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..97fe233 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img003s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img004.gif b/13754-h/images/img004.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..957eb59 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img004.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img004s.png b/13754-h/images/img004s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30587c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img004s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img005.gif b/13754-h/images/img005.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a422f47 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img005.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img005s.png b/13754-h/images/img005s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..02f11ec --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img005s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img006.gif b/13754-h/images/img006.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..604a4c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img006.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img006s.png b/13754-h/images/img006s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2cc2a3d --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img006s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img007.gif b/13754-h/images/img007.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4539629 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img007.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img007s.png b/13754-h/images/img007s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a6787a --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img007s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img008.gif b/13754-h/images/img008.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..963fcc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img008.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img008s.png b/13754-h/images/img008s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..294a10e --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img008s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img009.gif b/13754-h/images/img009.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fc405a --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img009.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img009s.png b/13754-h/images/img009s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..66dd3ff --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img009s.png diff --git a/13754-h/images/img010.gif b/13754-h/images/img010.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c421522 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img010.gif diff --git a/13754-h/images/img010s.png b/13754-h/images/img010s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..782b388 --- /dev/null +++ b/13754-h/images/img010s.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51cc340 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13754 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13754) diff --git a/old/13754-8.txt b/old/13754-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cacd6e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13754-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2442 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. New + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Evesham + +Author: Edmund H. New + +Release Date: October 14, 2004 [EBook #13754] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVESHAM *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Asad Razzaki and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +EVESHAM + +WRITTEN AND +ILLUSTRATED BY +EDMUND H. NEW + + +LONDON: J.M. DENT & CO. +29 BEDFORD STREET + +NEW YORK: E.P. DUTTON CO. + +MDCCCCIV + +[Illustration: Bridge St. Evesham] + +DEDICATED +TO THE MEMORY OF + +_H.N._ +1820-1893 + +_D.N._ +1834-1901 + + +NOTE + +For the historical matter contained in the following pages the writer +is indebted mainly to George May's admirable history of the town +issued in 1845, a book which, since its publication, has been the +acknowledged authority on local history. + +To Mr. Oswald Knapp his thanks are especially due not only for +permission to make use of the series of articles, founded on the +monastic chronicles, which appeared some years ago in the _Evesham +Journal_, most of them under the title of "Evesham Episodes," but also +for much generous help and criticism. + + +CONTENTS + + I. INTRODUCTION + II. EVESHAM AND THE VALE + III. THE ABBEY + 1. THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY + 2. THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST. + 3. THE DISSOLUTION. + IV. THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY + V. THE PARISH CHURCHES + VI. THE TOWN--INCLUDING BENGEWORTH AND GREEN HILL + VII. THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM +VIII. CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS + IX. THE RIVER + X. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +_Bridge Street_ +_Evesham and Bredon Hill, from the Parks_ +_The Bell Tower_ +_The Gatehouse and Almonry_ +_Abbot Reginald's Gateway_ +_In the Market Place_ +_High Street_ +_The Bell Tower, from Bengeworth_ +_St. Egwin's, Honeybourne_ + + + + +Evesham + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +_Yonder lies our ... village--Art and Grace are less and less:_ +_Science grows and Beauty dwindles--roofs of slated hideousness!_ + + --LOCKSLEY HALL, SIXTY YEARS AFTER + + +Those who love with a deep reverence the work of their forefathers, +whether because of the character and beauty of their handiwork, or +from the historical associations which are indissolubly connected with +it, cannot but regard with pain and abhorrence any cause which tends +towards the demolition or destruction of the monuments of the past. To +these it is a significant and distressing fact that hardly any modern +English buildings or streets possess the qualities which give the +value and charm to the old cities, towns, and villages of which we are +the grateful inheritors. If any reader is inclined to doubt the truth +of this statement, or to consider the sentiment expressed extravagant +or groundless, let him consider the difference between the old towns +and the new. + +Evesham provides a typical and sufficiently striking instance of the +contrasted methods and results. Here there is hardly an old house +which has not a local and individual character. Many of them may be +plain, severely plain, some possibly ugly; but in each can be read by +all who will, a distinct and separate thought, or series of thoughts, +connecting the dwelling with its builders and owners, and with the +soil out of which it has sprung. + +As the varying undulations of the face of the country tell a plain +tale to the geologist, so the shape and materials of human habitations +tell their story to the student of architecture and the history of +man. + +The poet Wordsworth pointed out that one of the great charms of the +Lake country lay in the way in which the dwellings sprang out of the +hill side, as if a natural growth born of the requirements of the +peasant or farmer and the materials provided by nature. Throughout +England this was once the case; no two houses were precisely alike +because no two people had precisely the same ideas, wishes and +requirements; and the material was dictated by the stone or timber +provided by the district. Every building was in old times the +combined expression of the individual man and the _genius loci_. + +The timber cottages which are still to be found in the town tell of +the time when tracts of the original forest still lingered, and oak +was the cheapest material fit for building. Often the foundation of +the walls is of stone, and the earliest stone to be used was that +which could be had for the digging, the blue lias found in thin layers +embedded in the clay of which the vale is composed. In the back +streets which retain, as would be expected, more of their primitive +character than the more respectable thoroughfares, this blue stone has +been much used, and in the churches it can be seen in the earlier +parts making a very pretty wall with its thin horizontal lines. The +tower of the church of All Saints shows it to great advantage. + +Another stone is also employed, and one far better suited for +building, because it can be obtained in blocks of almost any size, and +carved with the utmost delicacy. This is oolite, the stone of which +the Bell Tower is built. From Norman times it was used in the more +important parts of the Abbey, as is shown in the foundations of the +great tower now exposed to view, and in Abbot Reginald's gateway. But +the oolite stone could not be got much nearer than Broadway, and what +was used by the monks in all probability came from the hill above +that village. In numerous old houses this stone is made use of, but in +almost all it must have come indirectly, having once formed part of +the structure of the monastic buildings, or perhaps of the castle +which for a short time flanked the bridge on the Bengeworth side of +the river. + +In the seventeenth century bricks came into fashion, and good clay for +their manufacture was amply provided by the neighbourhood. To the end +of the century belongs Dresden House in High Street, a fine example of +the style of William the Third's time, built by a wealthy lawyer, who +came to settle here, from the northern part of the county. Tower House +in Bridge Street, probably of later date, is beautiful in its +proportions and mouldings, the prominent lead spouts adding much to +the general design. Unfortunately to this fashion for formality and +brick-work, at a later period superseded by a covering of plaster, we +must attribute the demolition of the older fronts, generally of +timber, and often gabled and projecting, which gave such a pleasant +irregularity to our old streets. Though formal and lacking in artistic +qualities these Georgian screens have a certain historical value in +showing that our little town was prosperous through the century, and +able to support a decided air of respectability. But not without +reason do we deplore the change. + +The eighteenth century saw the beginning of the great development of +machinery, and in these Georgian house fronts, the productions of a +mechanical age, we see the deterioration of popular architecture. +Every line is rigid and without human feeling: the style, where any +exists, is exotic, not national or local; classical, not vernacular. +It is a learned importation, not a popular growth. The mason has +dwindled into an unreasoning tool in the hands of the architect; hence +the lack of personality, the absence of charm; and only in rare +instances has the architect proved himself capable of supplying those +qualities of design and proportion which to some slight degree +compensate for the loss of interest on the part of the craftsman. + +In almost all buildings the roof is a prominent feature. In Evesham +the old roofs are all made of oolite "slats," and as these are split +irregularly, we have tiles of various sizes and slightly varying in +shape. In roofing the plan was to place all the large tiles below, and +to decrease the size gradually towards the ridge, the result being +most pleasing to the eye. Besides the interest given by irregularity, +the delicate silver grey of the oolite roofs, varied with tints of +moss and lichen added by time, produces an effect unsurpassed by any +other form of roof covering. Even the clay tiles, introduced at a +later time, take their place when mellowed by sun and rain; and these +throw into unpleasant relief the modern glazed Staffordshire ware +which resists all softening influences. The Welsh slates, too, before +perfect mechanical regularity was obtained, made a pretty roofing, +though they, of course, have no local interest here. + +No one would wish to dwell long on the opposite side of the contrast. +We have already traced the beginning of the decline of domestic +architecture, and the present condition follows as a natural +development. In recent years the town has spread in every direction +that is possible. In the centre is the Evesham of the past, the +Evesham our forefathers built and our fathers knew. But it is +encircled by streets and houses which are not the product of the vale, +nor are they marked by any individual character. Rows upon rows of +dwellings, symmetrical, mechanical, and monotonous, can give no +pleasure to the eye, nor can the mind read in them any story save the +commercial enterprise of a commercial age. + +No one can note these differences without sometimes asking the cause +of this lamentable degradation in the character of the buildings which +compose our modern towns. They are many and complex, and too deeply +rooted in present-day commercialism for us even to hope for their +removal. Yet we may still turn to examples of individual effort +throughout the country and find satisfaction. Here and there are +houses possessing some of the finest qualities which have gone towards +making our ancient streets and cities; and here we have evidence that +beautiful building is still possible if we will but have it. It may be +claimed that even the streets we build are historical as our old towns +are historical; that they are the outcome of the age we live in. And +truly this is so; and for this very reason we must needs be patient if +we cannot be hopeful. + +But it is something to recognise the fact that we have in our old +buildings and streets records of unquestionable veracity, full of +character and meaning, and such as we are entirely unable, with all +our boasted advantages, to rival or even imitate. And more than this, +we have in most of the work that has been left to us examples of +craftsmanship, in every kind, which are invaluable as models of what +we once could do, and may do, under favourable conditions, again. + +Let us then guard this goodly heritage for ourselves and our children +with jealous care, trusting that in fulness of time their handiwork +may be not unworthy to stand beside the best that has been +accomplished in the past. These storied towns may then be with us +still to teach what no history book can tell, and to inspire us with +the spirit of emulation for those qualities which sleep with the +Genius of the Past. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EVESHAM AND THE VALE + +_Great Evesham's fertile glebe what tongue hath not extolled._ +_As though to her alone belonged the crown of gold_. + + --MICHAEL DRAYTON. + + +Evesham stands on a kind of peninsula formed by a deep loop of the +river Avon on its way from Stratford-on-Avon to Tewkesbury. The broad +vale in which it lies is enclosed by a semicircle of hills, which +provide a background to every varied landscape, and give a sense of +homeliness and seclusion which those who are familiar with unbroken +stretches of level country will at once recognise and appreciate. From +the east to the south-west range the Cotswolds, not striking in +outline but depending for their beauty in great part upon the play of +light and shade and the variety given by atmospheric effects. To +dwellers in the vale the appearance of the hills not only reflects the +feeling of the day but foretells the coming weather. When a delicate, +blue haze shrouds their forms, entirely obliterating the more distant +heights, the pleasure-seeker rests content in the promise of a fair +morn; but no pleasant expectations can be formed when, robed in +deepest purple, they seem to draw in and crowd together, and with +vastly increased bulk to frown upon the darkening vale. + +[Illustration: EVESHAM AND BREDON HILL FROM THE PARKS] + +At each end of the Cotswold range, as seen from Evesham, stands, +sentinel like, an isolated elevation, and in early times, as present +remains testify, both these were occupied as fortified posts. To the +east is Meon Hill, and to the south-west stands Bredon, the nearest +and most prominent of the group. In the south-east the position of +Broadway is decisively marked by its pseudo-Norman tower, and due +south the level outline ended by an abrupt escarpment to the eastward +is Cleeve Cloud, carrying the range on towards Cheltenham and Bristol. + +But the chief glory of the vale, so far as its background is +concerned, is the truly mountainous outline of the Malvern Hills, the +whole length of which is seen bounding the western horizon. The +breadth of the valley here is more than twenty miles from hill to +hill, and includes both the Severn and its tributary stream. To how +many does the thought of sunrise not recall this undulating range +illuminated and glorified by the clear beams of the early sun striking +across the vale and thrown back in glittering fragments by the long +line of houses at its base! And few more beautiful associations will +gather round the sunset than those in which Malvern plays its part, +the rocky skyline standing up sharp and clear against the +ever-changing brilliance. As we recall the scene the dazzling +effulgence fades into a glow, the glow diminishes almost imperceptibly +into twilight, and, as we watch, a line of twinkling lights becomes +visible beneath the hill, and one by one the stars appear in the +deepening sky. + +Northward there are no striking elevations, the ground sloping +gradually upward by the Lench Hills and the Ridge Way towards the +great central tableland; but opposite Malvern, continuing the horizon +to the north of Meon, can be seen, when the air is clear, beyond the +flat Stour valley, the outline of Edgehill, recalling as we gaze the +years of civil strife, full of terror and bloodshed, yet round which +Time has thrown his mantle of romance. + +So far we have been able to dwell on the broad features of the country +which it takes many ages to change or modify. From the earliest times +we can record the settlers on this chosen spot must have looked out on +the same hills and the same broad valley with its overarching sky. But +then, instead of the "crown of gold" of which Drayton sings, or the +silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face +of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and +forest trees. In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the +hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the +former character of this region. Only here and there was a clearing +with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and +hunters. In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow, +unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and +thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and overgrown with +rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific +in fish and fowl. + +During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and +is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not +bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages +of which we have knowledge. The site of the town was apparently +unoccupied by the Romans though their thoroughfares run not far +distant, and their camps are numerous on the neighbouring hills. Not +until Saxon times do we hear of this fertile peninsula being +inhabited, and then we are told by the chroniclers of a village called +Homme near this spot, the home of only a few peasants. Like many other +towns and cities, in England, Evesham is said to have had a monastic +origin, and for a long succession of years it is to the monastery +alone that she owes her existence and celebrity. The monastic +foundation dates from about A.D. 702, and from this time until the +Conquest we know little of the fortunes of the place. Access would +have been difficult in those days to so retired a spot protected on +three sides by a broad river, and though doubtless there was a ford +passable on horseback when the water was not in flood, yet until the +building of the bridge it must have been isolated indeed. More than +once we are told of ravages of the Danes. We know they penetrated far +into the country, and Evesham did not escape their vigilance. + +Side by side with the growth of the abbey the little village sprang +up, and gradually increased in importance. No doubt in times of stress +it was accustomed to look to that wealthy institution for succour. On +the Church the inhabitants would be dependent for all sacred rites and +the fulfilment of their spiritual needs; but occasionally we find them +waxing independent, and even defying the abbot himself. At best, +however, the fight must have been an unequal one, with wealth, +learning, and power on the one side, and poverty and ignorance on the +other. After an honourable career of eight hundred years the monastery +was overthrown. Even this great abbey, with its wealth and power and +integrity, was impotent to withstand the popular prejudice aroused by +the exposure of the degradation and vice prevailing in so many kindred +institutions, the greed of Henry VIII., and the ruthless energy of +Thomas Cromwell. In a few years it was swept away, leaving only a few +beautiful fragments to tell of its former grandeur. + +Evesham's next great claim to notice is as the field of the decisive +battle of 1265, ending in the defeat and death of Simon de Montfort, +and the allies still remaining faithful to their leader. This event, +we know, added much to the fame of the monastery, and reacted on the +town by bringing many pilgrims to the grave of that popular hero. The +tomb of the great Earl vied with, or exceeded in popularity, the many +sacred relics already enshrined in the abbey church. + +In early days, as has been pointed out, Evesham lay out of the common +beat; the Avon formed a _cul-de-sac_, and the main road from Worcester +to London and Oxford merely skirted the town, ascending Green Hill +from Chadbury, continuing its course by what is now known as Blayney's +Lane, and crossing the river by a ford or bridge at Offenham Ferry. In +consequence of the growing importance of the town, the road was +probably diverted to its present line. + +Although in pre-Reformation days the abbey dominated the town and the +abbot's will was practically law to the inhabitants, yet the townsmen +on the whole lived quite apart, doing their own work, managing their +own affairs, and enjoying themselves in their own way. The monastery, +too, was complete in itself, having its own staff of servants and +needing little, if any, outside help. The precincts of the abbey were +as entirely shut in with their high wall and strong gates, all +fortified in the Edwardian times, as any castle; and little of what +went on in this self-contained society would be known to the people +living without. It must be remembered also that the townsmen had their +own church, that of All Saints, and only on special occasions would +they be allowed entrance to the great church belonging to the monks. +It would seem that the second church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was +principally used by pilgrims, and this was connected with the monastic +buildings by a covered walk of stone. + +To Edward the Confessor we learn the town owed certain rights +connected with its market, and during the Middle Ages it was an +important centre for the trade of the district. On account of this +market, and from the fact that the greater part of the abbey lands lay +on the left bank of the river, it would seem probable that a bridge of +some kind was built quite early in the Middle Ages, if not before. In +monastic times there existed a Guildhall, which betokens of itself a +community of active citizens, and social and commercial organisation. +The education of the children was probably looked after by the monks, +and before the dissolution a grammar school was founded by the abbot. +In Merstow Green we have the public pasture and recreation ground. +When the parent abbey was removed, the town was quite able to take +care of itself: in the same century a new and more spacious Town Hall +and Market was built, suggesting that the old Booth Hall was +insufficient for the requirements of the time; and in the early years +of the reign of James I. a Royal Charter was granted to the +inhabitants in the name of Prince Henry, and the little town became a +corporate borough. + +In the seventeenth century a revolution was effected by the river +being rendered navigable from the Severn up to Stratford-on-Avon. +Wharves were built, and numerous barges plied their trade up and down +the stream. Through Stratford, Birmingham and the Midlands became +accessible for heavy traffic by canal. In this century the peaceful +vale is once more disturbed by the clang of arms. During the Civil War +Evesham was an important military post, on account of its position +between the Royalist cities of Worcester and Oxford, and the +engagement which took place here will be recounted in due order. + +No very notable events took place for many years; the gardening +industry flourished, the town retained its importance as an +agricultural trading centre, but progress was slow, and life free from +incident. But the change from those days of leisure to these in which +we live is great. Now the river has ceased to be utilised for +commerce: two railways connect the town with every other place of note +in the country, and the whole aspect of things is altered. The Evesham +of to-day is with us; over the past a glamour is spread. + +It may be that, even if we had the chance, we would not return to the +past, but over many of us few other studies exercise so great a +fascination as the contemplation of the "good old days" which are +gone. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ABBEY + +_Eoves here dwelt and was a swain,_ +_Wherefore men call this Eovesholme_. + + --LEGEND ON MONASTIC SEAL. + (_Modernised_.) + + +THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY + + +In the dim ages of antiquity, when the face of the country, now busy +and fertile, was one dense forest, with here and there a settlement of +dwellers in huts, tillers of the land, herdsmen, or hunters, there +lived near the spot now occupied by the thriving town of Evesham a +swineherd named Eoves. One day, we are told, a favourite sow was +missing, and her master hunted brake and briar, far and near, in +search of her. While on this errand he penetrated far into the depths +of the forest, when suddenly he was startled by a radiant light, in +which appeared three figures of women dazzling by their beauty. The +vision faded, and on the spot the joyful herdsman discovered his sow +with a litter of young. + +The news was soon noised abroad, and at length reached the ears of +Egwin, the Bishop of the diocese, at Worcester. Egwin inquired into +the matter, visited the place, and was himself rewarded by the +appearance of the three figures, whom he pronounced to be no other +than the Virgin Mary with two attendant angels. Moreover, he was +commanded by the Holy Virgin to build a church in that very place. The +Bishop, we know, built a church here, founded a monastery, and himself +became first abbot. These events occurred early in the eighth century. + +Egwin was a man of high connections and influence, and before long the +new institution was handsomely and sufficiently endowed. Ethelred, +King of Mercia, his nephew Kenred, who succeeded him, and Offa, King +of the East Saxons, being the chief donors. + +There is another picturesque legend concerning Egwin, which is +preserved in the coat-of-arms used by the monastery. It appears that +the prelate was falsely charged with certain offences, and to prove +his innocence he made a journey to Rome; but before setting off, he +fastened a chain and horselock to his ankle and threw the key into the +river Avon. On his arrival in the Holy City, a fish was caught by his +companions in whose belly the very key was found which had been cast +into the river before his departure! Another account relates that +the fish who had swallowed the key leapt on board before the +travellers reached their destination! The legend of the foundation of +the Abbey is engraved on the conventual seal in a series of scenes; +and we know it was also depicted in the glass of one of the large +windows in the church. + +[Illustration: The Bell Tower Evesham] + +How far the events of this early time are historical, how far +traditionary, or even mythical, it is impossible to say, but for many +years afterwards the record gives us merely the scanty information we +should expect. We hear of the depredations of the Danes, and the +destruction by them of the monastery, and later of discords and +dissensions between monks and canons; indeed, it is not until the +reign of Canute that the Benedictines gained complete and final +possession of the Abbey and its estates. The first church and +monastery were probably of wood. Later, in the Saxon period, stone +would have taken its place, but the form was no doubt primitive in the +extreme. The founder's tomb would be the principal treasure, but, as +time went on, other relics were acquired, and many shrines needed to +contain the precious remains. + +It was to King Canute that the monks owed the relics of Saint Wistan, +which held the place of honour in the church in medi�val days. They +were enclosed in a magnificent tomb erected behind the high altar, in +the position occupied by the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the +Abbey Church of Westminster. Soon afterwards we hear of the +acquisition by purchase of the body of Saint Odulf from some +travelling merchants, dealers in relics of sanctity, who, as will be +seen, had no right to have the remains of the saint in their +possession. + +Saint Wistan was a scion of the royal house of Mercia, heir to the +throne, and for a short period nominal monarch, but his nature was +more fitted for a religious than a political life, and he took little +part in the affairs of the state. In the year 849 he fell a victim to +the treachery of his cousin Britfard, a rival claimant to the kingdom. + +Saint Odulf was not an Englishman, his whole life having been spent at +the monasteries of Utrecht and Stavoren in the Netherlands. Several +miracles are recorded as having been worked by him both before and +after death. To the monastery of Stavoren, which he had founded, his +body belonged by right, but from here it was stolen and conveyed to +England. By unknown means it came into the hands of certain vendors of +holy wares, as related above, and from them it was purchased by Abbot +Aelfward, for something like a hundred pounds, about the year 1034. + +A curious story relating to the remains of this saint is told in the +monastic chronicles. Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, being +anxious to acquire some precious relic for purposes of her own, called +upon a number of the religious houses of England to send their +treasures to Gloucester, there to be inspected by her, and, among +others, the convent of Evesham sent the remains of Saint Odulf and +Saint Egwin. As the queen was examining the shrine of the former, she +was suddenly struck with a peculiar form of blindness, and not until +she had invoked the saint's intercession, and declared her intention +of restoring the sacred relics to the monks, did she regain her sight! + +Another interesting personality gained in a very different manner the +reverence, if not the worship, of the religious devotees of the time. +This was Saint Wulsy, a hermit of repute, who, we are told, lived for +seventy-five years a life of contemplation and seclusion. From +Crowland Abbey, his earlier home, Wulsy was led blindfolded, that he +might not be contaminated by the world, to Evesham, and near the +church he built with his own hands a chapel in honour of Saint Kenelm, +saint and martyr, with a cell adjoining, in which he spent the rest of +his life. + +In the reign of Edward the Confessor the church was rebuilt and +greatly enlarged by Abbot Mannie, noted as a skilful craftsman in gold +and silver; but even this must have seemed to the ambitious Norman +insignificant, and unworthy of its high purpose, for very soon after +the Conquest it was pulled down to make way for a much larger and more +dignified building. + + +THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST + + +William the Conqueror did not oust the prudent Abbot whom he found in +office at Evesham. A favourite at the court of Edward the Confessor, +Abbot Agelwy stood high also in Harold's regard, and was not only +unmolested when William took up the reins of power, but was appointed +to other offices of great trust and political importance. On his death +the abbacy was given to a Norman monk, Walter of Cerasia, and in his +time the great church of which some foundations still remain was +begun. The "wily Agelwy" had left "four chests of silver" towards this +reconstruction, but this was not enough to build even the crypt and +chancel, and we find Abbot Walter sending the chief treasures of the +monastery, namely, the shrines containing the relics of Saint Odulf +and Saint Egwin, round the country in charge of certain monks for the +collection of more funds. + +According to the monkish historian Saint Odulf refused to allow +himself to be used for this purpose, and after one experiment the +attempt was given up. The story goes that the shrine was carried to +Winchcomb and laid in the church there, with the intention of being +brought out next day into the market-place for exhibition, and +probably with the hope of some cures being effected. But when the +bearers tried to remove it from the church they could not with all +their strength raise it from the floor; so the sermon was preached +outside, a collection made, and the shrine (which now could be lifted +with perfect ease) brought home. The expedition with Saint Egwin was +quite successful, and a considerable sum of money collected towards +the building. + +As time went on the Monastery waxed in wealth and importance, and +succeeding abbots completed, furnished, and decorated the new church +planned by Abbot Walter. It had the usual choir, nave, central tower, +and transepts; and cloisters surrounded by monastic buildings. Those +who know the larger Norman churches of England will be able to form a +fairly correct impression of the church at this time; but it is +impossible to imagine truly the effect of the painted walls, arches +and columns, the rich monuments, shrines, and altars decorated with +fine embroideries, goldsmith's work, and jewellery; all illuminated +by windows of richly coloured glass. + +From time to time Abbots with a taste or genius for building added to +the structure. In the thirteenth century the central tower fell, and +this was in part rebuilt and the choir repaired by Marleberge, an +Abbot conspicuous by his ability, of whom we shall hear later. It was +Marleberge who helped to complete a bell tower, which also fell to the +ground not many years after, to be replaced by the beautiful campanile +which still remains. Although the great church of the Monastery was +the principal part of that institution, and on it was lavished all the +wealth and skill available, yet it was but a small part of the whole +group of buildings forming the "mitred Abbey" of Saint Mary and Saint +Egwin. Round the cloister were ranged the principal chambers +accommodating the abbot and the monks. Here were the chapter house in +which meetings of various kinds were held, the refectory where meals +were served and partaken of, the long dormitory where the monks slept, +and the scriptorium in which the writing and illuminating was done. +Round the outer courtyard, entered by the great gatehouse, which could +be defended in case of need, were other buildings, barns, stables, and +servants' quarters. Not far away was the hospital, and almost +adjoining the principal gatehouse was the Almonry where the poorer +guests were received and food served out to the needy. This building +exists at the present time, and it will be observed that it is not +enclosed within the boundary wall but is open on one side to the +public green. + +[Illustration: THE GATEHOUSE AND ALMONRY] + +The Monastery owned much land, mostly in the neighbourhood, and before +the dissolution the income through various channels has been +calculated at about eighty thousand pounds of our present money. Dr. +Jessop has described with wonderful realism the daily routine of the +Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided +him with some of his most valuable information. In addition to the +daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member +of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him. In a +well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time +permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening +and bowls both being favourite pastimes. Of course writing and +illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out +that in addition to the production of church service books, of music, +and educational work in connection with the school, "a small army of +writers" must have been needed in the "business department of the +scriptorium." The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed +with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the +monastery. + +Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most +part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are +not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham +contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants. The property did +not all lie in the near neighbourhood. In the fifteenth century the +Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery. At an earlier +period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this +wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a +religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea, +to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint +Benedict. This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey. + +Life in the Monastery of Evesham seems to have been sustained at a +high standard throughout its long career. If all the "religious +houses" had kept true to their vows and aims as that at Evesham did we +should no doubt have a very different story to tell. One abbot alone +appears to have been an exception to this general rule of good +conduct. This was Roger Norreys, a "dissolute monk" of Canterbury, who +was thrust upon the unwilling convent by Prince John when acting as +regent in King Richard's absence. After many years, and with much +difficulty, he was convicted "of seven or eight distinct offences" and +deposed. After the public exposure of his vicious life, and his unjust +and tyrannical rule, it is surprising that instead of being severely +punished he was sent to the cell of Penwortham and allowed to hold +office as Prior until his death. The story of the fight between the +convent, headed by Thomas de Marleberge, a clever and well educated +young monk who afterwards became abbot, and the wicked and shameless +Norreys, is related at full length in the chronicles which have come +down to us, written it would seem by Marleberge's own hand. The +scandalous behaviour of the Abbot and the neglected state of his house +was no secret, and the knowledge of it prompted the good bishop of +Worcester in an attempt to exceed his rights by visiting the Abbey in +order to inquire into the state of things existing there. In this act +he defeated his own ends, for the Abbot and monks immediately united +in common cause against so flagrant a breach of their privileges, +claiming, what was finally acceded to them, exemption from all +authority except that of Rome. The Abbot left the Monastery, and the +monks barricaded every entrance, so that when the bishop arrived he +was forced to encamp with his retinue upon the green outside the +walls. By the indiscretion of the bishop a legal point was raised upon +which the monks would by no means yield, preferring their present +miserable condition rather than allowing the slightest infringement of +what they believed to be their rights. The whole story, giving a +curious insight into the state of the country at that time, is too +long to relate here: an expensive and troublesome lawsuit followed, +which was carried from court to court in England and Rome, and was +finally settled some fifty years later in favour of the Monastery. + +The last of the abbots and one of the most striking figures on the +roll was Clement Lichfield. To him we owe much of the architectural +beauty of both the parish churches; and besides erecting the bell +tower he adorned the choir of the "great church," as it was called, +with perpendicular decoration. + + +THE DISSOLUTION + + +Philip Hawford cannot be counted on the list of abbots. After having +borne and yielded much, Lichfield resigned, and Hawford was appointed +in his place, merely that he might surrender his charge in due form to +the King, an act to which it was impossible for Abbot Lichfield to +condescend, Hawford afterwards became Dean of Worcester, and there in +the cathedral, in a recess behind the reredos, his effigy may still be +seen, in full abbatial vestments, mitre and staff. Abbot Lichfield was +allowed to retire to the manor house of Offenham, where he died in +1546, and was buried in the lovely chapel he had built in early life +on to the church of All Saints beneath the shelter of his own Abbey. + + * * * * * + +The story of the Monastery has now come to an end. In 1536 the lesser +priories and monasteries were suppressed, and we can well imagine the +tremor which this daring act of Henry must have sent through the +religious world. We can be sure the blow was unexpected by the monks +themselves. Only a few years before this Clement Lichfield had devoted +much labour and money to the decoration of the great church, and his +last work was the building of the tower which stands to this day. We +can never know whether the architectural additions which he made to +the parish churches were suggested by the suspicion that they might +survive that glorious edifice under whose shadow they reposed; but in +his later years of retirement surely we may believe that he +experienced a sorrowful gratification at the thought that some of his +work would remain for the admiration of future ages, and that his +mortal remains would lie in peace within the chapel which, in his +youth, he had planned and adorned. + +While Thomas Cromwell and his agents were engaged in their grim work +of destruction we can fancy how Rumour first made herself busy; how +the people talked of royal commissions and inquiries; tales would +reach them of priories and convents which were seized, and of monks +and nuns thrown upon the world. Messengers were seen to come and go, +and the great gatehouse of the Abbey was eagerly watched by the +curious and anxious townspeople. They talked from door to door, and in +clusters in the market-place, and on Merstow Green, from which the +precincts were entered. At last the blow fell! One by one the monks +filed out of their historic home in solemn procession, their heads +bent beneath a weight of misery they were hardly able to bear, though +not yet capable of realising the full meaning of the calamity which +had befallen them. It is true they were not sent into the world +entirely without means of subsistence; some who were in holy orders +had been appointed to livings by the Abbot and convent; to others +pensions were allowed, but what would this avail in their time of +sorrow! + +Then the grand pile of Gothic buildings was resigned to the King's +agents, and a great cloud hung over the little town. In a short time +the gorgeous shrines and altars were plundered and desecrated; the +buildings were sold; and before the eyes of the astonished inhabitants +tower and pinnacle, church and chapter-house, gatehouse and cloister, +fell a prey to the hand of the destroyer! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY + +"_... work, that stood inviolate_ + _When axe and hammer battered down the state_ + . . . . . . . . + _... the tall Belfry of the Abbey Gate_ + _Yet stands majestic, pinnacled, elate,_ + _And fills the Vale with music far and wide._" + + --HERBERT NEW. + + +The earliest architectural remains are the work of Norman abbots. The +most perfect relic of this period is Abbot Reginald's Gateway, now +leading from the market-place into the churchyard, which consists of +side walls both decorated with round arches and shafts. The building +above has been much "restored." As there are no signs of stone +groining, the superstructure was, in all probability, always of +timber, but the design of the arcades, and certain moulded arch stones +found embedded in the soil below would seem to point to the existence +in former times of two stone arches, one at each end, which would add +much to the strength of the building. This gateway stood in a line of +wall enclosing the monastic precincts and the outer yard in which +stand the parish churches, and stretching to the river eastwards and +westwards. The lower portions of the walls have recently been cleared +of earth and exposed to view. It will be noticed that the soil has +risen by gradual accumulation to a height of several feet above its +original level in the seven hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since the construction. In monastic times this gateway figured in the +important ceremony attending the installation of a new abbot. Before +entering the precincts of the monastery the destined prelate, +accompanied by his chaplains and personal following, halted in this +corner of the market-place, and after entering one of the adjoining +houses where his shoes were removed he proceeded barefoot into the +churchyard. The whole convent, duly accoutred, were in waiting, and as +soon as the new abbot appeared in the gate they emerged in ordered +procession from the north porch of the great church to meet him. After +various formalities he was solemnly escorted to the church, where +further important ceremonials were performed. + +[Illustration: ABBOT REGINALD'S GATEWAY] + +To the previous century may be assigned the bases of the substantial +piers which stood at the crossing of the nave and transept, and +supported the tower of the great church. These remains may be seen in +the excavated hollow a few steps from the southern side of bell tower. +The tower of the church was begun by Abbot Walter soon after the +Conquest, and there can be little doubt that these massive foundations +belong to his time. If we follow the line of wall to the south from +this point we come to an arch, bare on this side but elaborately +carved on the other with two rows of figures under canopies. This +archway was in the east walk of the cloisters, and gave entrance to a +vaulted passage connecting the cloisters with the chapter-house. +Though the figures have been considerably mutilated and weather-worn +it will be seen that the carving is of great beauty; the outer figures +are seated while the inner ones stand, and over both are placed +canopies of tabernacle work. We know this as the work of Abbot +Brokehampton, by whom it was erected early in the fourteenth century. +The bare face of the arch was originally hidden by the stone vault +forming the roof of the passage already referred to. The chapter-house +stood out in the field; but much farther, even to the edge of the bank +which slopes down to the monks' fish ponds, did the choir and Lady +chapel extend. + +As we retrace our steps we follow the line of the transepts. When we +reach the exposed foundations, let us pause awhile and allow our +imagination full sway. We are standing in the midst of the choir, in +the "dim religious light" of a great medi�val church. Above is the +"high embowed roof" of the central tower; around are the stalls set in +a screen of woodwork intricately carved. All is mellowed by the +"storied windows," which break the light into many coloured rays. +Looking westward, over the blank wall, we should see in vision the +tall rood screen and gallery, and, stretching far beyond, the long +vista of Norman arches and painted roof: and through the screen +glimpses would reach us of the many-coloured west window. Let us turn +round, and in place of sunlit trees and river conjure up the broad +flight of stone steps, the stately sanctuary above, with its glorious +reredos enriched with tabernacle work and carving, gold, silver, and +colours; and the clerestory lights shedding that sweet lustre we have +seen somewhere never to forget! + +The bell tower rising in solitary state beside us cannot wait for its +true chronological order. It is one of the few existing examples of +many separate belfries built to hold the bells either for convenience, +or in cases where the towers of the church were of insufficient +strength. As a rule these buildings were much broader and less +graceful in design. This tower has been critcised as "squat," but +considering its use it will be seen that a broad base is essential to +its character. In reality, it is remarkable how much delicacy and +grace have been given by form and proportion, without lessening the +strength or utility. The tower was built by Clement Lichfield in the +last years of his abbacy, and hardly finished at his resignation in +1539. That the builder and his local contemporaries were proud of this +last ornament to the town, is proved by the inscription on Lichfield's +grave, which concludes with the line "in whose time the new tower of +Evesham was built." + +The bell tower is indeed Evesham's chief glory, from some standpoints +her principal cause for pride. Unique in its character, it strikes +every beholder with surprise and pleasure in proportion to his +capacity for the appreciation of stately form and exquisite +workmanship. Built by the accomplished and learned Lichfield in the +pure perpendicular style, at a time when Gothic architecture was fast +sinking in its decline, it would seem to be, not only one of the +triumphs of medi�val art, but one of the very last efforts of a dying +tradition; in it we see embodied the lofty thought of one of our +noblest abbots. Though it has not witnessed the beginnings of the +conventual life, the early struggles, nor the palmy days of +monasticism, it forms a connecting link between the dim past and this +present time. It is, as it were, a monument perpetuating the memory of +a great period and a great institution. + +If the atmosphere be clear we should ascend the spiral staircase, and +from the summit, no great height indeed, we shall gain a view of the +town with the encircling river, and the vale with the surrounding +hills. The tower still performs its function, and every day the chimes +play a different tune, all familiar airs that never tire, but with +repetition seem rather to gain in association and charm. + +If we take the path from the tower which brings us to the left side of +Saint Lawrence's church, we skirt an old wall which bounded the great +courtyard of the Abbey, and joined the great church to the gate-house. +We soon come to a door of fifteenth century workmanship, and close by +is a curious Gothic chimney of about the same date. On the inner side +was the porter's lodge, and from here to the adjacent church of Saint +Lawrence ran a covered way, probably a vaulted passage like a cloister +walk, through which the officiating priest would enter. If we proceed +we soon find ourselves at the bottom of Vine Street, and looking +across Merstow Green; and over the house-tops, bounding the horizon we +see Clark's Hill, a steep bank on the opposite side of the river, +traditionally said to have been planted by the monks as a vineyard. On +our left is a large plastered building enclosed within substantial +iron railings. This was once the great gatehouse of the Monastery, and +was built in the fourteenth century by Abbot Chiriton, who obtained a +special licence from King Edward the Third to fortify the abbey +precincts. The windows and the wing projecting outwards are +comparatively modern, but a Gothic window may be seen in the wall +facing the churchyard, and the original arches can be traced on the +garden front. Close by, and possibly adjoining, was the Barton Gate +which led to the stables and outhouses. The long low building of +stone and timber, washed over in the old manner with lime, which rises +from the grass on our left was once the Almonry of the Abbey. It is +now occupied as offices and separate dwellings. The front is extremely +picturesque with its buttresses, perpendicular window and quaint +openings. The western portion, built mainly of timber, with here and +there the remains of carving, and a diaper imprinted on the plaster, +contains the great fireplace, clearly indicated on this side by the +mass of solid stonework. Turning the corner into Little Abbey Lane we +come to the yard at the back, and we may be allowed to view the +interior of the Almoner's kitchen, which still retains some of its +primitive character. From this apartment a passage runs through the +entire length of the building, and this was no doubt originally +continued, forming a communication with the main buildings of the +Monastery. In the corner of the courtyard, beneath a brick gable which +is mere modern patchwork, the passage takes an abrupt turn, and in the +angle is placed a curious "lantern" of stone, which, from its +character, may very probably be the work of the Gloucester school of +masons of the fifteenth century. The proper position and use of this +curious relic is only guessed at. The chambers below are said to have +served the purpose of a prison at one time, the prisoners' food being +placed in the lantern, and taken by the unfortunate inmates through +the hatch cut in the wall behind. The passage is continued from this +corner to the outer wall of the building where it abruptly terminates +in a screen of modern construction. If we go farther round this block +into the garden we shall come to another cottage, and in the front +room we may see a well-carved fireplace ornamented with five +quatrefoils. It is composed of the oolite stone used for all the finer +and more important work in the Monastery, but has been lately painted, +with unfortunate result. Beyond a partition is a beautifully carved +fragment which would seem to have formed part of an elaborate shrine +or chantry, but now serves as the lintel of the scullery window. +Overlooking the garden in which we stand as we leave the door is the +gable end of a plain rectangular building, now cottages, but formerly +the Abbot's stables. + +One more relic completes the list of the remains of the "late Abbey," +as Leland pathetically alludes to that important establishment. +Walking across the Green we see before us an old stone porch embattled +above, and behind it a plain building of two storeys. This was the +Grammar School of Abbot Lichfield, and his inscription over the door +may still be deciphered, "ORATE PRO ANIMA CLEMENTIS ABBAT." The +schoolhouse is of timber, and has been little altered, except that the +front is spoiled by the substitution of brick for wood and plaster; +the ornamental battlement on the porch is also of recent date. + +For more than a hundred years after the destruction of the noble pile +the site was used as a stone quarry, and fragments may be found in +almost all the older houses in the town, and in many farm buildings in +the neighbourhood. There is hardly an old garden near that has not +some carved stones of curious shape recognisable by the antiquary as +having once formed part of a shaft, a window, or an archway of the +proud Abbey. Of these scattered fragments the most important is the +lectern of alabaster, Romanesque in style, now, after long misuse and +neglect serving its original purpose in the church of Saint Egwin at +Norton, a village lying nearly three miles to the north of the town. A +description of this relic will be found in the last section of this +work. + +The local tradition of the splendour of the Monastery is no doubt +handed down to us by Thomas Habington, the antiquary, who visited the +town in 1640. "There was not to be found," he writes, with pardonable +exaggeration, "out of Oxford or Cambridge, so great an assemblage of +religious buildings in the kingdom"! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PARISH CHURCHES + + +The two parish churches, placed together in one yard, make with the +bell tower an unusually striking group. What then would be the +feelings aroused in the spectator were the great church, a cathedral +in magnitude and splendour, still visible, rising majestically above +roofs and spires. To us the Abbey which is gone can do no more than +add solemnity to the scene which once it graced. It matters little by +which entrance we approach the churchyard, for from every side the +buildings group harmoniously; each of the steeples acting as it were +as a foil to the other: and both the spires unite in adding dignity to +the bell tower. The churchyard in Norman times would seem to have been +part of the Abbey precincts, as it is enclosed within Abbot Reginald's +wall already described, and a second wall, part of which is still +standing, divided it from the Monastery and the monastic grounds. + +The Church of All Saints seems to have served, from very early times, +as the parish church. As we examine it we read, as in an ancient and +partly illegible manuscript, its long story. The restorer, more +ruthless than Age or Time, has, with the best intentions, laid his +heavy hand upon it, and obliterated much of its character and history; +but enough remains to interest us, though pleasure is now mingled with +much vain regret. In the simple Norman arch through which we pass as +we enter the nave, and perhaps the western wall with the small +round-headed windows, we find the earliest records. The slight tower +with its sharply-pointed windows and delicate spire was added, +probably supplanting an earlier and simple porch, in the time of the +Edwards. The arches and northern clerestory of the nave belong to a +rather later period when the church was found too narrow for the +increasing population; while the arches on the southern side with no +clerestory above, are probably later still. The choir and north wall +of the nave are the work of the restorer, and tell us nothing but a +tale of culpable neglect and mistaken zeal! The head of the north door +of the chancel is, however, a relic of the original building, and this +should be carefully examined. It is beautifully cut with double rows +of cusps, and is of fourteenth century workmanship. The latest Gothic +additions are the work of Clement Lichfield. To this Abbot we owe the +outer porch so deeply panelled, with its two entrance doorways, its +pierced battlements, and finely carved timber roof; to him also do we +breathe our thanks as we stand looking up at the lovely vaulting of +the Lichfield Chapel built by him in his younger days when Prior of +the Monastery. Here was Lichfield buried, and beneath the floor his +body lies; formerly a memorial brass engraved with effigy and +inscription marked the spot, but this has long since disappeared. The +inscription, however, can be read on a tablet lately erected by pious +hands to perpetuate his memory. Over the entrance we may still see the +initials of the builder carved upon an ornamental shield. The windows +are now filled with modern glass, not unworthily telling the +oft-repeated story of the "vanished Abbey." In the upper lights are +represented figures of the Virgin Mary, and of Eoves with his swine. +The shields on either side of the former figure bear the lily and the +rose; to the left of Eoves are the arms of the Borough of Evesham, and +on the right those attributed to the ancient Earls of Mercia. The +figures below show Saint Egwin, with the arms of the See of Worcester +to the left, those of the Monastery to the right; and Abbot Lichfield, +with his own arms (Lichfield alias Wych) on the left, and those of the +Rev. F.W. Holland, to whose memory the windows were glazed, oh the +right. In the west window of the chapel is Simon de Montfort, Earl of +Leicester, with the arms of de Montfort on the left, and those of +James the First, who granted the Borough its charter, on the right. +Above him is his opponent and conqueror, Prince Edward; to the left +his own arms as eldest son of the monarch, and to the right the +traditional arms of Edward the Confessor; who according to the Abbey +Chronicles first granted the town a market and the right of levying +tolls. In one of the carved panels below these windows is a variation +of the coat-of-arms of the Monastery. + +As we leave the church porch we shall notice the black and white house +adjoining Abbot Reginald's gateway on the right. This is now a private +house, but was until lately the Vicarage. The lower rooms have been +made to project to the level of the first floor, and the +picturesqueness given by an overhanging storey has thus been lost. In +one of these rooms is a large fifteenth-century fireplace of stone. + +The Church of Saint Lawrence has little to say to us of its history. +Though an old foundation the irregular western tower is the earliest +part now standing, and this is not older than the fourteenth or +fifteenth century; the rest of the church was built in Lichfield's +time, but after having lain in ruins for many years it underwent a +complete restoration towards the middle of last century, with the +result that much of the Gothic character is lost. The general plan of +the church with its panelled arcade and open clerestory is original, +but the northern side is modern, and compared with the old work hard +and lacking in feeling. The east window and the chapel now used as the +baptistery are both fine examples of perpendicular architecture and +worthy of careful study. The carved detail round the east window with +its playful treatment of flying buttresses, battlements, and pinnacles +is charming in its delicacy and proportion; and some of the detail is +almost as sharp as when it left the mason's hand four hundred years +ago. The chapel is, in its way, perfect, a complete vault of fan +tracery. The decayed condition of the broken canopies, once flanking +an altar, and which were the work of the same hands as the east +window, shows into what a dilapidated condition the church had fallen. +There was a corresponding chapel on the north side of the nave, but +this has been long demolished. The present font is an unsympathetic +copy of the old one, dating from the fifteenth century and still +preserved at Abbey Manor. Outside the tower on the north side, and set +on a level with the eye, should be noticed a carving of the +Crucifixion, much worn by weather and rough usage; but even yet may be +traced a master hand in the attitudes and proportion of the figures. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TOWN + +_The towne of Evesham is meetly large and well builded of tymbre ... +The market is very celebrate_.--LELAND, _circ._ 1540. + + +The town of Evesham consists, by reason of its insular position, of +only one thoroughfare. The river winds round enclosing it on three +sides, so that, there being but one bridge, there is no other outlet +except towards the north. There are four principal streets: High +Street, which was in all probability an extension of the "celebrate" +market along the Worcester and North Road; Vine Street and Bridge +Street, both skirting the boundary wall of the abbey precincts, and so +probably the oldest in their origin; and Port Street, the main +thoroughfare of Bengeworth, forming part of the London road beyond the +river bridge. High Street, Bridge Street, and Vine Street lead from +the Market Place, and here we will stand and look around. On the north +side is the "market-sted," "fayre and large" as when Leland viewed +it, but now converted to private uses. It is a fine example of Gothic +timber construction; but to think of it as it appeared to Leland's +admiring gaze, we must imagine the walls and partitions of the lower +storey cleared away, and fancy it supported only by massive pillars of +oak, roughly hewn and of great strength. Below was the market +sheltered from the rain, and such as may still be seen at Ledbury and +other places; and above were chambers devoted to the business of the +town, and presumably of the various guilds, of which little is now +known. + +About 1586 the "New Town Hall" was erected, probably of stone from the +ruins of the Abbey, on the west side of the square; but from this +point the older part of the building is entirely obscured by recent +additions, and to understand its first appearance we must walk round +it into Vine Street. The general plan, though the difference in +material necessitates changes in form, is much the same as in the +older Booth Hall, for by this name the older market hall is known. +There is the basement, open until lately and used as a market, and +above is the large hall, and the rooms for public business. The clock +turret and ornamented gable were added in commemoration of Queen +Victoria's Jubilee of 1887. Little else calls for notice, but the +group of timber gables in the corner near the churchyard will +certainly attract the eye by their picturesque grouping. The most +prominent of these gables is carved with a flowing design, and in the +upper angle can be seen a large T, and some smaller letters which have +not been deciphered. Above the chimneys rise the tower and spire of +All Saints Church. + +[Illustration: _In the_ Market Place, _Evesham_] + +The breadth of High Street may be accounted for by the supposition +that the roadsides in this direction were broad and grass-grown, and +used for the market, which was large and important. Indeed, until +quite lately, the fairs now carried on in a closed market were held in +the open street, the animals being penned up by hurdles. Bordering the +green sward houses would have sprung up to cater for the wants of the +farmers and drovers, and, as the town grew larger, a continuous line +of street would be formed, and the grass edge would naturally be paved +for cleanliness and convenience. The irregularity of the houses in +shape, size, and colour will at once strike the visitor. The primitive +timber has been almost entirely superseded by the more "respectable" +and secure brick front, but the interiors and the backs of the houses +show that the construction is often really of wood with a thin veneer +of old-fashioned respectability. High Street leads on to Green Hill, +now severed from the town by the railway, and becomes the main road +northwards. Near the end of the street, towards the railway stations, +is a building of stone and brick thinly coated with plaster, roofed +with stone tiles, and with a recessed porch and balcony. The railing +of the balcony especially should be noticed, being of unusual design, +and very likely the work of the local blacksmith more than two hundred +years ago. The name, Almswood, reminds us that here was once a wood +belonging to the office of the Almoner to the Abbey. On the same side +of the street, nearer the centre of the town, is another interesting +house. It is a mansion of brick, and in front are some very fine +railings fixed on a low wall of stone. The door, which is in the +middle of the front, is approached by wide steps, and over it is a +heavy canopy supported by wrought-iron brackets of decorated scroll +work. This house belonged to a certain Thomas Cookes, whose family +were large landowners in the neighbourhood of Tardebigg in the +northern part of the county, and was built by him in the time of King +William III. It contains a fine staircase, ornamental fireplaces, and +panelled walls. At the back is a paved yard enclosed by short wings, +and from here a stairway and tunnel lead under a narrow street into +what was once a large and beautiful garden. Though now sadly curtailed +and overlooked, enough is left to show what it must have been like in +former days. Beside the main path is a tall and well-cut sundial of +stone, with a weather-vane at the top pierced with the initials of +Robert Cookes, and the date 1720. At the end of the garden is a break +in the wall, formerly railed across, and flanked on either side by +tapering columns. This was a favourite device for obtaining a long +vista extending beyond the garden, and when it was constructed the +view over the meadows and river to Clark's Hill must have formed a +charming outlook. It is now obstructed and spoiled by a modern street. +In the farther corner of this old-fashioned garden is a tower of wood +known as the Temple, and at the back of this an external staircase +winds, giving access to the upper rooms, both curiously decorated with +carving and painting. There is little doubt that some of the woodwork +came from the Abbey. Facing this is an arbour formed of a huge +Jacobean mantel of carved oak, bearing in the centre the arms of the +Borough of Evesham. + +[Illustration: (High Street)] + +An eighteenth century romance attaches to this property. A young +doctor, skilful, extravagant, and presumably attractive, won the hand +of a Miss Cookes, who inherited the place from her father. After the +death of his wife this physician, Baylies by name, being deeply in +debt, and having mortgaged his property, disappeared. The house and +garden were taken possession of by one of the principal creditors, who +must have justified his claim, for the house long remained in his +family. The enterprising doctor was next heard of in Prussia, where he +became court physician and adviser to the Emperor Frederick the Great. + +Three old streets lead out of High Street. To the west, Magpie Lane +ends in the river meadows; and to the east, Swan Lane and Oat Street +reach the river at the Mill. + +Vine Street is little more than a continuation of the Market Place +towards Merstow Green; and its old name, Pig Market, shows that it was +used in the same manner. Here, again, many of the old houses have been +refronted, thus appearing of a much later date than they are in +reality. The Georgian dislike of gabled irregularity is once more +exemplified. But Vine Street is saved from becoming commonplace by the +low line of buildings at the end, still known as the Almonry, and over +which the Gatehouse, in spite of its dismantled and modernised state, +still seems to keep guard. + +Bridge Street is probably the most ancient of the streets. The houses +on the south side have gardens reaching to the Abbey walls, a position +which would add greatly to their security in early times, and the +narrowness of the roadway also goes towards proving its antiquity. +This must have been the most frequented thoroughfare, leading as it +did in old times to the ford, and afterwards to the bridge and the +Abbot's mill beside it. Here were the oldest inns; and though all the +house-fronts have been sadly modernised, either by the insertion of +huge plateglass windows or in some less defensible manner, yet the eye +still passes with pleasure from house to house, and the effect of the +irregularity, heightened by the contrast of light and shade, is +picturesque in the extreme. + +Starting at the top we have on one side the old Booth Hall already +described. On this side the bay windows projecting from the level of +the first floor add much to the quaint effect. Almost opposite is "The +Alley" continuing one side of High Street into Bridge Street and the +Market Place. As seen from the High Street side this narrow passage +between the shops retains much of its old character, and the windows +with their wooden frames and mullions are worth notice. The house on +the left next to the Bank with its prominent bay windows was at one +time the town house of a family named Langstone, and it was here that +King Charles the First stayed and held his "Court" in 1644. Almost +opposite is a stately front of brick dating from the next century, of +elegant proportions and with well-designed spouts. Further down on the +right side is a much renovated gabled building of timber, possessing +a fine doorway of the fifteenth century with its massive door and +wrought-iron hinges intact. Almost next door is "The Crown," one of +the old coaching inns with the courtyard opening on the street. At one +time an open gallery ran round the first floor, and traces of this may +be seen on the further side. A little above the old house we have just +noticed was the White Hart Inn, the most celebrated house when country +inns were in their prime. It is now in the occupation of a market +gardener and has been much altered, but some of the passages and rooms +are still to be seen in the back premises. An amusing story connected +with the White Hart Inn has been revived by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, +who by means of it has endeavoured to explain the line in "Troilus and +Cressida." "The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break." The +anecdote is related by Robert Armin, who claims to have been an +eye-witness of the incident; and this would seem probable, as the +local touches are correct and Armin was for some time a member of the +company alluded to. It is to be found in a work entitled, _Foole Vpon +Foole, or Sixte Sortes of Sottes_, published in 1605, and re-edited +and issued, with the author's name attached, in 1608, as _A Nest of +Ninnies_. The fool referred to in the line quoted above is suspected +to be not merely the imaginary representative of a type but the +popular local Fool of Shakespeare's time, a fellow of brilliant parts, +but eccentric, and, we must suppose, lacking in balance and common +sense. We are told that one winter Lord Chandos's players visited +Evesham, and Jack Miller, our Fool, became greatly attached to the +company and in particular to Grumball the clown; indeed, so greatly +was he enamoured that he "swore he would goe all the world over with +Grumball." The townspeople being loth to lose so popular a character, +Jack was locked in a room at the back of the White Hart Inn from which +he could see the players journeying on their way to Pershore, their +next stage, by the road on the farther side of the river. With +difficulty he contrived to escape by the window, and ran down to the +water's edge. The stream, says our author, "was frozen over thinely," +but Miller "makes no more adoe, but venters over the haven, which is +by the long bridge, as I gesse some forty yards over; yet he made +nothing of it, but my hart aked when my eares heard the ise crack all +the way. When he was come unto me," continues Armin, "I was amazed, +and tooke up a brick-bat, which lay there by, and threw it, which no +sooner fell upon the ise but it burst. Was not this strange that a +foole of thirty yeeres was borne of that ise which would not endure +the fall of a brick-bat?"! The fact that Robert Armin and William +Shakespeare were fellow-actors at the Globe Theatre lends probability +to Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' elucidation. + +Continuing our way beyond the Crown Hotel we see on our right, below +the level of the street, a quaint row of gables with little shops +below quite unchanged by the present conditions of trade. Passing +onward towards the bridge we shall see to the best advantage the full +effect of this most picturesque of streets. + +Alas! that modern enterprise and modern requirements should have +demanded the removal of such a bridge as fifty years ago spanned the +stream in eight irregular arches. Here we have convenience, but will +this condone for the charm of picturesqueness and long association? We +cannot but mourn over the loss. From the bridge we look up the river +to the weir, mill and water-meadows. On the right, by the yard not far +up the stream, stood, in the troublous reign of King Stephen a castle; +and from this fortress William de Beauchamp sallied forth, forcibly +entered the Abbey, and carried away the goods of the Church. But an +abbot in those days was quite equal to meeting a hereditary sheriff on +his own ground. Abbot William de Andeville descended on the castle, +took it, razed it to the ground, and consecrated the site as a +cemetery; no vestige of either castle or cemetery now remains. Old +Bengeworth is hardly more than one long street, and there is little +now to claim our attention. On the right side of the street, set back +behind some iron railings, is a school founded early in the eighteenth +century by John Deacle, a man of humble origin and a native of +Bengeworth, who, moving to London became a wealthy woollen draper with +a shop in Saint Paul's churchyard, and finally an Alderman of the +City. In the new church is his tomb with an elaborate effigy in the +costume of the period. Passing up the street we should turn before +coming to the Talbot Inn and look back: from this point the irregular +houses and roofs with the Bell Tower rising beyond make an attractive +vignette. The old churchyard can be seen behind the Talbot Inn. The +church is gone in favour of the modern and "handsome" structure which +we saw before us as we turned out of the main street. Here are only +the graves and the base of the old tower. Opposite the remains of the +tower is an old stone house, once the manor, where a little chapel can +still be seen in an upper room. Except the monument to John Deacle +there is nothing in the new church to call forth our interest. + +[Illustration: THE BELL TOWER FROM BENGEWORTH] + +By pursuing our way past the old burial-ground, and taking the turn to +the right we find ourselves in Cooper's Lane, associated with a family +long connected with the borough. To our left is a pretty cottage, and +beyond, seen among the trees but with outhouses abutting on the road, +is the Mansion House, still retaining in every feature that old-world +sense of remoteness and repose so precious in these days; like a +backwater of a rapid river, lying unmoved while the stream of life +rushes vociferously by; a veritable "haunt of ancient peace." + +The lane leads us into the Cheltenham Road, and we should turn into +the public Pleasure Grounds, or, better still, walk a few steps +farther along the road, until we have passed them, in order to see the +true situation chosen by the monks for their church and +dwelling-place. + +How dignified does the Bell Tower appear, with the twin spires, rising +from the summit of the bank, above the willows which edge the fish +ponds! And below in the smooth waters their image is reflected, broken +and clear at intervals. All the morning does the sun glorify the +scene, and beneath its intense rays the towers gleam white against the +blue heavens. Every third hour the bells in Lichfield's tower play an +old tune fraught with sweet memories. The horses browse in the meadows +or stand beneath the shade of the tall elms. Often a brightly-coloured +caravan is to be seen encamped near the ponds, and beside it a fire +which sends a faint cloud of blue smoke up against the dark green of +the foliage. Out come the children to play on the green slope, to fish +in the ponds or gather flowers in the meadow below. An old barge, +perhaps, lies under the bank, towed up with much labour from the +Severn. Pleasure boats pass now and again, disturbing the water and +breaking the reflections into a thousand fragments. Evening comes on; +the sun declines, and the face of the tower is dark against the +glittering beams; the water receives the glow and reflects the +radiance. Tower, spires, trees and landscape assume one sombre hue; +clear cut against the sky their forms appear; and, as night falls, the +single deep-toned bell rings out the "Curfew" across the silent vale. + +Though lying outside the town, and separated from it by the railway, +Green Hill is included within the limits of the borough, and forms +part of the Evesham parishes. The hill is memorable on account of the +well-known battle, described in the next chapter, in which Prince +Edward gained the victory over Simon de Montfort, thus concluding the +Barons' War. The exact site of the encounter is not known, but +tradition points to a spot in the Abbey Manor grounds called +Battlewell, on which it is averred de Montfort was slain; and the +fight probably extended over a great part of the level plateau on both +sides of the present main road. + +Unfortunately Battlewell lies in private grounds, but the position may +be seen from Clark's Hill. It lies a hundred yards to the left of the +road nearly opposite a pretty thatched lodge, but cannot be seen from +the highway. + +Just beyond is a double cottage dividing the road into two, and on the +right is a shady lane. This is Blayney's Lane, and, as already +mentioned, it was once the London road; by pursuing it we come to the +river meadows and Offenham Ferry. The main road runs straight on, and +leads, through the village of Norton, to Alcester, Stratford, +Birmingham, &c. The way to the left is the old Worcester road, and +skirts the grounds of the Abbey Manor. If we take this lane and +descend the hill we may turn sharply to the left near the bottom and +return to the town by the "New Road"; or walk on a short distance with +Wood Norton--the Duke of Orleans' house--on its wooded slope, in full +view, and follow a lane on the left leading to Chadbury Mill. + +The Abbey Manor, with its pretty grounds, is not open to the public. +In addition to the beautiful views obtained from its walks and lawns +it contains many treasures of local interest. Chief among these are +fragments of columns, window tracery, sculpture, and other relics +brought by an ancestor of the present owner, a noted antiquary, from +the site of the Monastery. Here are carefully preserved a splendid +abbatial chair richly carved and of great size, bearing the monastic +arms, and in remarkable preservation; also two quaint effigies of men +in plate armour fashioned in solid oak about three-quarters of the +size of life. These figures stood on the face of the belfry tower, +and, by turning on a pivot, struck the hours; they are in all +probability coeval with that building. + +In one of the shrubberies, hidden from public view, is an obelisk +commemorating the fall of Simon de Montfort, and in the plantation +near the lower road is a tower, like the house denoting the period of +the late Georgian Gothic revival, and bearing the name of the Earl of +Leicester. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM + + _When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,_ + _Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;_ + _A leader of courage undaunted was hee,_ + _And oft-times he made their enemyes flee._ + + _At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine_ + _The barons were routed and Montfort was slaine._ + + --THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN. + + +One of the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin at +Evesham was the tomb of the great and popular hero Simon de Montfort. +Such tombs were a source of much profit to the ecclesiastical +institutions of those days. Hither pilgrims flocked in great numbers, +particularly on the day specially devoted to the memory of the saint +or martyr, and offerings were made proportionate to the wealth of the +devotee. Not only was it supposed that spiritual advantages could be +gained by devotion at these holy places, but cures innumerable were +believed to have been worked through the intercession of the departed +spirit. Hence the great monasteries often partook of the nature of our +present-day hospitals, "the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" +thronging thither; and, if at first unsuccessful, trying shrine after +shrine in the hope of eventual restoration to health. + +Though de Montfort was not canonised as a saint and martyr, yet he +appears to have been regarded in such a light by the common people, +and among the archives of the Monastery was preserved a long list of +accredited cures and miracles reported to have been worked at his +tomb. + +It was on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th, 1265, that the memorable +battle, ending in the death of Simon de Montfort, was fought. Earl +Simon was travelling on the previous day from the neighbourhood of +Worcester to join his eldest son, also named Simon, at Kenilworth. +With the Earl was King Henry the Third as prisoner or hostage, and on +the night of Monday, the 3rd of August, the Earl and his retinue were +received as guests in the Abbey, his army being quartered or encamping +in the town. + +Prince Edward, King Henry's eldest son, was in the neighbourhood with +a large army, but his movements for some days past were unknown to de +Montfort. On the Saturday before the arrival of the Barons' army at +Evesham the Prince had surprised the younger Simon at Kenilworth, +killed or taken as prisoners the greater part of his army, and seized +all the baggage and standards. The same day he had returned to +Worcester and joined the Earl of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer, both +leading considerable forces. + +Thus we see the Earl, with his adherents, resting at Evesham, +unconscious of the fact that, unaided, he must soon face three +powerful foes. Next day saw his fate decided. + +Early on Tuesday morning all was stir and bustle in the Monastery and +in the little town. The troops were preparing to depart at daybreak +towards Kenilworth, where father and son were to meet and arrange +their future tactics. In the early dawn Nicholas, the Earl's barber, +ascended one of the towers of the Abbey, and, gazing northwards, over +Green Hill he descried soldiers bearing standards which were evidently +those of the younger Simon. For a few moments joy prevailed at the +thought of so happy a meeting; but this feeling soon gave place to +anxiety and dread. Closer examination showed that though the standards +were those of the Earl's son the soldiers who carried them were not +Simon's but Prince Edward's followers. In a moment all was clear: the +younger Simon had been defeated, perhaps slain, and de Montfort must +fight single-handed or yield his cause ingloriously. Retreat over the +bridge by which the army had entered the town was useless, for soon +it became known that Roger Mortimer was following the route the barons +had taken the day before, and would soon be on their rear. With the +river on both sides of them, and both ways blocked by enemies, two +alternatives alone presented themselves, to fight or to yield. To add +to the hopelessness of their position the Earl of Gloucester, with his +army, was now joining Prince Edward by the upper Worcester road. De +Montfort knew that against such odds the fight would be a hopeless +one, and urged his supporters to flee while there was yet time, and +not to lose their lives in an unavailing struggle; but none would +desert their leader in the hour of peril. "Then," exclaimed the Earl, +"may the Lord have mercy on our souls for our bodies are in the power +of our enemies." + + * * * * * + +It is recorded that on this fatal Tuesday all the elements seemed to +unite in adding horror to the scene of carnage. Shortly before this a +great comet had made men fear and wonder; and now, on this morning the +sky was overcast with such dense clouds that the land was in darkness; +so black were the heavens that nothing like it had been known within +the memory of man. A violent tempest, with a deluge of rain and +terrific thunder and lightning, swept over the country. The terrified +monks could not see their books as they chanted the Psalms in the +darkened choir, and as they sat in the refectory they could not tell +what food lay upon their trenchers. + +Meanwhile the battle raged on the hill above the town; desperately the +barons fought, but, one by one, they fell overpowered by numbers. +Though the earl was sixty-five years of age he fought "stoutly, like a +giant, for the liberties of England" to the end. + +We will not dwell on the horror of the battle. Popular tradition still +points to the spot where the great leader was slain, and there, beside +a spring called Battlewell, was placed a sacred rood. Two young de +Montforts fell by their father's side, and many barons, knights, and +common soldiers; but few fled. The stragglers from the defeated army +were, many of them, slaughtered, as they attempted their escape; and +by Offenham Ferry, where in those times probably stood a bridge, there +is a meadow, once an island, which to this day bears the name of +"Deadman's Ait." The chroniclers tell of the shameful mutilation of +the earl's corpse, and how the limbs were distributed through the +country, but the dismembered body was buried reverently by the monks +in the most sacred part of their church, even before the High Altar. +The severed hands were sent by a servant to the wife of Roger +Mortimer, at Wigmore Castle in Shropshire. They arrived, so says the +legend, while the Mass was being celebrated, and, at the raising of +the Host, they were seen, before the bag containing them was opened, +clasped in the attitude of prayer above the head of the messenger. In +fear and trembling, Lady Mortimer returned the bloody trophy. + +Prince Edward himself attended the funeral of Henry de Montfort, his +cousin and friend, in the Abbey church. + +"Such," sings Robert of Gloucester, "was the murder of Evesham, for +battle none it was." + +As in the case of other national heroes of old times, popular fancy +was allowed to play unfettered round the memory of this noble family. +In the well-known ballad preserved by Bishop Percy, of "The Beggar's +Daughter of Bednall Green," it is imagined that Henry de Montfort was +rescued at night from the field of battle while still living, by "a +baron's faire daughter," in search of her father's body; that she +nursed him, and that, on his recovery they married, their daughter +being "prettye Bessee." + +The miracles we read of, and to which reference has been made, are +many and varied. For some time the fear of royal censure and +punishment prevented cures being openly attributed to "Saint Simon," +but it was not long before the fame of his healing power spread, and +persons were brought from all parts of the country to "be measured by" +Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as +simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a +cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to +meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal. + +The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at +the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be +cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the +battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power +not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around +that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be +slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes +on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast, +personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of +the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or +incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the +"judgements" may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the +manners of some of the clergy of that date. + +A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and +by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish +the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I +reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a +servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in +chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise +abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from +the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict." + +In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife, +whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet +Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit +"Saint Simon's" relics. + +For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a +paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe +the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed +"saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:-- + + "Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious! + Noblest flower of chivalry! + O'er the pains of death victorious, + England's saviour, praise to thee. + More than all the saints in story, + Ere they gained their rest in glory, + Thou of cruel wrongs hast borne; + Foully foes thy corpse insulted, + O'er thy head and limbs exulted + From thy mangled body torn. + Once of wrongs the great redresser + Be thou now our intercessor, + Pray for us with God on high." + +"Pray for us, blessed Simon, that we may be made worthy to obtain the +promises of Christ." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS + +"_Who was he that went out from the command at Gloucester in such a +blaze, to adde glory unto conquest, and crown hit actions with a +never-dying honour, when he took the strong garrisoned Evesham in a +storme of fire and leaden haile; the loss whereof did make a king shed +tears? Was it not Massey_?" + + --CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLET. + + +Once more the peaceful vale was destined to become a field of battle. +At an early stage in the conflict between King and people Evesham was +fortified and garrisoned by the Royal party, and Samuel Sandys was +appointed military governor. The exact nature of the fortifications we +cannot exactly know, but it is certain they were complete, and +sufficient to withstand a siege if properly manned. A ditch, and +rampart of earth surmounted by timber palisades was the probable form +of defence, but no signs of such earthworks now remain, and the +position of them is unknown. + +King Charles paid his first visit early in July, 1644, and he is said +to have stayed in what was at that time a large house, probably +gabled, with projecting bay windows, on the north side of Bridge +Street. This mansion, for it was no less though now divided into +shops, was the town house of the Langstones, an influential family in +the neighbourhood. Here the King remained two nights, and from "our +Court at Evesham" he despatched a conciliatory message "To the Lords +and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster." + +Sir William Waller, the Parliamentary general, was hanging in the rear +of the royal army, and so without more delay the King moved towards +Worcester, taking with him the garrison, guns, and ammunition. Before +leaving, the army partly destroyed the outworks and rendered the +bridge over the river impassable. The townspeople were evidently more +in sympathy with the Roundheads than the Cavaliers, for on the +departure of the royal forces they immediately repaired the bridge, +and Waller entered and remained some days before following the chase. + +A week later the King returned, on his way back to the loyal city of +Oxford, much to the dismay of the inhabitants. For their rebellious +behaviour a fine of two hundred pounds was imposed on the borough, and +in addition to this they were forced to provide the royal army with a +thousand pairs of shoes. + +A year later we find the King once more passing through Evesham. This +time he left a garrison in charge of the town under Colonel Legge. But +Evesham was too important a place in this conflict, being a connecting +link between the "loyal cities" of Worcester and Oxford, to be left in +the hands of the King's party unchallenged. Almost immediately, in the +same month of May, 1645, Colonel Massey, Governor of Gloucester, with +a troop of horse and foot collected from the neighbouring counties, +attacked the town, and after vainly calling upon Colonel Legge to +yield, they assailed the fortifications at the bridge and in five +other places at the same time. After a short but hard fought encounter +the Royalists surrendered, and until the end of the struggle Evesham +remained in the hands of the Parliament. + +On the 29th of May the House of Commons ordered the Speaker to convey +their thanks to the colonel and his officers in acknowledgment of +their great service. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RIVER + + _There is a willow grows aslant a brook,_ + _That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;_ + _There with fantastic garlands did she come,_ + _Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples._ + + --SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet. + + +In tracing the history of our little town from its origin it has often +been observed how important a part has been played in its fortunes by +the river that flows through and partly encircles it. It is to the +river that the town owes its position, and its very existence probably +depended upon the advantages which the stream provided. To the early +settlers a good supply of water and natural means of protection were +necessary to life, and both these were offered by this narrow tongue +of land. + +For a long period the river was of little use for traffic, and not +until the seventeenth century was it made properly navigable. Now, +through the neglect of the owners of the navigation rights, it is once +more reverting in places to its primitive character. From Evesham to +Tewkesbury the stream is still in good order, but for a short +distance only towards Stratford-on-Avon. + +Apart from the fascination exercised on the mind by the ever changing +surface of water, varied and rippled by motion and by wind, the beauty +of this river is mainly due to the delicate and varied foliage of the +willows and other trees which grow freely beside it, the luxuriant +growth of flowers along its banks--"of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, +and long purples"--and the variety of blossoming water plants. Few +trees are more graceful than the willow when a slight breeze fans its +branches, mingling the "hoar leaves" with the grey green of the upper +side of the foliage; and many, before and since Shakespeare, have +preserved in the "inward eye" such a vision, reflected in "the glassy +stream" or more usually in the slightly ruffled surface below. The +level meadows, or sloping banks, which skirt the stream have a quiet +charm, and beautiful indeed are they in June, when thickly carpetted +with buttercups and ox-eye daisies. At almost every turn rise the blue +hills, completing the landscape and throwing the sunny meadows into +relief. + +We can hardly realise to ourselves the protective value of the river +in old times without rowing both up and down the stream for a mile or +more. Above the town, before reaching the railway bridge we should +look back and notice how steeply the land rises from the river on this +side. On the margin is the mill, and above are the houses, roof over +roof, descending again in steps to the river bridge. At the top is the +Bell Tower, and the church spires are seen near it. From the railway +embankment, or the higher ground beyond, the best picture which the +town affords is to be seen. Below us winds the river, and over the +meadows on an eminence is the cluster of houses forming the town; as a +background we have Bredon Hill, delicately outlined, or dark blue as +if overhanging the vale. + +Beyond the bridge we soon come to a picturesquely-situated farmhouse, +standing on a steep bank, and looking down upon the meadows. This is +the Parks Farm, and all the fields on this side bordering the river +were once the deer park of the great Abbey. Presently we reach +Offenham Ferry, while a little beyond, set back behind willow trees +and plough-land, is the village; and we soon catch sight of the old +church tower peering over the bank. At the further extremity of the +village, quite near the bank, is the "Court" farm, once protected by a +moat fed by the river, and used by the Evesham Abbots as a country +retreat. Hither Clement Lichfield, the last Abbot, retired on his +resignation, and here he probably died. + +The village of Offenham is peculiar in lying away from any main road, +and this gives it an air of repose and antiquity, which is pleasant in +these days. Whether the place owes its name to Offa, King of Mercia, +is an open question, but according to tradition this monarch owned +land and had a palace here, the site of which is pointed out by the +villagers. + +Beside the ferry we have passed there was in old times a bridge, and +still, when the water is very low, the solid foundations of the piers +may be seen with pointed buttresses facing up and down the stream. +When this bridge was destroyed no one can tell; but once upon a time +the road from Worcester to London came over Green Hill, and leaving +Evesham more than a mile to the south, descended the steep hill where +now a grass-grown track marks its course, crossing the river by this +bridge. The farm on the right bank is known by the name of Twyford, +and so we guess that the creek which leaves the main stream a little +way above the ferry once continued its course, forming an island with +a ford on either side. Deadman's Ait is the traditional name of this +island field, and it is supposed some of the stragglers from the +battle of 1265 were slain here while attempting to escape by the ford +or bridge. + +The irregularity of the river banks, now nearly level with the water, +sloping gently upwards, or steep and at times almost precipitous, is +much marked as we proceed on our way up the stream. After passing some +gardens, and a steep bank overgrown with gorse, the sluggish stream +quickens its pace, and we soon reach an abrupt turn where the current +is met by an unyielding wall of lias. Under the bare limestone the +water is deep and rushes swiftly, but above, the bank is covered with +tangled growth of blackberry and wild clematis, and in spring the +ground beneath the trees is blue with hyacinths. This sudden turn is +Norton Corner, and though no signs of that village can be seen it +stands hardly a mile away over the ridge of fields. The whole course +we have come may be followed on foot by the old tow-path from the +mill. From this point, after crossing the railway, a farm road will +take us to the end of the village; or we may take the footpath through +the arch beneath the line that we passed a few hundred yards further +down. + +After leaving Norton Corner by boat, the river, for a space slow and +easy, soon becomes swift, and as we approach the ruins of an old lock +the passage is attended with difficulties by reason of the shallow +water and the stony bed. If we successfully pass these rapids and gain +the next mill further progress is easy, but the mill can only be +passed by lifting the boat over the steep weir. On the way we pass +the old Fish and Anchor Inn, and a new ford calculated rather for the +convenience of vehicles than of boating parties. From the "Fish and +Anchor" we may ascend the long ridge of Cleeve Bank, and command a +fine view of the valley and the winding of the stream below. +Harvington Mill is at our feet, and the spire of the village church is +visible beyond; further up the stream, some distance beyond the +hanging wood, is Cleeve Mill, one of the prettiest spots on the river. +The village of Cleeve Prior lies behind the bank, and there may be +seen, besides the picturesque cottages and church, the old Manor, now +a farmhouse, with a quaint avenue of box, elaborately clipped, leading +to the front door. Over the fields on the further bank are the +Salfords, and among the trees the curved gables of a fine old Jacobean +mansion may be distinguished. The next place of interest on the stream +is Bidford with its many arched bridge of medi�val date. + +If we follow the downward course of the Avon we find ourselves making +a circuit of the town; for a considerable distance the Bell Tower does +not leave us but seems to follow our boat, and ever and anon it +reappears over the meadows and among the trees on our right hand. +Hampton Church stands on rising ground, among the trees, on our left, +and soon we are at Hampton Ferry. If we prefer the walk we can take a +footpath by the bridge or the Bell Tower, and follow the winding +stream to this point. According to the old chronicles a church was +built at Hampton, in the reign of Canute, by Leofric and Godiva, so +well known in the regions of romance, and they gave land here to the +Abbey. The church we see was built and rebuilt by the Monastery, but +whether on the ancient site we know not. It is a small but beautiful +example of perpendicular architecture, and with the dark spreading yew +tree, the remains of the old cross, and the delicately weathered +tombstones, it makes a picture upon which the eye dwells with calm +satisfaction. + +The hill above the ferry is Clark's Hill, and the bank we are told was +terraced by the monks of old as a vineyard. Whether tradition is true +to facts we cannot surely say; a field beyond the ridge still bears +the name of the vineyard, and this may have been the actual site. The +ascent of the steep bank is rewarded on a clear day by the splendid +panorama which lies around. From the terrace walk we look down upon +the town, noticing with regret the predominating hues of brick and +slate which mark the modern suburbs; but the old tower, the churches, +and the gatehouse, despoiled but yet dignified, unconsciously hold +the eye. The old wall of the Abbey precincts ended here at the river, +and beside it runs Boat Lane, which would bring us out on the Green. + +Looking down the stream, over the railway bridges, we see Green Hill, +with the Abbey Manor and its grounds the most prominent feature. At +some little distance to the right of the house is a grassy comb, and +at the upper end is the spring to which legend points as the spot +where Simon de Montfort was slain, and which still bears the name +Battlewell. + +Stretched around us are the Cotswolds, and if we take a path, or lane, +leading over the hill westward we may, from the brow, behold Malvern's +rugged length and the isolated mass of Bredon. Further northward, if +the atmosphere be clear, we should distinguish the most striking +height of the Abberly range, a peak which on one side would almost +seem to overhang, and, away beyond, the Clee heights looking down on +the beautiful and historic town of Ludlow. + +Returning to our boat, we glide beneath the Abbey Manor, with its +wooded slopes, and presently we reach Chadbury Lock and Mill. On a +fair and warm day we may rest here in perfect content, listening to +the rush of the weir, watching the swallows flit and skim over the +calm water and break the glassy surface into circling ripples; or +gazing with silent pleasure down the stream as it continues its +peaceful course by wood and meadow. + +Not far below Chadbury, past Wood Norton--a country seat of the Duke +of Orleans, and by him lately rebuilt--its deer park and plantations, +past flowery banks, and thick beds of rushes haunted by waterfowl, is +the village of Fladbury. Pleasant-looking houses with trim gardens +border the river on our right, and beyond are two mills, with the +rushing weir between. That on our left is Cropthorne Mill, now a +dwelling-house. + +In Fladbury Church are some coats-of-arms in stained glass, said to +have come from the Abbey of Evesham. One shield bears the device of +Earl Simon. There is also a fine altar tomb, inlaid with brasses, +bearing the effigies of some members of the Throckmorton family. The +building is architecturally interesting, but the internal effect is +marred by the removal of the plaster, thus exposing the rough masonry +of "rubble," and the irregularity is much emphasised by "pointing." + +On the opposite side of the river is Cropthorne, surmounting a steep +bank. Here are many picturesque cottages of timber and thatch, and in +this village of orchards, the effect of the street is much heightened +if it be seen in the time of the apple-blossom. In this and the +neighbouring parishes we may still find much of that rustic beauty +which we have learned to associate with the names of Birket Foster and +Mrs. Allingham. + +The church contains many points of interest. As we enter we cannot but +be impressed by the simple arches of the Norman nave, the carved pews +of medi�val date, and the Jacobean monuments--their once gaudy +colouring mellowed by age. Few churches have been treated with such +gentle consideration, and rarely do we find the true Gothic feeling so +carefully preserved. A beautiful Saxon cross, intricately carved, and +the ancient altar stone, lately discovered buried beneath the floor, +are two valued treasures. + + + + +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. + +[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 medi�val 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 +medi�val 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 + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. 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New. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. New + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Evesham + +Author: Edmund H. New + +Release Date: October 14, 2004 [EBook #13754] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVESHAM *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Asad Razzaki and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>EVESHAM</h1> + +<a name="img002"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img002.gif"> +<img src="images/img002s.png" width="320" height="572" +alt="Title" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<hr /> + +<h1>EVESHAM</h1> + +<h3>WRITTEN AND<br /> +ILLUSTRATED BY</h3> +<h2>EDMUND H. NEW</h2> + +<br /> +<h4>LONDON: J.M. DENT & CO.<br /> +29 BEDFORD STREET<br /> +NEW YORK: E.P. DUTTON CO.<br /> +MDCCCCIV</h4><br /> + +<hr /> + +<a name="img001"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img001.gif"> +<img src="images/img001s.png" width="240" height="457" +alt="Bridge St. Evesham" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<hr /> + +<h4>DEDICATED<br /> +TO THE MEMORY OF<br /> +<i>H.N.</i><br /> +1820-1893<br /> +<i>D.N.</i><br /> +1834-1901</h4> +<br /> +<hr /> + +<h3>NOTE</h3> + +<p>For the historical matter contained in the following pages the writer +is indebted mainly to George May's admirable history of the town +issued in 1845, a book which, since its publication, has been the +acknowledged authority on local history.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Oswald Knapp his thanks are especially due not only for +permission to make use of the series of articles, founded on the +monastic chronicles, which appeared some years ago in the <i>Evesham +Journal</i>, most of them under the title of "Evesham Episodes," but also +for much generous help and criticism.</p> +<hr /> + +<p><b>CONTENTS</b></p> + +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">I. INTRODUCTION</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. EVESHAM AND THE VALE</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. THE ABBEY</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III_1">1. THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III_2">2. THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST.</a><br /> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III_3">3. THE DISSOLUTION.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. THE PARISH CHURCHES</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. THE TOWN—INCLUDING BENGEWORTH AND GREEN HILL</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. THE RIVER</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD</a><br /> +<hr /> + +<p><b>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</b></p> + +<a href="#img001"><i>Bridge Street</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img003"><i>Evesham and Bredon Hill, from the Parks</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img004"><i>The Bell Tower</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img005"><i>The Gatehouse and Almonry</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img006"><i>Abbot Reginald's Gateway</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img007"><i>In the Market Place</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img008"><i>High Street</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img009"><i>The Bell Tower, from Bengeworth</i></a><br /> +<a href="#img010"><i>St. Egwin's, Honeybourne</i></a><br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page1"></a> +<a name="Evesham"></a><h1>Evesham</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>Yonder lies our ... village—Art and Grace are less and less:</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Science grows and Beauty dwindles—roofs of slated hideousness!</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—LOCKSLEY HALL, SIXTY YEARS AFTER</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>Those who love with a deep reverence the work of their forefathers, +whether because of the character and beauty of their handiwork, or +from the historical associations which are indissolubly connected with +it, cannot but regard with pain and abhorrence any cause which tends +towards the demolition or destruction of the monuments of the past. To +these it is a significant and distressing fact that hardly any modern +English buildings or streets possess the qualities which give the +value and charm to the old cities, towns, and villages of which we are +the grateful inheritors. If any reader is inclined to doubt the truth +of this statement, or to <a name="Page2"></a>consider the sentiment expressed extravagant +or groundless, let him consider the difference between the old towns +and the new.</p> + +<p>Evesham provides a typical and sufficiently striking instance of the +contrasted methods and results. Here there is hardly an old house +which has not a local and individual character. Many of them may be +plain, severely plain, some possibly ugly; but in each can be read by +all who will, a distinct and separate thought, or series of thoughts, +connecting the dwelling with its builders and owners, and with the +soil out of which it has sprung.</p> + +<p>As the varying undulations of the face of the country tell a plain +tale to the geologist, so the shape and materials of human habitations +tell their story to the student of architecture and the history of +man.</p> + +<p>The poet Wordsworth pointed out that one of the great charms of the +Lake country lay in the way in which the dwellings sprang out of the +hill side, as if a natural growth born of the requirements of the +peasant or farmer and the materials provided by nature. Throughout +England this was once the case; no two houses were precisely alike +because no two people had precisely the same ideas, wishes and +requirements; and the material was dictated by the stone or timber +provided by the <a name="Page3"></a>district. Every building was in old times the +combined expression of the individual man and the <i>genius loci</i>.</p> + +<p>The timber cottages which are still to be found in the town tell of +the time when tracts of the original forest still lingered, and oak +was the cheapest material fit for building. Often the foundation of +the walls is of stone, and the earliest stone to be used was that +which could be had for the digging, the blue lias found in thin layers +embedded in the clay of which the vale is composed. In the back +streets which retain, as would be expected, more of their primitive +character than the more respectable thoroughfares, this blue stone has +been much used, and in the churches it can be seen in the earlier +parts making a very pretty wall with its thin horizontal lines. The +tower of the church of All Saints shows it to great advantage.</p> + +<p>Another stone is also employed, and one far better suited for +building, because it can be obtained in blocks of almost any size, and +carved with the utmost delicacy. This is oolite, the stone of which +the Bell Tower is built. From Norman times it was used in the more +important parts of the Abbey, as is shown in the foundations of the +great tower now exposed to view, and in Abbot Reginald's gateway. But +the oolite stone could not be got much nearer than Broadway, and what +was used <a name="Page4"></a>by the monks in all probability came from the hill above +that village. In numerous old houses this stone is made use of, but in +almost all it must have come indirectly, having once formed part of +the structure of the monastic buildings, or perhaps of the castle +which for a short time flanked the bridge on the Bengeworth side of +the river.</p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century bricks came into fashion, and good clay for +their manufacture was amply provided by the neighbourhood. To the end +of the century belongs Dresden House in High Street, a fine example of +the style of William the Third's time, built by a wealthy lawyer, who +came to settle here, from the northern part of the county. Tower House +in Bridge Street, probably of later date, is beautiful in its +proportions and mouldings, the prominent lead spouts adding much to +the general design. Unfortunately to this fashion for formality and +brick-work, at a later period superseded by a covering of plaster, we +must attribute the demolition of the older fronts, generally of +timber, and often gabled and projecting, which gave such a pleasant +irregularity to our old streets. Though formal and lacking in artistic +qualities these Georgian screens have a certain historical value in +showing that our little town was prosperous through the century, and +able to support a decided <a name="Page5"></a>air of respectability. But not without +reason do we deplore the change.</p> + +<p>The eighteenth century saw the beginning of the great development of +machinery, and in these Georgian house fronts, the productions of a +mechanical age, we see the deterioration of popular architecture. +Every line is rigid and without human feeling: the style, where any +exists, is exotic, not national or local; classical, not vernacular. +It is a learned importation, not a popular growth. The mason has +dwindled into an unreasoning tool in the hands of the architect; hence +the lack of personality, the absence of charm; and only in rare +instances has the architect proved himself capable of supplying those +qualities of design and proportion which to some slight degree +compensate for the loss of interest on the part of the craftsman.</p> + +<p>In almost all buildings the roof is a prominent feature. In Evesham +the old roofs are all made of oolite "slats," and as these are split +irregularly, we have tiles of various sizes and slightly varying in +shape. In roofing the plan was to place all the large tiles below, and +to decrease the size gradually towards the ridge, the result being +most pleasing to the eye. Besides the interest given by irregularity, +the delicate silver grey of the oolite roofs, varied with tints of +moss and lichen added by time, produces an effect unsurpassed by <a name="Page6"></a>any +other form of roof covering. Even the clay tiles, introduced at a +later time, take their place when mellowed by sun and rain; and these +throw into unpleasant relief the modern glazed Staffordshire ware +which resists all softening influences. The Welsh slates, too, before +perfect mechanical regularity was obtained, made a pretty roofing, +though they, of course, have no local interest here.</p> + +<p>No one would wish to dwell long on the opposite side of the contrast. +We have already traced the beginning of the decline of domestic +architecture, and the present condition follows as a natural +development. In recent years the town has spread in every direction +that is possible. In the centre is the Evesham of the past, the +Evesham our forefathers built and our fathers knew. But it is +encircled by streets and houses which are not the product of the vale, +nor are they marked by any individual character. Rows upon rows of +dwellings, symmetrical, mechanical, and monotonous, can give no +pleasure to the eye, nor can the mind read in them any story save the +commercial enterprise of a commercial age.</p> + +<p>No one can note these differences without sometimes asking the cause +of this lamentable degradation in the character of the buildings which +compose our modern towns. They are many and complex, and <a name="Page7"></a>too deeply +rooted in present-day commercialism for us even to hope for their +removal. Yet we may still turn to examples of individual effort +throughout the country and find satisfaction. Here and there are +houses possessing some of the finest qualities which have gone towards +making our ancient streets and cities; and here we have evidence that +beautiful building is still possible if we will but have it. It may be +claimed that even the streets we build are historical as our old towns +are historical; that they are the outcome of the age we live in. And +truly this is so; and for this very reason we must needs be patient if +we cannot be hopeful.</p> + +<p>But it is something to recognise the fact that we have in our old +buildings and streets records of unquestionable veracity, full of +character and meaning, and such as we are entirely unable, with all +our boasted advantages, to rival or even imitate. And more than this, +we have in most of the work that has been left to us examples of +craftsmanship, in every kind, which are invaluable as models of what +we once could do, and may do, under favourable conditions, again.</p> + +<p>Let us then guard this goodly heritage for ourselves and our children +with jealous care, trusting that in fulness of time their handiwork +may be not unworthy to stand beside the best that has been +accomplished <a name="Page8"></a>in the past. These storied towns may then be with us +still to teach what no history book can tell, and to inspire us with +the spirit of emulation for those qualities which sleep with the +Genius of the Past.</p><a name="Page9"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a><h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>EVESHAM AND THE VALE</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>Great Evesham's fertile glebe what tongue hath not extolled.</i><br /></span> +<span><i>As though to her alone belonged the crown of gold</i>.</span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—MICHAEL DRAYTON.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>Evesham stands on a kind of peninsula formed by a deep loop of the +river Avon on its way from Stratford-on-Avon to Tewkesbury. The broad +vale in which it lies is enclosed by a semicircle of hills, which +provide a background to every varied landscape, and give a sense of +homeliness and seclusion which those who are familiar with unbroken +stretches of level country will at once recognise and appreciate. From +the east to the south-west range the Cotswolds, not striking in +outline but depending for their beauty in great part upon the play of +light and shade and the variety given by atmospheric effects. To +dwellers in the vale the appearance of the hills not only reflects the +feeling of the day but foretells the coming weather. When a delicate, +blue haze shrouds their forms, entirely obliterating the more distant +heights, the pleasure-seeker rests content <a name="Page10"></a>in the promise of a fair +morn; but no pleasant expectations can be formed when, robed in +deepest purple, they seem to draw in and crowd together, and with +vastly increased bulk to frown upon the darkening vale.</p> + +<a name="img003"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img003.gif"> +<img src="images/img003s.png" width="300" height="291" +alt="EVESHAM AND BREDON HILL FROM THE PARKS" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>At each end of the Cotswold range, as seen from Evesham, stands, +sentinel like, an isolated elevation, and in early times, as present +remains testify, both these were occupied as fortified posts. To the +east is Meon Hill, and to the south-west stands<a name="Page11"></a> Bredon, the nearest +and most prominent of the group. In the south-east the position of +Broadway is decisively marked by its pseudo-Norman tower, and due +south the level outline ended by an abrupt escarpment to the eastward +is Cleeve Cloud, carrying the range on towards Cheltenham and Bristol.</p> + +<p>But the chief glory of the vale, so far as its background is +concerned, is the truly mountainous outline of the Malvern Hills, the +whole length of which is seen bounding the western horizon. The +breadth of the valley here is more than twenty miles from hill to +hill, and includes both the Severn and its tributary stream. To how +many does the thought of sunrise not recall this undulating range +illuminated and glorified by the clear beams of the early sun striking +across the vale and thrown back in glittering fragments by the long +line of houses at its base! And few more beautiful associations will +gather round the sunset than those in which Malvern plays its part, +the rocky skyline standing up sharp and clear against the +ever-changing brilliance. As we recall the scene the dazzling +effulgence fades into a glow, the glow diminishes almost imperceptibly +into twilight, and, as we watch, a line of twinkling lights becomes +visible beneath the hill, and one by one the stars appear in the +deepening sky.</p> + +<p>Northward there are no striking elevations, <a name="Page12"></a>the ground sloping +gradually upward by the Lench Hills and the Ridge Way towards the +great central tableland; but opposite Malvern, continuing the horizon +to the north of Meon, can be seen, when the air is clear, beyond the +flat Stour valley, the outline of Edgehill, recalling as we gaze the +years of civil strife, full of terror and bloodshed, yet round which +Time has thrown his mantle of romance.</p> + +<p>So far we have been able to dwell on the broad features of the country +which it takes many ages to change or modify. From the earliest times +we can record the settlers on this chosen spot must have looked out on +the same hills and the same broad valley with its overarching sky. But +then, instead of the "crown of gold" of which Drayton sings, or the +silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face +of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and +forest trees. In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the +hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the +former character of this region. Only here and there was a clearing +with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and +hunters. In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow, +unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and +thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and <a name="Page13"></a>overgrown with +rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific +in fish and fowl.</p> + +<p>During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and +is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not +bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages +of which we have knowledge. The site of the town was apparently +unoccupied by the Romans though their thoroughfares run not far +distant, and their camps are numerous on the neighbouring hills. Not +until Saxon times do we hear of this fertile peninsula being +inhabited, and then we are told by the chroniclers of a village called +Homme near this spot, the home of only a few peasants. Like many other +towns and cities, in England, Evesham is said to have had a monastic +origin, and for a long succession of years it is to the monastery +alone that she owes her existence and celebrity. The monastic +foundation dates from about A.D. 702, and from this time until the +Conquest we know little of the fortunes of the place. Access would +have been difficult in those days to so retired a spot protected on +three sides by a broad river, and though doubtless there was a ford +passable on horseback when the water was not in flood, yet until the +building of the bridge it must have been isolated indeed. More than +once we are told of <a name="Page14"></a>ravages of the Danes. We know they penetrated far +into the country, and Evesham did not escape their vigilance.</p> + +<p>Side by side with the growth of the abbey the little village sprang +up, and gradually increased in importance. No doubt in times of stress +it was accustomed to look to that wealthy institution for succour. On +the Church the inhabitants would be dependent for all sacred rites and +the fulfilment of their spiritual needs; but occasionally we find them +waxing independent, and even defying the abbot himself. At best, +however, the fight must have been an unequal one, with wealth, +learning, and power on the one side, and poverty and ignorance on the +other. After an honourable career of eight hundred years the monastery +was overthrown. Even this great abbey, with its wealth and power and +integrity, was impotent to withstand the popular prejudice aroused by +the exposure of the degradation and vice prevailing in so many kindred +institutions, the greed of Henry VIII., and the ruthless energy of +Thomas Cromwell. In a few years it was swept away, leaving only a few +beautiful fragments to tell of its former grandeur.</p> + +<p>Evesham's next great claim to notice is as the field of the decisive +battle of 1265, ending in the defeat and death of Simon <a name="Page15"></a>de Montfort, +and the allies still remaining faithful to their leader. This event, +we know, added much to the fame of the monastery, and reacted on the +town by bringing many pilgrims to the grave of that popular hero. The +tomb of the great Earl vied with, or exceeded in popularity, the many +sacred relics already enshrined in the abbey church.</p> + +<p>In early days, as has been pointed out, Evesham lay out of the common +beat; the Avon formed a <i>cul-de-sac</i>, and the main road from Worcester +to London and Oxford merely skirted the town, ascending Green Hill +from Chadbury, continuing its course by what is now known as Blayney's +Lane, and crossing the river by a ford or bridge at Offenham Ferry. In +consequence of the growing importance of the town, the road was +probably diverted to its present line.</p> + +<p>Although in pre-Reformation days the abbey dominated the town and the +abbot's will was practically law to the inhabitants, yet the townsmen +on the whole lived quite apart, doing their own work, managing their +own affairs, and enjoying themselves in their own way. The monastery, +too, was complete in itself, having its own staff of servants and +needing little, if any, outside help. The precincts of the abbey were +as entirely shut in with their high wall and strong <a name="Page16"></a>gates, all +fortified in the Edwardian times, as any castle; and little of what +went on in this self-contained society would be known to the people +living without. It must be remembered also that the townsmen had their +own church, that of All Saints, and only on special occasions would +they be allowed entrance to the great church belonging to the monks. +It would seem that the second church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was +principally used by pilgrims, and this was connected with the monastic +buildings by a covered walk of stone.</p> + +<p>To Edward the Confessor we learn the town owed certain rights +connected with its market, and during the Middle Ages it was an +important centre for the trade of the district. On account of this +market, and from the fact that the greater part of the abbey lands lay +on the left bank of the river, it would seem probable that a bridge of +some kind was built quite early in the Middle Ages, if not before. In +monastic times there existed a Guildhall, which betokens of itself a +community of active citizens, and social and commercial organisation. +The education of the children was probably looked after by the monks, +and before the dissolution a grammar school was founded by the abbot. +In Merstow Green we have the public pasture and recreation ground. +When the parent <a name="Page17"></a>abbey was removed, the town was quite able to take +care of itself: in the same century a new and more spacious Town Hall +and Market was built, suggesting that the old Booth Hall was +insufficient for the requirements of the time; and in the early years +of the reign of James I. a Royal Charter was granted to the +inhabitants in the name of Prince Henry, and the little town became a +corporate borough.</p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century a revolution was effected by the river +being rendered navigable from the Severn up to Stratford-on-Avon. +Wharves were built, and numerous barges plied their trade up and down +the stream. Through Stratford, Birmingham and the Midlands became +accessible for heavy traffic by canal. In this century the peaceful +vale is once more disturbed by the clang of arms. During the Civil War +Evesham was an important military post, on account of its position +between the Royalist cities of Worcester and Oxford, and the +engagement which took place here will be recounted in due order.</p> + +<p>No very notable events took place for many years; the gardening +industry flourished, the town retained its importance as an +agricultural trading centre, but progress was slow, and life free from +incident. But the change from those days of leisure to these in which +we live is great. Now <a name="Page18"></a>the river has ceased to be utilised for +commerce: two railways connect the town with every other place of note +in the country, and the whole aspect of things is altered. The Evesham +of to-day is with us; over the past a glamour is spread.</p> + +<p>It may be that, even if we had the chance, we would not return to the +past, but over many of us few other studies exercise so great a +fascination as the contemplation of the "good old days" which are +gone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page19"></a> +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a><h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE ABBEY</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>Eoves here dwelt and was a swain,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Wherefore men call this Eovesholme</i>.<br /></span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—LEGEND ON MONASTIC SEAL.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">(<i>Modernised</i>.)</span><br /> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III_1"></a><h3>THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In the dim ages of antiquity, when the face of the country, now busy +and fertile, was one dense forest, with here and there a settlement of +dwellers in huts, tillers of the land, herdsmen, or hunters, there +lived near the spot now occupied by the thriving town of Evesham a +swineherd named Eoves. One day, we are told, a favourite sow was +missing, and her master hunted brake and briar, far and near, in +search of her. While on this errand he penetrated far into the depths +of the forest, when suddenly he was startled by a radiant light, in +which appeared three figures of women dazzling by their beauty. The +vision faded, and on the spot the joyful herdsman discovered his sow +with a litter of young.</p> + +<p>The news was soon noised abroad, and at length reached the ears of +Egwin, the<a name="Page20"></a> Bishop of the diocese, at Worcester. Egwin inquired into +the matter, visited the place, and was himself rewarded by the +appearance of the three figures, whom he pronounced to be no other +than the Virgin Mary with two attendant angels. Moreover, he was +commanded by the Holy Virgin to build a church in that very place. The +Bishop, we know, built a church here, founded a monastery, and himself +became first abbot. These events occurred early in the eighth century.</p> + +<p>Egwin was a man of high connections and influence, and before long the +new institution was handsomely and sufficiently endowed. Ethelred, +King of Mercia, his nephew Kenred, who succeeded him, and Offa, King +of the East Saxons, being the chief donors.</p> + +<p>There is another picturesque legend concerning Egwin, which is +preserved in the coat-of-arms used by the monastery. It appears that +the prelate was falsely charged with certain offences, and to prove +his innocence he made a journey to Rome; but before setting off, he +fastened a chain and horselock to his ankle and threw the key into the +river Avon. On his arrival in the Holy City, a fish was caught by his +companions in whose belly the very key was found which had been cast +into the river before his departure! Another account relates <a name="Page22"></a><a name="Page21"></a>that +the fish who had swallowed the key leapt on board before the +travellers reached their destination! The legend of the foundation of +the Abbey is engraved on the conventual seal in a series of scenes; +and we know it was also depicted in the glass of one of the large +windows in the church.</p> + +<a name="img004"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img004.gif"> +<img src="images/img004s.png" width="240" height="454" +alt="The Bell Tower Evesham" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>How far the events of this early time are historical, how far +traditionary, or even mythical, it is impossible to say, but for many +years afterwards the record gives us merely the scanty information we +should expect. We hear of the depredations of the Danes, and the +destruction by them of the monastery, and later of discords and +dissensions between monks and canons; indeed, it is not until the +reign of Canute that the Benedictines gained complete and final +possession of the Abbey and its estates. The first church and +monastery were probably of wood. Later, in the Saxon period, stone +would have taken its place, but the form was no doubt primitive in the +extreme. The founder's tomb would be the principal treasure, but, as +time went on, other relics were acquired, and many shrines needed to +contain the precious remains.</p> + +<p>It was to King Canute that the monks owed the relics of Saint Wistan, +which held the place of honour in the church in mediæval days. They +were enclosed in a <a name="Page23"></a>magnificent tomb erected behind the high altar, in +the position occupied by the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the +Abbey Church of Westminster. Soon afterwards we hear of the +acquisition by purchase of the body of Saint Odulf from some +travelling merchants, dealers in relics of sanctity, who, as will be +seen, had no right to have the remains of the saint in their +possession.</p> + +<p>Saint Wistan was a scion of the royal house of Mercia, heir to the +throne, and for a short period nominal monarch, but his nature was +more fitted for a religious than a political life, and he took little +part in the affairs of the state. In the year 849 he fell a victim to +the treachery of his cousin Britfard, a rival claimant to the kingdom.</p> + +<p>Saint Odulf was not an Englishman, his whole life having been spent at +the monasteries of Utrecht and Stavoren in the Netherlands. Several +miracles are recorded as having been worked by him both before and +after death. To the monastery of Stavoren, which he had founded, his +body belonged by right, but from here it was stolen and conveyed to +England. By unknown means it came into the hands of certain vendors of +holy wares, as related above, and from them it was purchased by Abbot +Aelfward, for something like a hundred pounds, about the year 1034.</p><a name="Page24"></a> + +<p>A curious story relating to the remains of this saint is told in the +monastic chronicles. Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, being +anxious to acquire some precious relic for purposes of her own, called +upon a number of the religious houses of England to send their +treasures to Gloucester, there to be inspected by her, and, among +others, the convent of Evesham sent the remains of Saint Odulf and +Saint Egwin. As the queen was examining the shrine of the former, she +was suddenly struck with a peculiar form of blindness, and not until +she had invoked the saint's intercession, and declared her intention +of restoring the sacred relics to the monks, did she regain her sight!</p> + +<p>Another interesting personality gained in a very different manner the +reverence, if not the worship, of the religious devotees of the time. +This was Saint Wulsy, a hermit of repute, who, we are told, lived for +seventy-five years a life of contemplation and seclusion. From +Crowland Abbey, his earlier home, Wulsy was led blindfolded, that he +might not be contaminated by the world, to Evesham, and near the +church he built with his own hands a chapel in honour of Saint Kenelm, +saint and martyr, with a cell adjoining, in which he spent the rest of +his life.</p> + +<p>In the reign of Edward the Confessor <a name="Page25"></a>the church was rebuilt and +greatly enlarged by Abbot Mannie, noted as a skilful craftsman in gold +and silver; but even this must have seemed to the ambitious Norman +insignificant, and unworthy of its high purpose, for very soon after +the Conquest it was pulled down to make way for a much larger and more +dignified building.</p> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III_2"></a><h3>THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST</h3> +<br /> + +<p>William the Conqueror did not oust the prudent Abbot whom he found in +office at Evesham. A favourite at the court of Edward the Confessor, +Abbot Agelwy stood high also in Harold's regard, and was not only +unmolested when William took up the reins of power, but was appointed +to other offices of great trust and political importance. On his death +the abbacy was given to a Norman monk, Walter of Cerasia, and in his +time the great church of which some foundations still remain was +begun. The "wily Agelwy" had left "four chests of silver" towards this +reconstruction, but this was not enough to build even the crypt and +chancel, and we find Abbot Walter sending the chief treasures of the +monastery, namely, the shrines containing the relics of Saint Odulf +and Saint Egwin, round the country in charge of certain monks for the +collection of more funds.</p><a name="Page26"></a> + +<p>According to the monkish historian Saint Odulf refused to allow +himself to be used for this purpose, and after one experiment the +attempt was given up. The story goes that the shrine was carried to +Winchcomb and laid in the church there, with the intention of being +brought out next day into the market-place for exhibition, and +probably with the hope of some cures being effected. But when the +bearers tried to remove it from the church they could not with all +their strength raise it from the floor; so the sermon was preached +outside, a collection made, and the shrine (which now could be lifted +with perfect ease) brought home. The expedition with Saint Egwin was +quite successful, and a considerable sum of money collected towards +the building.</p> + +<p>As time went on the Monastery waxed in wealth and importance, and +succeeding abbots completed, furnished, and decorated the new church +planned by Abbot Walter. It had the usual choir, nave, central tower, +and transepts; and cloisters surrounded by monastic buildings. Those +who know the larger Norman churches of England will be able to form a +fairly correct impression of the church at this time; but it is +impossible to imagine truly the effect of the painted walls, arches +and columns, the rich monuments, shrines, and altars decorated with +fine embroideries, goldsmith's <a name="Page27"></a>work, and jewellery; all illuminated +by windows of richly coloured glass.</p> + +<p>From time to time Abbots with a taste or genius for building added to +the structure. In the thirteenth century the central tower fell, and +this was in part rebuilt and the choir repaired by Marleberge, an +Abbot conspicuous by his ability, of whom we shall hear later. It was +Marleberge who helped to complete a bell tower, which also fell to the +ground not many years after, to be replaced by the beautiful campanile +which still remains. Although the great church of the Monastery was +the principal part of that institution, and on it was lavished all the +wealth and skill available, yet it was but a small part of the whole +group of buildings forming the "mitred Abbey" of Saint Mary and Saint +Egwin. Round the cloister were ranged the principal chambers +accommodating the abbot and the monks. Here were the chapter house in +which meetings of various kinds were held, the refectory where meals +were served and partaken of, the long dormitory where the monks slept, +and the scriptorium in which the writing and illuminating was done. +Round the outer courtyard, entered by the great gatehouse, which could +be defended in case of need, were other buildings, barns, stables, and +servants' quarters. Not far away was the hospital, and almost +adjoining the principal gatehouse was the<a name="Page28"></a> Almonry where the poorer +guests were received and food served out to the needy. This building +exists at the present time, and it will be observed that it is not +enclosed within the boundary wall but is open on one side to the +public green.</p> + +<a name="img005"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img005.gif"> +<img src="images/img005s.png" width="300" height="301" +alt="THE GATEHOUSE AND ALMONRY" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>The Monastery owned much land, mostly in the neighbourhood, and before +the dissolution the income through various channels has been +calculated at about eighty thousand pounds of our present money. Dr. +Jessop has described with <a name="Page29"></a>wonderful realism the daily routine of the +Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided +him with some of his most valuable information. In addition to the +daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member +of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him. In a +well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time +permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening +and bowls both being favourite pastimes. Of course writing and +illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out +that in addition to the production of church service books, of music, +and educational work in connection with the school, "a small army of +writers" must have been needed in the "business department of the +scriptorium." The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed +with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the +monastery.</p> + +<p>Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most +part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are +not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham +contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants. The property did +not all lie in the near neighbourhood. In the fifteenth century the +Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery.<a name="Page30"></a> At an earlier +period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this +wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a +religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea, +to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint +Benedict. This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey.</p> + +<p>Life in the Monastery of Evesham seems to have been sustained at a +high standard throughout its long career. If all the "religious +houses" had kept true to their vows and aims as that at Evesham did we +should no doubt have a very different story to tell. One abbot alone +appears to have been an exception to this general rule of good +conduct. This was Roger Norreys, a "dissolute monk" of Canterbury, who +was thrust upon the unwilling convent by Prince John when acting as +regent in King Richard's absence. After many years, and with much +difficulty, he was convicted "of seven or eight distinct offences" and +deposed. After the public exposure of his vicious life, and his unjust +and tyrannical rule, it is surprising that instead of being severely +punished he was sent to the cell of Penwortham and allowed to hold +office as Prior until his death. The story of the fight between the +convent, headed by Thomas de Marleberge, a clever and well educated +young monk who afterwards became <a name="Page31"></a>abbot, and the wicked and shameless +Norreys, is related at full length in the chronicles which have come +down to us, written it would seem by Marleberge's own hand. The +scandalous behaviour of the Abbot and the neglected state of his house +was no secret, and the knowledge of it prompted the good bishop of +Worcester in an attempt to exceed his rights by visiting the Abbey in +order to inquire into the state of things existing there. In this act +he defeated his own ends, for the Abbot and monks immediately united +in common cause against so flagrant a breach of their privileges, +claiming, what was finally acceded to them, exemption from all +authority except that of Rome. The Abbot left the Monastery, and the +monks barricaded every entrance, so that when the bishop arrived he +was forced to encamp with his retinue upon the green outside the +walls. By the indiscretion of the bishop a legal point was raised upon +which the monks would by no means yield, preferring their present +miserable condition rather than allowing the slightest infringement of +what they believed to be their rights. The whole story, giving a +curious insight into the state of the country at that time, is too +long to relate here: an expensive and troublesome lawsuit followed, +which was carried from court to court in England and Rome, and was +finally <a name="Page32"></a>settled some fifty years later in favour of the Monastery.</p> + +<p>The last of the abbots and one of the most striking figures on the +roll was Clement Lichfield. To him we owe much of the architectural +beauty of both the parish churches; and besides erecting the bell +tower he adorned the choir of the "great church," as it was called, +with perpendicular decoration.</p> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_III_3"></a><h3>THE DISSOLUTION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Philip Hawford cannot be counted on the list of abbots. After having +borne and yielded much, Lichfield resigned, and Hawford was appointed +in his place, merely that he might surrender his charge in due form to +the King, an act to which it was impossible for Abbot Lichfield to +condescend, Hawford afterwards became Dean of Worcester, and there in +the cathedral, in a recess behind the reredos, his effigy may still be +seen, in full abbatial vestments, mitre and staff. Abbot Lichfield was +allowed to retire to the manor house of Offenham, where he died in +1546, and was buried in the lovely chapel he had built in early life +on to the church of All Saints beneath the shelter of his own Abbey.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The story of the Monastery has now <a name="Page33"></a>come to an end. In 1536 the lesser +priories and monasteries were suppressed, and we can well imagine the +tremor which this daring act of Henry must have sent through the +religious world. We can be sure the blow was unexpected by the monks +themselves. Only a few years before this Clement Lichfield had devoted +much labour and money to the decoration of the great church, and his +last work was the building of the tower which stands to this day. We +can never know whether the architectural additions which he made to +the parish churches were suggested by the suspicion that they might +survive that glorious edifice under whose shadow they reposed; but in +his later years of retirement surely we may believe that he +experienced a sorrowful gratification at the thought that some of his +work would remain for the admiration of future ages, and that his +mortal remains would lie in peace within the chapel which, in his +youth, he had planned and adorned.</p> + +<p>While Thomas Cromwell and his agents were engaged in their grim work +of destruction we can fancy how Rumour first made herself busy; how +the people talked of royal commissions and inquiries; tales would +reach them of priories and convents which were seized, and of monks +and nuns thrown upon the world. Messengers were seen to come and go, +and the great gatehouse <a name="Page34"></a>of the Abbey was eagerly watched by the +curious and anxious townspeople. They talked from door to door, and in +clusters in the market-place, and on Merstow Green, from which the +precincts were entered. At last the blow fell! One by one the monks +filed out of their historic home in solemn procession, their heads +bent beneath a weight of misery they were hardly able to bear, though +not yet capable of realising the full meaning of the calamity which +had befallen them. It is true they were not sent into the world +entirely without means of subsistence; some who were in holy orders +had been appointed to livings by the Abbot and convent; to others +pensions were allowed, but what would this avail in their time of +sorrow!</p> + +<p>Then the grand pile of Gothic buildings was resigned to the King's +agents, and a great cloud hung over the little town. In a short time +the gorgeous shrines and altars were plundered and desecrated; the +buildings were sold; and before the eyes of the astonished inhabitants +tower and pinnacle, church and chapter-house, gatehouse and cloister, +fell a prey to the hand of the destroyer!</p><a name="Page35"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a><h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span>"<i>... work, that stood inviolate</i><br /></span> +<span><i>When axe and hammer battered down the state</i><br /></span> +<span><i> . . . . .</i><br /></span> +<span><i>... the tall Belfry of the Abbey Gate</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Yet stands majestic, pinnacled, elate,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>And fills the Vale with music far and wide.</i>"</span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—HERBERT NEW.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>The earliest architectural remains are the work of Norman abbots. The +most perfect relic of this period is Abbot Reginald's Gateway, now +leading from the market-place into the churchyard, which consists of +side walls both decorated with round arches and shafts. The building +above has been much "restored." As there are no signs of stone +groining, the superstructure was, in all probability, always of +timber, but the design of the arcades, and certain moulded arch stones +found embedded in the soil below would seem to point to the existence +in former times of two stone arches, one at each end, which would add +much to the strength of the building. This gateway stood in a line of +wall enclosing the monastic precincts and the outer yard in which +stand the parish <a name="Page36"></a>churches, and stretching to the river eastwards and +westwards. The lower portions of the walls have recently been cleared +of earth and exposed to view. It will be noticed that the soil has +risen by gradual accumulation to a height of several feet above its +original level in the seven hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since the construction. In monastic times this gateway figured in the +important ceremony attending the installation of a new abbot.<a name="Page37"></a> Before +entering the precincts of the monastery the destined prelate, +accompanied by his chaplains and personal following, halted in this +corner of the market-place, and after entering one of the adjoining +houses where his shoes were removed he proceeded barefoot into the +churchyard. The whole convent, duly accoutred, were in waiting, and as +soon as the new abbot appeared in the gate they emerged in ordered +procession from the north porch of the great church to meet him. After +various formalities he was solemnly escorted to the church, where +further important ceremonials were performed.</p> + +<a name="img006"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img006.gif"> +<img src="images/img006s.png" width="300" height="320" +alt="ABBOT REGINALD'S GATEWAY" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>To the previous century may be assigned the bases of the substantial +piers which stood at the crossing of the nave and transept, and +supported the tower of the great church. These remains may be seen in +the excavated hollow a few steps from the southern side of bell tower. +The tower of the church was begun by Abbot Walter soon after the +Conquest, and there can be little doubt that these massive foundations +belong to his time. If we follow the line of wall to the south from +this point we come to an arch, bare on this side but elaborately +carved on the other with two rows of figures under canopies. This +archway was in the east walk of the cloisters, and gave entrance to a +vaulted passage connecting the cloisters with the <a name="Page38"></a>chapter-house. +Though the figures have been considerably mutilated and weather-worn +it will be seen that the carving is of great beauty; the outer figures +are seated while the inner ones stand, and over both are placed +canopies of tabernacle work. We know this as the work of Abbot +Brokehampton, by whom it was erected early in the fourteenth century. +The bare face of the arch was originally hidden by the stone vault +forming the roof of the passage already referred to. The chapter-house +stood out in the field; but much farther, even to the edge of the bank +which slopes down to the monks' fish ponds, did the choir and Lady +chapel extend.</p> + +<p>As we retrace our steps we follow the line of the transepts. When we +reach the exposed foundations, let us pause awhile and allow our +imagination full sway. We are standing in the midst of the choir, in +the "dim religious light" of a great mediæval church. Above is the +"high embowed roof" of the central tower; around are the stalls set in +a screen of woodwork intricately carved. All is mellowed by the +"storied windows," which break the light into many coloured rays. +Looking westward, over the blank wall, we should see in vision the +tall rood screen and gallery, and, stretching far beyond, the long +vista of Norman arches and painted roof: and through the screen +glimpses would reach us of the many-coloured <a name="Page39"></a>west window. Let us turn +round, and in place of sunlit trees and river conjure up the broad +flight of stone steps, the stately sanctuary above, with its glorious +reredos enriched with tabernacle work and carving, gold, silver, and +colours; and the clerestory lights shedding that sweet lustre we have +seen somewhere never to forget!</p> + +<p>The bell tower rising in solitary state beside us cannot wait for its +true chronological order. It is one of the few existing examples of +many separate belfries built to hold the bells either for convenience, +or in cases where the towers of the church were of insufficient +strength. As a rule these buildings were much broader and less +graceful in design. This tower has been critcised as "squat," but +considering its use it will be seen that a broad base is essential to +its character. In reality, it is remarkable how much delicacy and +grace have been given by form and proportion, without lessening the +strength or utility. The tower was built by Clement Lichfield in the +last years of his abbacy, and hardly finished at his resignation in +1539. That the builder and his local contemporaries were proud of this +last ornament to the town, is proved by the inscription on Lichfield's +grave, which concludes with the line "in whose time the new tower of +Evesham was built."</p> + +<p>The bell tower is indeed Evesham's chief <a name="Page40"></a>glory, from some standpoints +her principal cause for pride. Unique in its character, it strikes +every beholder with surprise and pleasure in proportion to his +capacity for the appreciation of stately form and exquisite +workmanship. Built by the accomplished and learned Lichfield in the +pure perpendicular style, at a time when Gothic architecture was fast +sinking in its decline, it would seem to be, not only one of the +triumphs of mediæval art, but one of the very last efforts of a dying +tradition; in it we see embodied the lofty thought of one of our +noblest abbots. Though it has not witnessed the beginnings of the +conventual life, the early struggles, nor the palmy days of +monasticism, it forms a connecting link between the dim past and this +present time. It is, as it were, a monument perpetuating the memory of +a great period and a great institution.</p> + +<p>If the atmosphere be clear we should ascend the spiral staircase, and +from the summit, no great height indeed, we shall gain a view of the +town with the encircling river, and the vale with the surrounding +hills. The tower still performs its function, and every day the chimes +play a different tune, all familiar airs that never tire, but with +repetition seem rather to gain in association and charm.</p> + +<p>If we take the path from the tower which brings us to the left side of +Saint<a name="Page41"></a> Lawrence's church, we skirt an old wall which bounded the great +courtyard of the Abbey, and joined the great church to the gate-house. +We soon come to a door of fifteenth century workmanship, and close by +is a curious Gothic chimney of about the same date. On the inner side +was the porter's lodge, and from here to the adjacent church of Saint +Lawrence ran a covered way, probably a vaulted passage like a cloister +walk, through which the officiating priest would enter. If we proceed +we soon find ourselves at the bottom of Vine Street, and looking +across Merstow Green; and over the house-tops, bounding the horizon we +see Clark's Hill, a steep bank on the opposite side of the river, +traditionally said to have been planted by the monks as a vineyard. On +our left is a large plastered building enclosed within substantial +iron railings. This was once the great gatehouse of the Monastery, and +was built in the fourteenth century by Abbot Chiriton, who obtained a +special licence from King Edward the Third to fortify the abbey +precincts. The windows and the wing projecting outwards are +comparatively modern, but a Gothic window may be seen in the wall +facing the churchyard, and the original arches can be traced on the +garden front. Close by, and possibly adjoining, was the Barton Gate +which led to the stables and outhouses.<a name="Page42"></a> The long low building of +stone and timber, washed over in the old manner with lime, which rises +from the grass on our left was once the Almonry of the Abbey. It is +now occupied as offices and separate dwellings. The front is extremely +picturesque with its buttresses, perpendicular window and quaint +openings. The western portion, built mainly of timber, with here and +there the remains of carving, and a diaper imprinted on the plaster, +contains the great fireplace, clearly indicated on this side by the +mass of solid stonework. Turning the corner into Little Abbey Lane we +come to the yard at the back, and we may be allowed to view the +interior of the Almoner's kitchen, which still retains some of its +primitive character. From this apartment a passage runs through the +entire length of the building, and this was no doubt originally +continued, forming a communication with the main buildings of the +Monastery. In the corner of the courtyard, beneath a brick gable which +is mere modern patchwork, the passage takes an abrupt turn, and in the +angle is placed a curious "lantern" of stone, which, from its +character, may very probably be the work of the Gloucester school of +masons of the fifteenth century. The proper position and use of this +curious relic is only guessed at. The chambers below are said to have +served the purpose of a <a name="Page43"></a>prison at one time, the prisoners' food being +placed in the lantern, and taken by the unfortunate inmates through +the hatch cut in the wall behind. The passage is continued from this +corner to the outer wall of the building where it abruptly terminates +in a screen of modern construction. If we go farther round this block +into the garden we shall come to another cottage, and in the front +room we may see a well-carved fireplace ornamented with five +quatrefoils. It is composed of the oolite stone used for all the finer +and more important work in the Monastery, but has been lately painted, +with unfortunate result. Beyond a partition is a beautifully carved +fragment which would seem to have formed part of an elaborate shrine +or chantry, but now serves as the lintel of the scullery window. +Overlooking the garden in which we stand as we leave the door is the +gable end of a plain rectangular building, now cottages, but formerly +the Abbot's stables.</p> + +<p>One more relic completes the list of the remains of the "late Abbey," +as Leland pathetically alludes to that important establishment. +Walking across the Green we see before us an old stone porch embattled +above, and behind it a plain building of two storeys. This was the +Grammar School of Abbot Lichfield, and his inscription over the door +may still be deciphered, "ORATE PRO ANIMA CLEMENTIS ABBAT."<a name="Page44"></a> The +schoolhouse is of timber, and has been little altered, except that the +front is spoiled by the substitution of brick for wood and plaster; +the ornamental battlement on the porch is also of recent date.</p> + +<p>For more than a hundred years after the destruction of the noble pile +the site was used as a stone quarry, and fragments may be found in +almost all the older houses in the town, and in many farm buildings in +the neighbourhood. There is hardly an old garden near that has not +some carved stones of curious shape recognisable by the antiquary as +having once formed part of a shaft, a window, or an archway of the +proud Abbey. Of these scattered fragments the most important is the +lectern of alabaster, Romanesque in style, now, after long misuse and +neglect serving its original purpose in the church of Saint Egwin at +Norton, a village lying nearly three miles to the north of the town. A +description of this relic will be found in the last section of this +work.</p> + +<p>The local tradition of the splendour of the Monastery is no doubt +handed down to us by Thomas Habington, the antiquary, who visited the +town in 1640. "There was not to be found," he writes, with pardonable +exaggeration, "out of Oxford or Cambridge, so great an assemblage of +religious buildings in the kingdom"!</p><a name="Page45"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a><h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE PARISH CHURCHES</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The two parish churches, placed together in one yard, make with the +bell tower an unusually striking group. What then would be the +feelings aroused in the spectator were the great church, a cathedral +in magnitude and splendour, still visible, rising majestically above +roofs and spires. To us the Abbey which is gone can do no more than +add solemnity to the scene which once it graced. It matters little by +which entrance we approach the churchyard, for from every side the +buildings group harmoniously; each of the steeples acting as it were +as a foil to the other: and both the spires unite in adding dignity to +the bell tower. The churchyard in Norman times would seem to have been +part of the Abbey precincts, as it is enclosed within Abbot Reginald's +wall already described, and a second wall, part of which is still +standing, divided it from the Monastery and the monastic grounds.</p> + +<p>The Church of All Saints seems to have served, from very early times, +as the parish<a name="Page46"></a> church. As we examine it we read, as in an ancient and +partly illegible manuscript, its long story. The restorer, more +ruthless than Age or Time, has, with the best intentions, laid his +heavy hand upon it, and obliterated much of its character and history; +but enough remains to interest us, though pleasure is now mingled with +much vain regret. In the simple Norman arch through which we pass as +we enter the nave, and perhaps the western wall with the small +round-headed windows, we find the earliest records. The slight tower +with its sharply-pointed windows and delicate spire was added, +probably supplanting an earlier and simple porch, in the time of the +Edwards. The arches and northern clerestory of the nave belong to a +rather later period when the church was found too narrow for the +increasing population; while the arches on the southern side with no +clerestory above, are probably later still. The choir and north wall +of the nave are the work of the restorer, and tell us nothing but a +tale of culpable neglect and mistaken zeal! The head of the north door +of the chancel is, however, a relic of the original building, and this +should be carefully examined. It is beautifully cut with double rows +of cusps, and is of fourteenth century workmanship. The latest Gothic +additions are the work of Clement Lichfield. To this Abbot we owe the +outer<a name="Page47"></a> porch so deeply panelled, with its two entrance doorways, its +pierced battlements, and finely carved timber roof; to him also do we +breathe our thanks as we stand looking up at the lovely vaulting of +the Lichfield Chapel built by him in his younger days when Prior of +the Monastery. Here was Lichfield buried, and beneath the floor his +body lies; formerly a memorial brass engraved with effigy and +inscription marked the spot, but this has long since disappeared. The +inscription, however, can be read on a tablet lately erected by pious +hands to perpetuate his memory. Over the entrance we may still see the +initials of the builder carved upon an ornamental shield. The windows +are now filled with modern glass, not unworthily telling the +oft-repeated story of the "vanished Abbey." In the upper lights are +represented figures of the Virgin Mary, and of Eoves with his swine. +The shields on either side of the former figure bear the lily and the +rose; to the left of Eoves are the arms of the Borough of Evesham, and +on the right those attributed to the ancient Earls of Mercia. The +figures below show Saint Egwin, with the arms of the See of Worcester +to the left, those of the Monastery to the right; and Abbot Lichfield, +with his own arms (Lichfield alias Wych) on the left, and those of the +Rev. F.W. Holland, to whose memory the windows<a name="Page48"></a> were glazed, oh the +right. In the west window of the chapel is Simon de Montfort, Earl of +Leicester, with the arms of de Montfort on the left, and those of +James the First, who granted the Borough its charter, on the right. +Above him is his opponent and conqueror, Prince Edward; to the left +his own arms as eldest son of the monarch, and to the right the +traditional arms of Edward the Confessor; who according to the Abbey +Chronicles first granted the town a market and the right of levying +tolls. In one of the carved panels below these windows is a variation +of the coat-of-arms of the Monastery.</p> + +<p>As we leave the church porch we shall notice the black and white house +adjoining Abbot Reginald's gateway on the right. This is now a private +house, but was until lately the Vicarage. The lower rooms have been +made to project to the level of the first floor, and the +picturesqueness given by an overhanging storey has thus been lost. In +one of these rooms is a large fifteenth-century fireplace of stone.</p> + +<p>The Church of Saint Lawrence has little to say to us of its history. +Though an old foundation the irregular western tower is the earliest +part now standing, and this is not older than the fourteenth or +fifteenth century; the rest of the church<a name="Page49"></a> was built in Lichfield's +time, but after having lain in ruins for many years it underwent a +complete restoration towards the middle of last century, with the +result that much of the Gothic character is lost. The general plan of +the church with its panelled arcade and open clerestory is original, +but the northern side is modern, and compared with the old work hard +and lacking in feeling. The east window and the chapel now used as the +baptistery are both fine examples of perpendicular architecture and +worthy of careful study. The carved detail round the east window with +its playful treatment of flying buttresses, battlements, and pinnacles +is charming in its delicacy and proportion; and some of the detail is +almost as sharp as when it left the mason's hand four hundred years +ago. The chapel is, in its way, perfect, a complete vault of fan +tracery. The decayed condition of the broken canopies, once flanking +an altar, and which were the work of the same hands as the east +window, shows into what a dilapidated condition the church had fallen. +There was a corresponding chapel on the north side of the nave, but +this has been long demolished. The present font is an unsympathetic +copy of the old one, dating from the fifteenth century and still +preserved at Abbey Manor. Outside the tower on the north side, and set +on a level with the eye,<a name="Page50"></a> should be noticed a carving of the +Crucifixion, much worn by weather and rough usage; but even yet may be +traced a master hand in the attitudes and proportion of the figures.</p><a name="Page51"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a><h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE TOWN</h3> + +<p><i>The towne of Evesham is meetly large and well builded of tymbre ... +The market is very celebrate</i>.—LELAND, circ. 1540.</p> +<br /> + +<p>The town of Evesham consists, by reason of its insular position, of +only one thoroughfare. The river winds round enclosing it on three +sides, so that, there being but one bridge, there is no other outlet +except towards the north. There are four principal streets: High +Street, which was in all probability an extension of the "celebrate" +market along the Worcester and North Road; Vine Street and Bridge +Street, both skirting the boundary wall of the abbey precincts, and so +probably the oldest in their origin; and Port Street, the main +thoroughfare of Bengeworth, forming part of the London road beyond the +river bridge. High Street, Bridge Street, and Vine Street lead from +the Market Place, and here we will stand and look around. On the north +side is the "market-sted," "fayre and large" as when Leland viewed<a name="Page52"></a> +it, but now converted to private uses. It is a fine example of Gothic +timber construction; but to think of it as it appeared to Leland's +admiring gaze, we must imagine the walls and partitions of the lower +storey cleared away, and fancy it supported only by massive pillars of +oak, roughly hewn and of great strength. Below was the market +sheltered from the rain, and such as may still be seen at Ledbury and +other places; and above were chambers devoted to the business of the +town, and presumably of the various guilds, of which little is now +known.</p> + +<p>About 1586 the "New Town Hall" was erected, probably of stone from the +ruins of the Abbey, on the west side of the square; but from this +point the older part of the building is entirely obscured by recent +additions, and to understand its first appearance we must walk round +it into Vine Street. The general plan, though the difference in +material necessitates changes in form, is much the same as in the +older Booth Hall, for by this name the older market hall is known. +There is the basement, open until lately and used as a market, and +above is the large hall, and the rooms for public business. The clock +turret and ornamented gable were added in commemoration of Queen +Victoria's Jubilee of 1887. Little else calls for notice, but the +group of timber gables in<a name="Page53"></a><a name="Page54"></a> the corner near the churchyard will +certainly attract the eye by their picturesque grouping. The most +prominent of these gables is carved with a flowing design, and in the +upper angle can be seen a large T, and some smaller letters which have +not been deciphered. Above the chimneys rise the tower and spire of +All Saints Church.</p> + +<a name="img007"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img007.gif"> +<img src="images/img007s.png" width="240" height="436" +alt="In the Market Place, Evesham" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>The breadth of High Street may be accounted for by the supposition +that the roadsides in this direction were broad and grass-grown, and +used for the market, which was large and important. Indeed, until +quite lately, the fairs now carried on in a closed market were held in +the open street, the animals being penned up by hurdles. Bordering the +green sward houses would have sprung up to cater for the wants of the +farmers and drovers, and, as the town grew larger, a continuous line +of street would be formed, and the grass edge would naturally be paved +for cleanliness and convenience. The irregularity of the houses in +shape, size, and colour will at once strike the visitor. The primitive +timber has been almost entirely superseded by the more "respectable" +and secure brick front, but the interiors and the backs of the houses +show that the construction is often really of wood with a thin veneer +of old-fashioned respectability. High Street leads on to Green<a name="Page55"></a> Hill, +now severed from the town by the railway, and becomes the main road +northwards. Near the end of the street, towards the railway stations, +is a building of stone and brick thinly coated with plaster, roofed +with stone tiles, and with a recessed porch<a name="Page56"></a> and balcony. The railing +of the balcony especially should be noticed, being of unusual design, +and very likely the work of the local blacksmith more than two hundred +years ago. The name, Almswood, reminds us that here was once a wood +belonging to the office of the Almoner to the Abbey. On the same side +of the street, nearer the centre of the town, is another interesting +house. It is a mansion of brick, and in front are some very fine +railings fixed on a low wall of stone. The door, which is in the +middle of the front, is approached by wide steps, and over it is a +heavy canopy supported by wrought-iron brackets of decorated scroll +work. This house belonged to a certain Thomas Cookes, whose family +were large landowners in the neighbourhood of Tardebigg in the +northern part of the county, and was built by him in the time of King +William III. It contains a fine staircase, ornamental fireplaces, and +panelled walls. At the back is a paved yard enclosed by short wings, +and from here a stairway and tunnel lead under a narrow street into +what was once a large and beautiful garden. Though now sadly curtailed +and overlooked, enough is left to show what it must have been like in +former days. Beside the main path is a tall and well-cut sundial of +stone, with a weather-vane at the top pierced with the initials of<a name="Page57"></a> +Robert Cookes, and the date 1720. At the end of the garden is a break +in the wall, formerly railed across, and flanked on either side by +tapering columns. This was a favourite device for obtaining a long +vista extending beyond the garden, and when it was constructed the +view over the meadows and river to Clark's Hill must have formed a +charming outlook. It is now obstructed and spoiled by a modern street. +In the farther corner of this old-fashioned garden is a tower of wood +known as the Temple, and at the back of this an external staircase +winds, giving access to the upper rooms, both curiously decorated with +carving and painting. There is little doubt that some of the woodwork +came from the Abbey. Facing this is an arbour formed of a huge +Jacobean mantel of carved oak, bearing in the centre the arms of the +Borough of Evesham.</p> + +<a name="img008"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img008.gif"> +<img src="images/img008s.png" width="240" height="331" +alt="(High Street)" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>An eighteenth century romance attaches to this property. A young +doctor, skilful, extravagant, and presumably attractive, won the hand +of a Miss Cookes, who inherited the place from her father. After the +death of his wife this physician, Baylies by name, being deeply in +debt, and having mortgaged his property, disappeared. The house and +garden were taken possession of by one of the principal creditors, who +must have justified his claim, for the house<a name="Page58"></a> long remained in his +family. The enterprising doctor was next heard of in Prussia, where he +became court physician and adviser to the Emperor Frederick the Great.</p> + +<p>Three old streets lead out of High Street. To the west, Magpie Lane +ends in the river meadows; and to the east, Swan Lane and Oat Street +reach the river at the Mill.</p> + +<p>Vine Street is little more than a continuation of the Market Place +towards Merstow Green; and its old name, Pig Market, shows that it was +used in the same manner. Here, again, many of the old houses have been +refronted, thus appearing of a much later date than they are in +reality. The Georgian dislike of gabled irregularity is once more +exemplified. But Vine Street is saved from becoming commonplace by the +low line of buildings at the end, still known as the Almonry, and over +which the Gatehouse, in spite of its dismantled and modernised state, +still seems to keep guard.</p> + +<p>Bridge Street is probably the most ancient of the streets. The houses +on the south side have gardens reaching to the Abbey walls, a position +which would add greatly to their security in early times, and the +narrowness of the roadway also goes towards proving its antiquity. +This must have been the most frequented<a name="Page59"></a> thoroughfare, leading as it +did in old times to the ford, and afterwards to the bridge and the +Abbot's mill beside it. Here were the oldest inns; and though all the +house-fronts have been sadly modernised, either by the insertion of +huge plateglass windows or in some less defensible manner, yet the eye +still passes with pleasure from house to house, and the effect of the +irregularity, heightened by the contrast of light and shade, is +picturesque in the extreme.</p> + +<p>Starting at the top we have on one side the old Booth Hall already +described. On this side the bay windows projecting from the level of +the first floor add much to the quaint effect. Almost opposite is "The +Alley" continuing one side of High Street into Bridge Street and the +Market Place. As seen from the High Street side this narrow passage +between the shops retains much of its old character, and the windows +with their wooden frames and mullions are worth notice. The house on +the left next to the Bank with its prominent bay windows was at one +time the town house of a family named Langstone, and it was here that +King Charles the First stayed and held his "Court" in 1644. Almost +opposite is a stately front of brick dating from the next century, of +elegant proportions and with well-designed spouts. Further down on the +right side is a much renovated gabled building of timber,<a name="Page60"></a> possessing +a fine doorway of the fifteenth century with its massive door and +wrought-iron hinges intact. Almost next door is "The Crown," one of +the old coaching inns with the courtyard opening on the street. At one +time an open gallery ran round the first floor, and traces of this may +be seen on the further side. A little above the old house we have just +noticed was the White Hart Inn, the most celebrated house when country +inns were in their prime. It is now in the occupation of a market +gardener and has been much altered, but some of the passages and rooms +are still to be seen in the back premises. An amusing story connected +with the White Hart Inn has been revived by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, +who by means of it has endeavoured to explain the line in "Troilus and +Cressida." "The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break." The +anecdote is related by Robert Armin, who claims to have been an +eye-witness of the incident; and this would seem probable, as the +local touches are correct and Armin was for some time a member of the +company alluded to. It is to be found in a work entitled, <i>Foole Vpon +Foole, or Sixte Sortes of Sottes</i>, published in 1605, and re-edited +and issued, with the author's name attached, in 1608, as <i>A Nest of +Ninnies</i>. The fool referred to in the line quoted above is suspected +to be not merely the imaginary representative<a name="Page61"></a> of a type but the +popular local Fool of Shakespeare's time, a fellow of brilliant parts, +but eccentric, and, we must suppose, lacking in balance and common +sense. We are told that one winter Lord Chandos's players visited +Evesham, and Jack Miller, our Fool, became greatly attached to the +company and in particular to Grumball the clown; indeed, so greatly +was he enamoured that he "swore he would goe all the world over with +Grumball." The townspeople being loth to lose so popular a character, +Jack was locked in a room at the back of the White Hart Inn from which +he could see the players journeying on their way to Pershore, their +next stage, by the road on the farther side of the river. With +difficulty he contrived to escape by the window, and ran down to the +water's edge. The stream, says our author, "was frozen over thinely," +but Miller "makes no more adoe, but venters over the haven, which is +by the long bridge, as I gesse some forty yards over; yet he made +nothing of it, but my hart aked when my eares heard the ise crack all +the way. When he was come unto me," continues Armin, "I was amazed, +and tooke up a brick-bat, which lay there by, and threw it, which no +sooner fell upon the ise but it burst. Was not this strange that a +foole of thirty yeeres was borne of that ise which would not<a name="Page62"></a> endure +the fall of a brick-bat?"! The fact that Robert Armin and William +Shakespeare were fellow-actors at the Globe Theatre lends probability +to Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' elucidation.</p> + +<p>Continuing our way beyond the Crown Hotel we see on our right, below +the level of the street, a quaint row of gables with little shops +below quite unchanged by the present conditions of trade. Passing +onward towards the bridge we shall see to the best advantage the full +effect of this most picturesque of streets.</p> + +<p>Alas! that modern enterprise and modern requirements should have +demanded the removal of such a bridge as fifty years ago spanned the +stream in eight irregular arches. Here we have convenience, but will +this condone for the charm of picturesqueness and long association? We +cannot but mourn over the loss. From the bridge we look up the river +to the weir, mill and water-meadows. On the right, by the yard not far +up the stream, stood, in the troublous reign of King Stephen a castle; +and from this fortress William de Beauchamp sallied forth, forcibly +entered the Abbey, and carried away the goods of the Church. But an +abbot in those days was quite equal to meeting a hereditary sheriff on +his own ground. Abbot William de Andeville descended on the castle, +took it, razed it to the ground, and consecrated<a name="Page63"></a> the site as a +cemetery; no vestige of either castle or cemetery now remains. Old +Bengeworth is hardly more than one long street, and there is little +now to claim our attention. On the right side of the street, set back +behind some iron railings, is a school founded early in the eighteenth +century by John Deacle, a man of humble origin and a native of +Bengeworth, who, moving to London became a wealthy woollen draper with +a shop in Saint Paul's churchyard, and finally an Alderman of the +City. In the new church is his tomb<a name="Page64"></a> with an elaborate effigy in the +costume of the period. Passing up the street we should turn before +coming to the Talbot Inn and look back: from this point the irregular +houses and roofs with the Bell Tower rising beyond make an attractive +vignette. The old churchyard can be seen behind the Talbot Inn. The +church is gone in favour of the modern and "handsome" structure which +we saw before us as we turned out of the main street. Here are only +the graves and the base of the old tower. Opposite the remains of the +tower is an old stone house, once the manor, where a little chapel can +still be seen in an upper room. Except the monument to John Deacle +there is nothing in the new church to call forth our interest.</p> + +<a name="img009"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img009.gif"> +<img src="images/img009s.png" width="320" height="329" +alt="THE BELL TOWER FROM BENGEWORTH" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>By pursuing our way past the old burial-ground, and taking the turn to +the right we find ourselves in Cooper's Lane, associated with a family +long connected with the borough. To our left is a pretty cottage, and +beyond, seen among the trees but with outhouses abutting on the road, +is the Mansion House, still retaining in every feature that old-world +sense of remoteness and repose so precious in these days; like a +backwater of a rapid river, lying unmoved while the stream of life +rushes vociferously by; a veritable "haunt of ancient peace."</p><a name="Page65"></a> + +<p>The lane leads us into the Cheltenham Road, and we should turn into +the public Pleasure Grounds, or, better still, walk a few steps +farther along the road, until we have passed them, in order to see the +true situation chosen by the monks for their church and +dwelling-place.</p> + +<p>How dignified does the Bell Tower appear, with the twin spires, rising +from the summit of the bank, above the willows which edge the fish +ponds! And below in the smooth waters their image is reflected, broken +and clear at intervals. All the morning does the sun glorify the +scene, and beneath its intense rays the towers gleam white against the +blue heavens. Every third hour the bells in Lichfield's tower play an +old tune fraught with sweet memories. The horses browse in the meadows +or stand beneath the shade of the tall elms. Often a brightly-coloured +caravan is to be seen encamped near the ponds, and beside it a fire +which sends a faint cloud of blue smoke up against the dark green of +the foliage. Out come the children to play on the green slope, to fish +in the ponds or gather flowers in the meadow below. An old barge, +perhaps, lies under the bank, towed up with much labour from the +Severn. Pleasure boats pass now and again, disturbing the water and +breaking the reflections into a thousand fragments. Evening comes on; +the sun<a name="Page66"></a> declines, and the face of the tower is dark against the +glittering beams; the water receives the glow and reflects the +radiance. Tower, spires, trees and landscape assume one sombre hue; +clear cut against the sky their forms appear; and, as night falls, the +single deep-toned bell rings out the "Curfew" across the silent vale.</p> + +<p>Though lying outside the town, and separated from it by the railway, +Green Hill is included within the limits of the borough, and forms +part of the Evesham parishes. The hill is memorable on account of the +well-known battle, described in the next chapter, in which Prince +Edward gained the victory over Simon de Montfort, thus concluding the +Barons' War. The exact site of the encounter is not known, but +tradition points to a spot in the Abbey Manor grounds called +Battlewell, on which it is averred de Montfort was slain; and the +fight probably extended over a great part of the level plateau on both +sides of the present main road.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately Battlewell lies in private grounds, but the position may +be seen from Clark's Hill. It lies a hundred yards to the left of the +road nearly opposite a pretty thatched lodge, but cannot be seen from +the highway.</p> + +<p>Just beyond is a double cottage dividing the road into two, and on the +right is a shady lane. This is Blayney's Lane, and,<a name="Page67"></a> as already +mentioned, it was once the London road; by pursuing it we come to the +river meadows and Offenham Ferry. The main road runs straight on, and +leads, through the village of Norton, to Alcester, Stratford, +Birmingham, &c. The way to the left is the old Worcester road, and +skirts the grounds of the Abbey Manor. If we take this lane and +descend the hill we may turn sharply to the left near the bottom and +return to the town by the "New Road"; or walk on a short distance with +Wood Norton—the Duke of Orleans' house—on its wooded slope, in full +view, and follow a lane on the left leading to Chadbury Mill.</p> + +<p>The Abbey Manor, with its pretty grounds, is not open to the public. +In addition to the beautiful views obtained from its walks and lawns +it contains many treasures of local interest. Chief among these are +fragments of columns, window tracery, sculpture, and other relics +brought by an ancestor of the present owner, a noted antiquary, from +the site of the Monastery. Here are carefully preserved a splendid +abbatial chair richly carved and of great size, bearing the monastic +arms, and in remarkable preservation; also two quaint effigies of men +in plate armour fashioned in solid oak about three-quarters of the +size of life. These figures stood on the face of the belfry tower, +and, by turning<a name="Page68"></a> on a pivot, struck the hours; they are in all +probability coeval with that building.</p> + +<p>In one of the shrubberies, hidden from public view, is an obelisk +commemorating the fall of Simon de Montfort, and in the plantation +near the lower road is a tower, like the house denoting the period of +the late Georgian Gothic revival, and bearing the name of the Earl of +Leicester.</p><a name="Page69"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a><h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;</i><br /></span> +<span><i>A leader of courage undaunted was hee,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>And oft-times he made their enemyes flee.</i><br /></span> + <br /> +<span><i>At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine</i><br /></span> +<span><i>The barons were routed and Montfort was slaine.</i><br /></span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>One of the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin at +Evesham was the tomb of the great and popular hero Simon de Montfort. +Such tombs were a source of much profit to the ecclesiastical +institutions of those days. Hither pilgrims flocked in great numbers, +particularly on the day specially devoted to the memory of the saint +or martyr, and offerings were made proportionate to the wealth of the +devotee. Not only was it supposed that spiritual advantages could be +gained by devotion at these holy places, but cures innumerable were +believed to have been worked through the intercession of the departed +spirit. Hence the great monasteries often partook of the nature of our +present-day hospitals, "the maimed, and<a name="Page70"></a> the halt, and the blind" +thronging thither; and, if at first unsuccessful, trying shrine after +shrine in the hope of eventual restoration to health.</p> + +<p>Though de Montfort was not canonised as a saint and martyr, yet he +appears to have been regarded in such a light by the common people, +and among the archives of the Monastery was preserved a long list of +accredited cures and miracles reported to have been worked at his +tomb.</p> + +<p>It was on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th, 1265, that the memorable +battle, ending in the death of Simon de Montfort, was fought. Earl +Simon was travelling on the previous day from the neighbourhood of +Worcester to join his eldest son, also named Simon, at Kenilworth. +With the Earl was King Henry the Third as prisoner or hostage, and on +the night of Monday, the 3rd of August, the Earl and his retinue were +received as guests in the Abbey, his army being quartered or encamping +in the town.</p> + +<p>Prince Edward, King Henry's eldest son, was in the neighbourhood with +a large army, but his movements for some days past were unknown to de +Montfort. On the Saturday before the arrival of the Barons' army at +Evesham the Prince had surprised the younger Simon at Kenilworth, +killed or taken as prisoners the greater part of his army, and seized +all<a name="Page71"></a> the baggage and standards. The same day he had returned to +Worcester and joined the Earl of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer, both +leading considerable forces.</p> + +<p>Thus we see the Earl, with his adherents, resting at Evesham, +unconscious of the fact that, unaided, he must soon face three +powerful foes. Next day saw his fate decided.</p> + +<p>Early on Tuesday morning all was stir and bustle in the Monastery and +in the little town. The troops were preparing to depart at daybreak +towards Kenilworth, where father and son were to meet and arrange +their future tactics. In the early dawn Nicholas, the Earl's barber, +ascended one of the towers of the Abbey, and, gazing northwards, over +Green Hill he descried soldiers bearing standards which were evidently +those of the younger Simon. For a few moments joy prevailed at the +thought of so happy a meeting; but this feeling soon gave place to +anxiety and dread. Closer examination showed that though the standards +were those of the Earl's son the soldiers who carried them were not +Simon's but Prince Edward's followers. In a moment all was clear: the +younger Simon had been defeated, perhaps slain, and de Montfort must +fight single-handed or yield his cause ingloriously. Retreat over the +bridge by which the army<a name="Page72"></a> had entered the town was useless, for soon +it became known that Roger Mortimer was following the route the barons +had taken the day before, and would soon be on their rear. With the +river on both sides of them, and both ways blocked by enemies, two +alternatives alone presented themselves, to fight or to yield. To add +to the hopelessness of their position the Earl of Gloucester, with his +army, was now joining Prince Edward by the upper Worcester road. De +Montfort knew that against such odds the fight would be a hopeless +one, and urged his supporters to flee while there was yet time, and +not to lose their lives in an unavailing struggle; but none would +desert their leader in the hour of peril. "Then," exclaimed the Earl, +"may the Lord have mercy on our souls for our bodies are in the power +of our enemies."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It is recorded that on this fatal Tuesday all the elements seemed to +unite in adding horror to the scene of carnage. Shortly before this a +great comet had made men fear and wonder; and now, on this morning the +sky was overcast with such dense clouds that the land was in darkness; +so black were the heavens that nothing like it had been known within +the memory of man. A violent tempest, with a deluge<a name="Page73"></a> of rain and +terrific thunder and lightning, swept over the country. The terrified +monks could not see their books as they chanted the Psalms in the +darkened choir, and as they sat in the refectory they could not tell +what food lay upon their trenchers.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the battle raged on the hill above the town; desperately the +barons fought, but, one by one, they fell overpowered by numbers. +Though the earl was sixty-five years of age he fought "stoutly, like a +giant, for the liberties of England" to the end.</p> + +<p>We will not dwell on the horror of the battle. Popular tradition still +points to the spot where the great leader was slain, and there, beside +a spring called Battlewell, was placed a sacred rood. Two young de +Montforts fell by their father's side, and many barons, knights, and +common soldiers; but few fled. The stragglers from the defeated army +were, many of them, slaughtered, as they attempted their escape; and +by Offenham Ferry, where in those times probably stood a bridge, there +is a meadow, once an island, which to this day bears the name of +"Deadman's Ait." The chroniclers tell of the shameful mutilation of +the earl's corpse, and how the limbs were distributed through the +country, but the dismembered body was buried reverently by the monks +in the most sacred<a name="Page74"></a> part of their church, even before the High Altar. +The severed hands were sent by a servant to the wife of Roger +Mortimer, at Wigmore Castle in Shropshire. They arrived, so says the +legend, while the Mass was being celebrated, and, at the raising of +the Host, they were seen, before the bag containing them was opened, +clasped in the attitude of prayer above the head of the messenger. In +fear and trembling, Lady Mortimer returned the bloody trophy.</p> + +<p>Prince Edward himself attended the funeral of Henry de Montfort, his +cousin and friend, in the Abbey church.</p> + +<p>"Such," sings Robert of Gloucester, "was the murder of Evesham, for +battle none it was."</p> + +<p>As in the case of other national heroes of old times, popular fancy +was allowed to play unfettered round the memory of this noble family. +In the well-known ballad preserved by Bishop Percy, of "The Beggar's +Daughter of Bednall Green," it is imagined that Henry de Montfort was +rescued at night from the field of battle while still living, by "a +baron's faire daughter," in search of her father's body; that she +nursed him, and that, on his recovery they married, their daughter +being "prettye Bessee."</p> + +<p>The miracles we read of, and to which reference has been made, are +many and<a name="Page75"></a> varied. For some time the fear of royal censure and +punishment prevented cures being openly attributed to "Saint Simon," +but it was not long before the fame of his healing power spread, and +persons were brought from all parts of the country to "be measured by" +Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as +simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a +cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to +meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal.</p> + +<p>The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at +the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be +cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the +battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power +not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around +that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be +slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes +on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast, +personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of +the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or +incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the +"judgements"<a name="Page76"></a> may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the +manners of some of the clergy of that date.</p> + +<p>A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and +by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish +the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I +reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a +servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in +chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise +abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from +the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict."</p> + +<p>In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife, +whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet +Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit +"Saint Simon's" relics.</p> + +<p>For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a +paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe +the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed +"saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span> "Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Noblest flower of chivalry!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">O'er the pains of death victorious,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">England's saviour, praise to thee.<br /></span><a name="Page77"></a> +<span class="i1">More than all the saints in story,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Ere they gained their rest in glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thou of cruel wrongs hast borne;<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Foully foes thy corpse insulted,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">O'er thy head and limbs exulted<br /></span> +<span class="i3">From thy mangled body torn.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Once of wrongs the great redresser<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Be thou now our intercessor,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Pray for us with God on high."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Pray for us, blessed Simon, that we may be made worthy to obtain the +promises of Christ."</p><a name="Page78"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS</h3> + +<p>"<i>Who was he that went out from the command at Gloucester in such a +blaze, to adde glory unto conquest, and crown hit actions with a +never-dying honour, when he took the strong garrisoned Evesham in a +storme of fire and leaden haile; the loss whereof did make a king shed +tears? Was it not Massey</i>?"</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLET.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>Once more the peaceful vale was destined to become a field of battle. +At an early stage in the conflict between King and people Evesham was +fortified and garrisoned by the Royal party, and Samuel Sandys was +appointed military governor. The exact nature of the fortifications we +cannot exactly know, but it is certain they were complete, and +sufficient to withstand a siege if properly manned. A ditch, and +rampart of earth surmounted by timber palisades was the probable form +of defence, but no signs of such earthworks now remain, and the +position of them is unknown.</p> + +<p>King Charles paid his first visit early in July, 1644, and he is said +to have stayed in what was at that time a large house,<a name="Page79"></a> probably +gabled, with projecting bay windows, on the north side of Bridge +Street. This mansion, for it was no less though now divided into +shops, was the town house of the Langstones, an influential family in +the neighbourhood. Here the King remained two nights, and from "our +Court at Evesham" he despatched a conciliatory message "To the Lords +and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster."</p> + +<p>Sir William Waller, the Parliamentary general, was hanging in the rear +of the royal army, and so without more delay the King moved towards +Worcester, taking with him the garrison, guns, and ammunition. Before +leaving, the army partly destroyed the outworks and rendered the +bridge over the river impassable. The townspeople were evidently more +in sympathy with the Roundheads than the Cavaliers, for on the +departure of the royal forces they immediately repaired the bridge, +and Waller entered and remained some days before following the chase.</p> + +<p>A week later the King returned, on his way back to the loyal city of +Oxford, much to the dismay of the inhabitants. For their rebellious +behaviour a fine of two hundred pounds was imposed on the borough, and +in addition to this they were forced to provide the royal army with a +thousand pairs of shoes.</p><a name="Page80"></a> + +<p>A year later we find the King once more passing through Evesham. This +time he left a garrison in charge of the town under Colonel Legge. But +Evesham was too important a place in this conflict, being a connecting +link between the "loyal cities" of Worcester and Oxford, to be left in +the hands of the King's party unchallenged. Almost immediately, in the +same month of May, 1645, Colonel Massey, Governor of Gloucester, with +a troop of horse and foot collected from the neighbouring counties, +attacked the town, and after vainly calling upon Colonel Legge to +yield, they assailed the fortifications at the bridge and in five +other places at the same time. After a short but hard fought encounter +the Royalists surrendered, and until the end of the struggle Evesham +remained in the hands of the Parliament.</p> + +<p>On the 29th of May the House of Commons ordered the Speaker to convey +their thanks to the colonel and his officers in acknowledgment of +their great service.</p><a name="Page81"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a><h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE RIVER</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<span><i>There is a willow grows aslant a brook,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;</i><br /></span> +<span><i>There with fantastic garlands did she come,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples</i>.</span> +</div> + +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">—SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet.</span><br /> +<br /> + +<p>In tracing the history of our little town from its origin it has often +been observed how important a part has been played in its fortunes by +the river that flows through and partly encircles it. It is to the +river that the town owes its position, and its very existence probably +depended upon the advantages which the stream provided. To the early +settlers a good supply of water and natural means of protection were +necessary to life, and both these were offered by this narrow tongue +of land.</p> + +<p>For a long period the river was of little use for traffic, and not +until the seventeenth century was it made properly navigable. Now, +through the neglect of the owners of the navigation rights, it is once +more reverting in places to its primitive character. From Evesham to +Tewkesbury the<a name="Page82"></a> stream is still in good order, but for a short +distance only towards Stratford-on-Avon.</p> + +<p>Apart from the fascination exercised on the mind by the ever changing +surface of water, varied and rippled by motion and by wind, the beauty +of this river is mainly due to the delicate and varied foliage of the +willows and other trees which grow freely beside it, the luxuriant +growth of flowers along its banks—"of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, +and long purples"—and the variety of blossoming water plants. Few +trees are more graceful than the willow when a slight breeze fans its +branches, mingling the "hoar leaves" with the grey green of the upper +side of the foliage; and many, before and since Shakespeare, have +preserved in the "inward eye" such a vision, reflected in "the glassy +stream" or more usually in the slightly ruffled surface below. The +level meadows, or sloping banks, which skirt the stream have a quiet +charm, and beautiful indeed are they in June, when thickly carpetted +with buttercups and ox-eye daisies. At almost every turn rise the blue +hills, completing the landscape and throwing the sunny meadows into +relief.</p> + +<p>We can hardly realise to ourselves the protective value of the river +in old times without rowing both up and down the stream for a mile or +more. Above the town, before reaching the railway bridge<a name="Page83"></a> we should +look back and notice how steeply the land rises from the river on this +side. On the margin is the mill, and above are the houses, roof over +roof, descending again in steps to the river bridge. At the top is the +Bell Tower, and the church spires are seen near it. From the railway +embankment, or the higher ground beyond, the best picture which the +town affords is to be seen. Below us winds the river, and over the +meadows on an eminence is the cluster of houses forming the town; as a +background we have Bredon Hill, delicately outlined, or dark blue as +if overhanging the vale.</p> + +<p>Beyond the bridge we soon come to a picturesquely-situated farmhouse, +standing on a steep bank, and looking down upon the meadows. This is +the Parks Farm, and all the fields on this side bordering the river +were once the deer park of the great Abbey. Presently we reach +Offenham Ferry, while a little beyond, set back behind willow trees +and plough-land, is the village; and we soon catch sight of the old +church tower peering over the bank. At the further extremity of the +village, quite near the bank, is the "Court" farm, once protected by a +moat fed by the river, and used by the Evesham Abbots as a country +retreat. Hither Clement Lichfield, the last Abbot, retired on his +resignation, and here he probably died.</p><a name="Page84"></a> + +<p>The village of Offenham is peculiar in lying away from any main road, +and this gives it an air of repose and antiquity, which is pleasant in +these days. Whether the place owes its name to Offa, King of Mercia, +is an open question, but according to tradition this monarch owned +land and had a palace here, the site of which is pointed out by the +villagers.</p> + +<p>Beside the ferry we have passed there was in old times a bridge, and +still, when the water is very low, the solid foundations of the piers +may be seen with pointed buttresses facing up and down the stream. +When this bridge was destroyed no one can tell; but once upon a time +the road from Worcester to London came over Green Hill, and leaving +Evesham more than a mile to the south, descended the steep hill where +now a grass-grown track marks its course, crossing the river by this +bridge. The farm on the right bank is known by the name of Twyford, +and so we guess that the creek which leaves the main stream a little +way above the ferry once continued its course, forming an island with +a ford on either side. Deadman's Ait is the traditional name of this +island field, and it is supposed some of the stragglers from the +battle of 1265 were slain here while attempting to escape by the ford +or bridge.</p> + +<p>The irregularity of the river banks, now<a name="Page85"></a> nearly level with the water, +sloping gently upwards, or steep and at times almost precipitous, is +much marked as we proceed on our way up the stream. After passing some +gardens, and a steep bank overgrown with gorse, the sluggish stream +quickens its pace, and we soon reach an abrupt turn where the current +is met by an unyielding wall of lias. Under the bare limestone the +water is deep and rushes swiftly, but above, the bank is covered with +tangled growth of blackberry and wild clematis, and in spring the +ground beneath the trees is blue with hyacinths. This sudden turn is +Norton Corner, and though no signs of that village can be seen it +stands hardly a mile away over the ridge of fields. The whole course +we have come may be followed on foot by the old tow-path from the +mill. From this point, after crossing the railway, a farm road will +take us to the end of the village; or we may take the footpath through +the arch beneath the line that we passed a few hundred yards further +down.</p> + +<p>After leaving Norton Corner by boat, the river, for a space slow and +easy, soon becomes swift, and as we approach the ruins of an old lock +the passage is attended with difficulties by reason of the shallow +water and the stony bed. If we successfully pass these rapids and gain +the next mill further progress is easy, but the mill can only be +passed by lifting the boat over<a name="Page86"></a> the steep weir. On the way we pass +the old Fish and Anchor Inn, and a new ford calculated rather for the +convenience of vehicles than of boating parties. From the "Fish and +Anchor" we may ascend the long ridge of Cleeve Bank, and command a +fine view of the valley and the winding of the stream below. +Harvington Mill is at our feet, and the spire of the village church is +visible beyond; further up the stream, some distance beyond the +hanging wood, is Cleeve Mill, one of the prettiest spots on the river. +The village of Cleeve Prior lies behind the bank, and there may be +seen, besides the picturesque cottages and church, the old Manor, now +a farmhouse, with a quaint avenue of box, elaborately clipped, leading +to the front door. Over the fields on the further bank are the +Salfords, and among the trees the curved gables of a fine old Jacobean +mansion may be distinguished. The next place of interest on the stream +is Bidford with its many arched bridge of mediæval date.</p> + +<p>If we follow the downward course of the Avon we find ourselves making +a circuit of the town; for a considerable distance the Bell Tower does +not leave us but seems to follow our boat, and ever and anon it +reappears over the meadows and among the trees on our right hand. +Hampton Church stands on rising ground,<a name="Page87"></a> among the trees, on our left, +and soon we are at Hampton Ferry. If we prefer the walk we can take a +footpath by the bridge or the Bell Tower, and follow the winding +stream to this point. According to the old chronicles a church was +built at Hampton, in the reign of Canute, by Leofric and Godiva, so +well known in the regions of romance, and they gave land here to the +Abbey. The church we see was built and rebuilt by the Monastery, but +whether on the ancient site we know not. It is a small but beautiful +example of perpendicular architecture, and with the dark spreading yew +tree, the remains of the old cross, and the delicately weathered +tombstones, it makes a picture upon which the eye dwells with calm +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The hill above the ferry is Clark's Hill, and the bank we are told was +terraced by the monks of old as a vineyard. Whether tradition is true +to facts we cannot surely say; a field beyond the ridge still bears +the name of the vineyard, and this may have been the actual site. The +ascent of the steep bank is rewarded on a clear day by the splendid +panorama which lies around. From the terrace walk we look down upon +the town, noticing with regret the predominating hues of brick and +slate which mark the modern suburbs; but the old tower, the churches, +and the gatehouse, despoiled but yet dignified, unconsciously<a name="Page88"></a> hold +the eye. The old wall of the Abbey precincts ended here at the river, +and beside it runs Boat Lane, which would bring us out on the Green.</p> + +<p>Looking down the stream, over the railway bridges, we see Green Hill, +with the Abbey Manor and its grounds the most prominent feature. At +some little distance to the right of the house is a grassy comb, and +at the upper end is the spring to which legend points as the spot +where Simon de Montfort was slain, and which still bears the name +Battlewell.</p> + +<p>Stretched around us are the Cotswolds, and if we take a path, or lane, +leading over the hill westward we may, from the brow, behold Malvern's +rugged length and the isolated mass of Bredon. Further northward, if +the atmosphere be clear, we should distinguish the most striking +height of the Abberly range, a peak which on one side would almost +seem to overhang, and, away beyond, the Clee heights looking down on +the beautiful and historic town of Ludlow.</p> + +<p>Returning to our boat, we glide beneath the Abbey Manor, with its +wooded slopes, and presently we reach Chadbury Lock and Mill. On a +fair and warm day we may rest here in perfect content, listening to +the rush of the weir, watching the swallows flit and skim over the +calm water and break the glassy surface into circling ripples; or +gazing with silent pleasure<a name="Page89"></a> down the stream as it continues its +peaceful course by wood and meadow.</p> + +<p>Not far below Chadbury, past Wood Norton—a country seat of the Duke +of Orleans, and by him lately rebuilt—its deer park and plantations, +past flowery banks, and thick beds of rushes haunted by waterfowl, is +the village of Fladbury. Pleasant-looking houses with trim gardens +border the river on our right, and beyond are two mills, with the +rushing weir between. That on our left is Cropthorne Mill, now a +dwelling-house.</p> + +<p>In Fladbury Church are some coats-of-arms in stained glass, said to +have come from the Abbey of Evesham. One shield bears the device of +Earl Simon. There is also a fine altar tomb, inlaid with brasses, +bearing the effigies of some members of the Throckmorton family. The +building is architecturally interesting, but the internal effect is +marred by the removal of the plaster, thus exposing the rough masonry +of "rubble," and the irregularity is much emphasised by "pointing."</p> + +<p>On the opposite side of the river is Cropthorne, surmounting a steep +bank. Here are many picturesque cottages of timber and thatch, and in +this village of orchards, the effect of the street is much heightened +if it be seen in the time of the apple-blossom. In this and the +neighbouring parishes we may still find much<a name="Page90"></a> of that rustic beauty +which we have learned to associate with the names of Birket Foster and +Mrs. Allingham.</p> + +<p>The church contains many points of interest. As we enter we cannot but +be impressed by the simple arches of the Norman nave, the carved pews +of mediæval date, and the Jacobean monuments—their once gaudy +colouring mellowed by age. Few churches have been treated with such +gentle consideration, and rarely do we find the true Gothic feeling so +carefully preserved. A beautiful Saxon cross, intricately carved, and +the ancient altar stone, lately discovered buried beneath the floor, +are two valued treasures.</p><a name="Page91"></a> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X"></a><h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE NEIGHBOURHOOD</h3> +<br /> + +<p>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<a name="Page92"></a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<a name="img010"><!--IMG--></a> +<center><a href="images/img010.gif"> +<img src="images/img010s.png" width="240" height="419" +alt="St. Egwin's Church Honeybourne" /></a> +</center> +<!--IMAGE END--> + +<p>Close to the town many of the field-paths have been bereft of their +charm, and<a name="Page93"></a><a name="Page94"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Bretforton, with its church built by the monks of Evesham, lies on the +road between Badsey and Honeybourne.</p> + +<p>The villages of Middle and South Littleton have been little affected +by modern enterprise. They may be reached<a name="Page95"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="Page96"></a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="Page97"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Page98"></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<h5>THE END</h5> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. 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New + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Evesham + +Author: Edmund H. New + +Release Date: October 14, 2004 [EBook #13754] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVESHAM *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Asad Razzaki and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +EVESHAM + +WRITTEN AND +ILLUSTRATED BY +EDMUND H. NEW + + +LONDON: J.M. DENT & CO. +29 BEDFORD STREET + +NEW YORK: E.P. DUTTON CO. + +MDCCCCIV + +[Illustration: Bridge St. Evesham] + +DEDICATED +TO THE MEMORY OF + +_H.N._ +1820-1893 + +_D.N._ +1834-1901 + + +NOTE + +For the historical matter contained in the following pages the writer +is indebted mainly to George May's admirable history of the town +issued in 1845, a book which, since its publication, has been the +acknowledged authority on local history. + +To Mr. Oswald Knapp his thanks are especially due not only for +permission to make use of the series of articles, founded on the +monastic chronicles, which appeared some years ago in the _Evesham +Journal_, most of them under the title of "Evesham Episodes," but also +for much generous help and criticism. + + +CONTENTS + + I. INTRODUCTION + II. EVESHAM AND THE VALE + III. THE ABBEY + 1. THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY + 2. THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST. + 3. THE DISSOLUTION. + IV. THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY + V. THE PARISH CHURCHES + VI. THE TOWN--INCLUDING BENGEWORTH AND GREEN HILL + VII. THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM +VIII. CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS + IX. THE RIVER + X. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +_Bridge Street_ +_Evesham and Bredon Hill, from the Parks_ +_The Bell Tower_ +_The Gatehouse and Almonry_ +_Abbot Reginald's Gateway_ +_In the Market Place_ +_High Street_ +_The Bell Tower, from Bengeworth_ +_St. Egwin's, Honeybourne_ + + + + +Evesham + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +_Yonder lies our ... village--Art and Grace are less and less:_ +_Science grows and Beauty dwindles--roofs of slated hideousness!_ + + --LOCKSLEY HALL, SIXTY YEARS AFTER + + +Those who love with a deep reverence the work of their forefathers, +whether because of the character and beauty of their handiwork, or +from the historical associations which are indissolubly connected with +it, cannot but regard with pain and abhorrence any cause which tends +towards the demolition or destruction of the monuments of the past. To +these it is a significant and distressing fact that hardly any modern +English buildings or streets possess the qualities which give the +value and charm to the old cities, towns, and villages of which we are +the grateful inheritors. If any reader is inclined to doubt the truth +of this statement, or to consider the sentiment expressed extravagant +or groundless, let him consider the difference between the old towns +and the new. + +Evesham provides a typical and sufficiently striking instance of the +contrasted methods and results. Here there is hardly an old house +which has not a local and individual character. Many of them may be +plain, severely plain, some possibly ugly; but in each can be read by +all who will, a distinct and separate thought, or series of thoughts, +connecting the dwelling with its builders and owners, and with the +soil out of which it has sprung. + +As the varying undulations of the face of the country tell a plain +tale to the geologist, so the shape and materials of human habitations +tell their story to the student of architecture and the history of +man. + +The poet Wordsworth pointed out that one of the great charms of the +Lake country lay in the way in which the dwellings sprang out of the +hill side, as if a natural growth born of the requirements of the +peasant or farmer and the materials provided by nature. Throughout +England this was once the case; no two houses were precisely alike +because no two people had precisely the same ideas, wishes and +requirements; and the material was dictated by the stone or timber +provided by the district. Every building was in old times the +combined expression of the individual man and the _genius loci_. + +The timber cottages which are still to be found in the town tell of +the time when tracts of the original forest still lingered, and oak +was the cheapest material fit for building. Often the foundation of +the walls is of stone, and the earliest stone to be used was that +which could be had for the digging, the blue lias found in thin layers +embedded in the clay of which the vale is composed. In the back +streets which retain, as would be expected, more of their primitive +character than the more respectable thoroughfares, this blue stone has +been much used, and in the churches it can be seen in the earlier +parts making a very pretty wall with its thin horizontal lines. The +tower of the church of All Saints shows it to great advantage. + +Another stone is also employed, and one far better suited for +building, because it can be obtained in blocks of almost any size, and +carved with the utmost delicacy. This is oolite, the stone of which +the Bell Tower is built. From Norman times it was used in the more +important parts of the Abbey, as is shown in the foundations of the +great tower now exposed to view, and in Abbot Reginald's gateway. But +the oolite stone could not be got much nearer than Broadway, and what +was used by the monks in all probability came from the hill above +that village. In numerous old houses this stone is made use of, but in +almost all it must have come indirectly, having once formed part of +the structure of the monastic buildings, or perhaps of the castle +which for a short time flanked the bridge on the Bengeworth side of +the river. + +In the seventeenth century bricks came into fashion, and good clay for +their manufacture was amply provided by the neighbourhood. To the end +of the century belongs Dresden House in High Street, a fine example of +the style of William the Third's time, built by a wealthy lawyer, who +came to settle here, from the northern part of the county. Tower House +in Bridge Street, probably of later date, is beautiful in its +proportions and mouldings, the prominent lead spouts adding much to +the general design. Unfortunately to this fashion for formality and +brick-work, at a later period superseded by a covering of plaster, we +must attribute the demolition of the older fronts, generally of +timber, and often gabled and projecting, which gave such a pleasant +irregularity to our old streets. Though formal and lacking in artistic +qualities these Georgian screens have a certain historical value in +showing that our little town was prosperous through the century, and +able to support a decided air of respectability. But not without +reason do we deplore the change. + +The eighteenth century saw the beginning of the great development of +machinery, and in these Georgian house fronts, the productions of a +mechanical age, we see the deterioration of popular architecture. +Every line is rigid and without human feeling: the style, where any +exists, is exotic, not national or local; classical, not vernacular. +It is a learned importation, not a popular growth. The mason has +dwindled into an unreasoning tool in the hands of the architect; hence +the lack of personality, the absence of charm; and only in rare +instances has the architect proved himself capable of supplying those +qualities of design and proportion which to some slight degree +compensate for the loss of interest on the part of the craftsman. + +In almost all buildings the roof is a prominent feature. In Evesham +the old roofs are all made of oolite "slats," and as these are split +irregularly, we have tiles of various sizes and slightly varying in +shape. In roofing the plan was to place all the large tiles below, and +to decrease the size gradually towards the ridge, the result being +most pleasing to the eye. Besides the interest given by irregularity, +the delicate silver grey of the oolite roofs, varied with tints of +moss and lichen added by time, produces an effect unsurpassed by any +other form of roof covering. Even the clay tiles, introduced at a +later time, take their place when mellowed by sun and rain; and these +throw into unpleasant relief the modern glazed Staffordshire ware +which resists all softening influences. The Welsh slates, too, before +perfect mechanical regularity was obtained, made a pretty roofing, +though they, of course, have no local interest here. + +No one would wish to dwell long on the opposite side of the contrast. +We have already traced the beginning of the decline of domestic +architecture, and the present condition follows as a natural +development. In recent years the town has spread in every direction +that is possible. In the centre is the Evesham of the past, the +Evesham our forefathers built and our fathers knew. But it is +encircled by streets and houses which are not the product of the vale, +nor are they marked by any individual character. Rows upon rows of +dwellings, symmetrical, mechanical, and monotonous, can give no +pleasure to the eye, nor can the mind read in them any story save the +commercial enterprise of a commercial age. + +No one can note these differences without sometimes asking the cause +of this lamentable degradation in the character of the buildings which +compose our modern towns. They are many and complex, and too deeply +rooted in present-day commercialism for us even to hope for their +removal. Yet we may still turn to examples of individual effort +throughout the country and find satisfaction. Here and there are +houses possessing some of the finest qualities which have gone towards +making our ancient streets and cities; and here we have evidence that +beautiful building is still possible if we will but have it. It may be +claimed that even the streets we build are historical as our old towns +are historical; that they are the outcome of the age we live in. And +truly this is so; and for this very reason we must needs be patient if +we cannot be hopeful. + +But it is something to recognise the fact that we have in our old +buildings and streets records of unquestionable veracity, full of +character and meaning, and such as we are entirely unable, with all +our boasted advantages, to rival or even imitate. And more than this, +we have in most of the work that has been left to us examples of +craftsmanship, in every kind, which are invaluable as models of what +we once could do, and may do, under favourable conditions, again. + +Let us then guard this goodly heritage for ourselves and our children +with jealous care, trusting that in fulness of time their handiwork +may be not unworthy to stand beside the best that has been +accomplished in the past. These storied towns may then be with us +still to teach what no history book can tell, and to inspire us with +the spirit of emulation for those qualities which sleep with the +Genius of the Past. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EVESHAM AND THE VALE + +_Great Evesham's fertile glebe what tongue hath not extolled._ +_As though to her alone belonged the crown of gold_. + + --MICHAEL DRAYTON. + + +Evesham stands on a kind of peninsula formed by a deep loop of the +river Avon on its way from Stratford-on-Avon to Tewkesbury. The broad +vale in which it lies is enclosed by a semicircle of hills, which +provide a background to every varied landscape, and give a sense of +homeliness and seclusion which those who are familiar with unbroken +stretches of level country will at once recognise and appreciate. From +the east to the south-west range the Cotswolds, not striking in +outline but depending for their beauty in great part upon the play of +light and shade and the variety given by atmospheric effects. To +dwellers in the vale the appearance of the hills not only reflects the +feeling of the day but foretells the coming weather. When a delicate, +blue haze shrouds their forms, entirely obliterating the more distant +heights, the pleasure-seeker rests content in the promise of a fair +morn; but no pleasant expectations can be formed when, robed in +deepest purple, they seem to draw in and crowd together, and with +vastly increased bulk to frown upon the darkening vale. + +[Illustration: EVESHAM AND BREDON HILL FROM THE PARKS] + +At each end of the Cotswold range, as seen from Evesham, stands, +sentinel like, an isolated elevation, and in early times, as present +remains testify, both these were occupied as fortified posts. To the +east is Meon Hill, and to the south-west stands Bredon, the nearest +and most prominent of the group. In the south-east the position of +Broadway is decisively marked by its pseudo-Norman tower, and due +south the level outline ended by an abrupt escarpment to the eastward +is Cleeve Cloud, carrying the range on towards Cheltenham and Bristol. + +But the chief glory of the vale, so far as its background is +concerned, is the truly mountainous outline of the Malvern Hills, the +whole length of which is seen bounding the western horizon. The +breadth of the valley here is more than twenty miles from hill to +hill, and includes both the Severn and its tributary stream. To how +many does the thought of sunrise not recall this undulating range +illuminated and glorified by the clear beams of the early sun striking +across the vale and thrown back in glittering fragments by the long +line of houses at its base! And few more beautiful associations will +gather round the sunset than those in which Malvern plays its part, +the rocky skyline standing up sharp and clear against the +ever-changing brilliance. As we recall the scene the dazzling +effulgence fades into a glow, the glow diminishes almost imperceptibly +into twilight, and, as we watch, a line of twinkling lights becomes +visible beneath the hill, and one by one the stars appear in the +deepening sky. + +Northward there are no striking elevations, the ground sloping +gradually upward by the Lench Hills and the Ridge Way towards the +great central tableland; but opposite Malvern, continuing the horizon +to the north of Meon, can be seen, when the air is clear, beyond the +flat Stour valley, the outline of Edgehill, recalling as we gaze the +years of civil strife, full of terror and bloodshed, yet round which +Time has thrown his mantle of romance. + +So far we have been able to dwell on the broad features of the country +which it takes many ages to change or modify. From the earliest times +we can record the settlers on this chosen spot must have looked out on +the same hills and the same broad valley with its overarching sky. But +then, instead of the "crown of gold" of which Drayton sings, or the +silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face +of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and +forest trees. In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the +hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the +former character of this region. Only here and there was a clearing +with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and +hunters. In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow, +unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and +thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and overgrown with +rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific +in fish and fowl. + +During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and +is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not +bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages +of which we have knowledge. The site of the town was apparently +unoccupied by the Romans though their thoroughfares run not far +distant, and their camps are numerous on the neighbouring hills. Not +until Saxon times do we hear of this fertile peninsula being +inhabited, and then we are told by the chroniclers of a village called +Homme near this spot, the home of only a few peasants. Like many other +towns and cities, in England, Evesham is said to have had a monastic +origin, and for a long succession of years it is to the monastery +alone that she owes her existence and celebrity. The monastic +foundation dates from about A.D. 702, and from this time until the +Conquest we know little of the fortunes of the place. Access would +have been difficult in those days to so retired a spot protected on +three sides by a broad river, and though doubtless there was a ford +passable on horseback when the water was not in flood, yet until the +building of the bridge it must have been isolated indeed. More than +once we are told of ravages of the Danes. We know they penetrated far +into the country, and Evesham did not escape their vigilance. + +Side by side with the growth of the abbey the little village sprang +up, and gradually increased in importance. No doubt in times of stress +it was accustomed to look to that wealthy institution for succour. On +the Church the inhabitants would be dependent for all sacred rites and +the fulfilment of their spiritual needs; but occasionally we find them +waxing independent, and even defying the abbot himself. At best, +however, the fight must have been an unequal one, with wealth, +learning, and power on the one side, and poverty and ignorance on the +other. After an honourable career of eight hundred years the monastery +was overthrown. Even this great abbey, with its wealth and power and +integrity, was impotent to withstand the popular prejudice aroused by +the exposure of the degradation and vice prevailing in so many kindred +institutions, the greed of Henry VIII., and the ruthless energy of +Thomas Cromwell. In a few years it was swept away, leaving only a few +beautiful fragments to tell of its former grandeur. + +Evesham's next great claim to notice is as the field of the decisive +battle of 1265, ending in the defeat and death of Simon de Montfort, +and the allies still remaining faithful to their leader. This event, +we know, added much to the fame of the monastery, and reacted on the +town by bringing many pilgrims to the grave of that popular hero. The +tomb of the great Earl vied with, or exceeded in popularity, the many +sacred relics already enshrined in the abbey church. + +In early days, as has been pointed out, Evesham lay out of the common +beat; the Avon formed a _cul-de-sac_, and the main road from Worcester +to London and Oxford merely skirted the town, ascending Green Hill +from Chadbury, continuing its course by what is now known as Blayney's +Lane, and crossing the river by a ford or bridge at Offenham Ferry. In +consequence of the growing importance of the town, the road was +probably diverted to its present line. + +Although in pre-Reformation days the abbey dominated the town and the +abbot's will was practically law to the inhabitants, yet the townsmen +on the whole lived quite apart, doing their own work, managing their +own affairs, and enjoying themselves in their own way. The monastery, +too, was complete in itself, having its own staff of servants and +needing little, if any, outside help. The precincts of the abbey were +as entirely shut in with their high wall and strong gates, all +fortified in the Edwardian times, as any castle; and little of what +went on in this self-contained society would be known to the people +living without. It must be remembered also that the townsmen had their +own church, that of All Saints, and only on special occasions would +they be allowed entrance to the great church belonging to the monks. +It would seem that the second church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was +principally used by pilgrims, and this was connected with the monastic +buildings by a covered walk of stone. + +To Edward the Confessor we learn the town owed certain rights +connected with its market, and during the Middle Ages it was an +important centre for the trade of the district. On account of this +market, and from the fact that the greater part of the abbey lands lay +on the left bank of the river, it would seem probable that a bridge of +some kind was built quite early in the Middle Ages, if not before. In +monastic times there existed a Guildhall, which betokens of itself a +community of active citizens, and social and commercial organisation. +The education of the children was probably looked after by the monks, +and before the dissolution a grammar school was founded by the abbot. +In Merstow Green we have the public pasture and recreation ground. +When the parent abbey was removed, the town was quite able to take +care of itself: in the same century a new and more spacious Town Hall +and Market was built, suggesting that the old Booth Hall was +insufficient for the requirements of the time; and in the early years +of the reign of James I. a Royal Charter was granted to the +inhabitants in the name of Prince Henry, and the little town became a +corporate borough. + +In the seventeenth century a revolution was effected by the river +being rendered navigable from the Severn up to Stratford-on-Avon. +Wharves were built, and numerous barges plied their trade up and down +the stream. Through Stratford, Birmingham and the Midlands became +accessible for heavy traffic by canal. In this century the peaceful +vale is once more disturbed by the clang of arms. During the Civil War +Evesham was an important military post, on account of its position +between the Royalist cities of Worcester and Oxford, and the +engagement which took place here will be recounted in due order. + +No very notable events took place for many years; the gardening +industry flourished, the town retained its importance as an +agricultural trading centre, but progress was slow, and life free from +incident. But the change from those days of leisure to these in which +we live is great. Now the river has ceased to be utilised for +commerce: two railways connect the town with every other place of note +in the country, and the whole aspect of things is altered. The Evesham +of to-day is with us; over the past a glamour is spread. + +It may be that, even if we had the chance, we would not return to the +past, but over many of us few other studies exercise so great a +fascination as the contemplation of the "good old days" which are +gone. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ABBEY + +_Eoves here dwelt and was a swain,_ +_Wherefore men call this Eovesholme_. + + --LEGEND ON MONASTIC SEAL. + (_Modernised_.) + + +THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY + + +In the dim ages of antiquity, when the face of the country, now busy +and fertile, was one dense forest, with here and there a settlement of +dwellers in huts, tillers of the land, herdsmen, or hunters, there +lived near the spot now occupied by the thriving town of Evesham a +swineherd named Eoves. One day, we are told, a favourite sow was +missing, and her master hunted brake and briar, far and near, in +search of her. While on this errand he penetrated far into the depths +of the forest, when suddenly he was startled by a radiant light, in +which appeared three figures of women dazzling by their beauty. The +vision faded, and on the spot the joyful herdsman discovered his sow +with a litter of young. + +The news was soon noised abroad, and at length reached the ears of +Egwin, the Bishop of the diocese, at Worcester. Egwin inquired into +the matter, visited the place, and was himself rewarded by the +appearance of the three figures, whom he pronounced to be no other +than the Virgin Mary with two attendant angels. Moreover, he was +commanded by the Holy Virgin to build a church in that very place. The +Bishop, we know, built a church here, founded a monastery, and himself +became first abbot. These events occurred early in the eighth century. + +Egwin was a man of high connections and influence, and before long the +new institution was handsomely and sufficiently endowed. Ethelred, +King of Mercia, his nephew Kenred, who succeeded him, and Offa, King +of the East Saxons, being the chief donors. + +There is another picturesque legend concerning Egwin, which is +preserved in the coat-of-arms used by the monastery. It appears that +the prelate was falsely charged with certain offences, and to prove +his innocence he made a journey to Rome; but before setting off, he +fastened a chain and horselock to his ankle and threw the key into the +river Avon. On his arrival in the Holy City, a fish was caught by his +companions in whose belly the very key was found which had been cast +into the river before his departure! Another account relates that +the fish who had swallowed the key leapt on board before the +travellers reached their destination! The legend of the foundation of +the Abbey is engraved on the conventual seal in a series of scenes; +and we know it was also depicted in the glass of one of the large +windows in the church. + +[Illustration: The Bell Tower Evesham] + +How far the events of this early time are historical, how far +traditionary, or even mythical, it is impossible to say, but for many +years afterwards the record gives us merely the scanty information we +should expect. We hear of the depredations of the Danes, and the +destruction by them of the monastery, and later of discords and +dissensions between monks and canons; indeed, it is not until the +reign of Canute that the Benedictines gained complete and final +possession of the Abbey and its estates. The first church and +monastery were probably of wood. Later, in the Saxon period, stone +would have taken its place, but the form was no doubt primitive in the +extreme. The founder's tomb would be the principal treasure, but, as +time went on, other relics were acquired, and many shrines needed to +contain the precious remains. + +It was to King Canute that the monks owed the relics of Saint Wistan, +which held the place of honour in the church in mediaeval days. They +were enclosed in a magnificent tomb erected behind the high altar, in +the position occupied by the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the +Abbey Church of Westminster. Soon afterwards we hear of the +acquisition by purchase of the body of Saint Odulf from some +travelling merchants, dealers in relics of sanctity, who, as will be +seen, had no right to have the remains of the saint in their +possession. + +Saint Wistan was a scion of the royal house of Mercia, heir to the +throne, and for a short period nominal monarch, but his nature was +more fitted for a religious than a political life, and he took little +part in the affairs of the state. In the year 849 he fell a victim to +the treachery of his cousin Britfard, a rival claimant to the kingdom. + +Saint Odulf was not an Englishman, his whole life having been spent at +the monasteries of Utrecht and Stavoren in the Netherlands. Several +miracles are recorded as having been worked by him both before and +after death. To the monastery of Stavoren, which he had founded, his +body belonged by right, but from here it was stolen and conveyed to +England. By unknown means it came into the hands of certain vendors of +holy wares, as related above, and from them it was purchased by Abbot +Aelfward, for something like a hundred pounds, about the year 1034. + +A curious story relating to the remains of this saint is told in the +monastic chronicles. Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, being +anxious to acquire some precious relic for purposes of her own, called +upon a number of the religious houses of England to send their +treasures to Gloucester, there to be inspected by her, and, among +others, the convent of Evesham sent the remains of Saint Odulf and +Saint Egwin. As the queen was examining the shrine of the former, she +was suddenly struck with a peculiar form of blindness, and not until +she had invoked the saint's intercession, and declared her intention +of restoring the sacred relics to the monks, did she regain her sight! + +Another interesting personality gained in a very different manner the +reverence, if not the worship, of the religious devotees of the time. +This was Saint Wulsy, a hermit of repute, who, we are told, lived for +seventy-five years a life of contemplation and seclusion. From +Crowland Abbey, his earlier home, Wulsy was led blindfolded, that he +might not be contaminated by the world, to Evesham, and near the +church he built with his own hands a chapel in honour of Saint Kenelm, +saint and martyr, with a cell adjoining, in which he spent the rest of +his life. + +In the reign of Edward the Confessor the church was rebuilt and +greatly enlarged by Abbot Mannie, noted as a skilful craftsman in gold +and silver; but even this must have seemed to the ambitious Norman +insignificant, and unworthy of its high purpose, for very soon after +the Conquest it was pulled down to make way for a much larger and more +dignified building. + + +THE ABBEY AFTER THE CONQUEST + + +William the Conqueror did not oust the prudent Abbot whom he found in +office at Evesham. A favourite at the court of Edward the Confessor, +Abbot Agelwy stood high also in Harold's regard, and was not only +unmolested when William took up the reins of power, but was appointed +to other offices of great trust and political importance. On his death +the abbacy was given to a Norman monk, Walter of Cerasia, and in his +time the great church of which some foundations still remain was +begun. The "wily Agelwy" had left "four chests of silver" towards this +reconstruction, but this was not enough to build even the crypt and +chancel, and we find Abbot Walter sending the chief treasures of the +monastery, namely, the shrines containing the relics of Saint Odulf +and Saint Egwin, round the country in charge of certain monks for the +collection of more funds. + +According to the monkish historian Saint Odulf refused to allow +himself to be used for this purpose, and after one experiment the +attempt was given up. The story goes that the shrine was carried to +Winchcomb and laid in the church there, with the intention of being +brought out next day into the market-place for exhibition, and +probably with the hope of some cures being effected. But when the +bearers tried to remove it from the church they could not with all +their strength raise it from the floor; so the sermon was preached +outside, a collection made, and the shrine (which now could be lifted +with perfect ease) brought home. The expedition with Saint Egwin was +quite successful, and a considerable sum of money collected towards +the building. + +As time went on the Monastery waxed in wealth and importance, and +succeeding abbots completed, furnished, and decorated the new church +planned by Abbot Walter. It had the usual choir, nave, central tower, +and transepts; and cloisters surrounded by monastic buildings. Those +who know the larger Norman churches of England will be able to form a +fairly correct impression of the church at this time; but it is +impossible to imagine truly the effect of the painted walls, arches +and columns, the rich monuments, shrines, and altars decorated with +fine embroideries, goldsmith's work, and jewellery; all illuminated +by windows of richly coloured glass. + +From time to time Abbots with a taste or genius for building added to +the structure. In the thirteenth century the central tower fell, and +this was in part rebuilt and the choir repaired by Marleberge, an +Abbot conspicuous by his ability, of whom we shall hear later. It was +Marleberge who helped to complete a bell tower, which also fell to the +ground not many years after, to be replaced by the beautiful campanile +which still remains. Although the great church of the Monastery was +the principal part of that institution, and on it was lavished all the +wealth and skill available, yet it was but a small part of the whole +group of buildings forming the "mitred Abbey" of Saint Mary and Saint +Egwin. Round the cloister were ranged the principal chambers +accommodating the abbot and the monks. Here were the chapter house in +which meetings of various kinds were held, the refectory where meals +were served and partaken of, the long dormitory where the monks slept, +and the scriptorium in which the writing and illuminating was done. +Round the outer courtyard, entered by the great gatehouse, which could +be defended in case of need, were other buildings, barns, stables, and +servants' quarters. Not far away was the hospital, and almost +adjoining the principal gatehouse was the Almonry where the poorer +guests were received and food served out to the needy. This building +exists at the present time, and it will be observed that it is not +enclosed within the boundary wall but is open on one side to the +public green. + +[Illustration: THE GATEHOUSE AND ALMONRY] + +The Monastery owned much land, mostly in the neighbourhood, and before +the dissolution the income through various channels has been +calculated at about eighty thousand pounds of our present money. Dr. +Jessop has described with wonderful realism the daily routine of the +Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided +him with some of his most valuable information. In addition to the +daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member +of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him. In a +well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time +permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening +and bowls both being favourite pastimes. Of course writing and +illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out +that in addition to the production of church service books, of music, +and educational work in connection with the school, "a small army of +writers" must have been needed in the "business department of the +scriptorium." The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed +with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the +monastery. + +Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most +part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are +not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham +contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants. The property did +not all lie in the near neighbourhood. In the fifteenth century the +Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery. At an earlier +period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this +wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a +religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea, +to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint +Benedict. This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey. + +Life in the Monastery of Evesham seems to have been sustained at a +high standard throughout its long career. If all the "religious +houses" had kept true to their vows and aims as that at Evesham did we +should no doubt have a very different story to tell. One abbot alone +appears to have been an exception to this general rule of good +conduct. This was Roger Norreys, a "dissolute monk" of Canterbury, who +was thrust upon the unwilling convent by Prince John when acting as +regent in King Richard's absence. After many years, and with much +difficulty, he was convicted "of seven or eight distinct offences" and +deposed. After the public exposure of his vicious life, and his unjust +and tyrannical rule, it is surprising that instead of being severely +punished he was sent to the cell of Penwortham and allowed to hold +office as Prior until his death. The story of the fight between the +convent, headed by Thomas de Marleberge, a clever and well educated +young monk who afterwards became abbot, and the wicked and shameless +Norreys, is related at full length in the chronicles which have come +down to us, written it would seem by Marleberge's own hand. The +scandalous behaviour of the Abbot and the neglected state of his house +was no secret, and the knowledge of it prompted the good bishop of +Worcester in an attempt to exceed his rights by visiting the Abbey in +order to inquire into the state of things existing there. In this act +he defeated his own ends, for the Abbot and monks immediately united +in common cause against so flagrant a breach of their privileges, +claiming, what was finally acceded to them, exemption from all +authority except that of Rome. The Abbot left the Monastery, and the +monks barricaded every entrance, so that when the bishop arrived he +was forced to encamp with his retinue upon the green outside the +walls. By the indiscretion of the bishop a legal point was raised upon +which the monks would by no means yield, preferring their present +miserable condition rather than allowing the slightest infringement of +what they believed to be their rights. The whole story, giving a +curious insight into the state of the country at that time, is too +long to relate here: an expensive and troublesome lawsuit followed, +which was carried from court to court in England and Rome, and was +finally settled some fifty years later in favour of the Monastery. + +The last of the abbots and one of the most striking figures on the +roll was Clement Lichfield. To him we owe much of the architectural +beauty of both the parish churches; and besides erecting the bell +tower he adorned the choir of the "great church," as it was called, +with perpendicular decoration. + + +THE DISSOLUTION + + +Philip Hawford cannot be counted on the list of abbots. After having +borne and yielded much, Lichfield resigned, and Hawford was appointed +in his place, merely that he might surrender his charge in due form to +the King, an act to which it was impossible for Abbot Lichfield to +condescend, Hawford afterwards became Dean of Worcester, and there in +the cathedral, in a recess behind the reredos, his effigy may still be +seen, in full abbatial vestments, mitre and staff. Abbot Lichfield was +allowed to retire to the manor house of Offenham, where he died in +1546, and was buried in the lovely chapel he had built in early life +on to the church of All Saints beneath the shelter of his own Abbey. + + * * * * * + +The story of the Monastery has now come to an end. In 1536 the lesser +priories and monasteries were suppressed, and we can well imagine the +tremor which this daring act of Henry must have sent through the +religious world. We can be sure the blow was unexpected by the monks +themselves. Only a few years before this Clement Lichfield had devoted +much labour and money to the decoration of the great church, and his +last work was the building of the tower which stands to this day. We +can never know whether the architectural additions which he made to +the parish churches were suggested by the suspicion that they might +survive that glorious edifice under whose shadow they reposed; but in +his later years of retirement surely we may believe that he +experienced a sorrowful gratification at the thought that some of his +work would remain for the admiration of future ages, and that his +mortal remains would lie in peace within the chapel which, in his +youth, he had planned and adorned. + +While Thomas Cromwell and his agents were engaged in their grim work +of destruction we can fancy how Rumour first made herself busy; how +the people talked of royal commissions and inquiries; tales would +reach them of priories and convents which were seized, and of monks +and nuns thrown upon the world. Messengers were seen to come and go, +and the great gatehouse of the Abbey was eagerly watched by the +curious and anxious townspeople. They talked from door to door, and in +clusters in the market-place, and on Merstow Green, from which the +precincts were entered. At last the blow fell! One by one the monks +filed out of their historic home in solemn procession, their heads +bent beneath a weight of misery they were hardly able to bear, though +not yet capable of realising the full meaning of the calamity which +had befallen them. It is true they were not sent into the world +entirely without means of subsistence; some who were in holy orders +had been appointed to livings by the Abbot and convent; to others +pensions were allowed, but what would this avail in their time of +sorrow! + +Then the grand pile of Gothic buildings was resigned to the King's +agents, and a great cloud hung over the little town. In a short time +the gorgeous shrines and altars were plundered and desecrated; the +buildings were sold; and before the eyes of the astonished inhabitants +tower and pinnacle, church and chapter-house, gatehouse and cloister, +fell a prey to the hand of the destroyer! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE REMAINS OF THE ABBEY + +"_... work, that stood inviolate_ + _When axe and hammer battered down the state_ + . . . . . . . . + _... the tall Belfry of the Abbey Gate_ + _Yet stands majestic, pinnacled, elate,_ + _And fills the Vale with music far and wide._" + + --HERBERT NEW. + + +The earliest architectural remains are the work of Norman abbots. The +most perfect relic of this period is Abbot Reginald's Gateway, now +leading from the market-place into the churchyard, which consists of +side walls both decorated with round arches and shafts. The building +above has been much "restored." As there are no signs of stone +groining, the superstructure was, in all probability, always of +timber, but the design of the arcades, and certain moulded arch stones +found embedded in the soil below would seem to point to the existence +in former times of two stone arches, one at each end, which would add +much to the strength of the building. This gateway stood in a line of +wall enclosing the monastic precincts and the outer yard in which +stand the parish churches, and stretching to the river eastwards and +westwards. The lower portions of the walls have recently been cleared +of earth and exposed to view. It will be noticed that the soil has +risen by gradual accumulation to a height of several feet above its +original level in the seven hundred and fifty years which have elapsed +since the construction. In monastic times this gateway figured in the +important ceremony attending the installation of a new abbot. Before +entering the precincts of the monastery the destined prelate, +accompanied by his chaplains and personal following, halted in this +corner of the market-place, and after entering one of the adjoining +houses where his shoes were removed he proceeded barefoot into the +churchyard. The whole convent, duly accoutred, were in waiting, and as +soon as the new abbot appeared in the gate they emerged in ordered +procession from the north porch of the great church to meet him. After +various formalities he was solemnly escorted to the church, where +further important ceremonials were performed. + +[Illustration: ABBOT REGINALD'S GATEWAY] + +To the previous century may be assigned the bases of the substantial +piers which stood at the crossing of the nave and transept, and +supported the tower of the great church. These remains may be seen in +the excavated hollow a few steps from the southern side of bell tower. +The tower of the church was begun by Abbot Walter soon after the +Conquest, and there can be little doubt that these massive foundations +belong to his time. If we follow the line of wall to the south from +this point we come to an arch, bare on this side but elaborately +carved on the other with two rows of figures under canopies. This +archway was in the east walk of the cloisters, and gave entrance to a +vaulted passage connecting the cloisters with the chapter-house. +Though the figures have been considerably mutilated and weather-worn +it will be seen that the carving is of great beauty; the outer figures +are seated while the inner ones stand, and over both are placed +canopies of tabernacle work. We know this as the work of Abbot +Brokehampton, by whom it was erected early in the fourteenth century. +The bare face of the arch was originally hidden by the stone vault +forming the roof of the passage already referred to. The chapter-house +stood out in the field; but much farther, even to the edge of the bank +which slopes down to the monks' fish ponds, did the choir and Lady +chapel extend. + +As we retrace our steps we follow the line of the transepts. When we +reach the exposed foundations, let us pause awhile and allow our +imagination full sway. We are standing in the midst of the choir, in +the "dim religious light" of a great mediaeval church. Above is the +"high embowed roof" of the central tower; around are the stalls set in +a screen of woodwork intricately carved. All is mellowed by the +"storied windows," which break the light into many coloured rays. +Looking westward, over the blank wall, we should see in vision the +tall rood screen and gallery, and, stretching far beyond, the long +vista of Norman arches and painted roof: and through the screen +glimpses would reach us of the many-coloured west window. Let us turn +round, and in place of sunlit trees and river conjure up the broad +flight of stone steps, the stately sanctuary above, with its glorious +reredos enriched with tabernacle work and carving, gold, silver, and +colours; and the clerestory lights shedding that sweet lustre we have +seen somewhere never to forget! + +The bell tower rising in solitary state beside us cannot wait for its +true chronological order. It is one of the few existing examples of +many separate belfries built to hold the bells either for convenience, +or in cases where the towers of the church were of insufficient +strength. As a rule these buildings were much broader and less +graceful in design. This tower has been critcised as "squat," but +considering its use it will be seen that a broad base is essential to +its character. In reality, it is remarkable how much delicacy and +grace have been given by form and proportion, without lessening the +strength or utility. The tower was built by Clement Lichfield in the +last years of his abbacy, and hardly finished at his resignation in +1539. That the builder and his local contemporaries were proud of this +last ornament to the town, is proved by the inscription on Lichfield's +grave, which concludes with the line "in whose time the new tower of +Evesham was built." + +The bell tower is indeed Evesham's chief glory, from some standpoints +her principal cause for pride. Unique in its character, it strikes +every beholder with surprise and pleasure in proportion to his +capacity for the appreciation of stately form and exquisite +workmanship. Built by the accomplished and learned Lichfield in the +pure perpendicular style, at a time when Gothic architecture was fast +sinking in its decline, it would seem to be, not only one of the +triumphs of mediaeval art, but one of the very last efforts of a dying +tradition; in it we see embodied the lofty thought of one of our +noblest abbots. Though it has not witnessed the beginnings of the +conventual life, the early struggles, nor the palmy days of +monasticism, it forms a connecting link between the dim past and this +present time. It is, as it were, a monument perpetuating the memory of +a great period and a great institution. + +If the atmosphere be clear we should ascend the spiral staircase, and +from the summit, no great height indeed, we shall gain a view of the +town with the encircling river, and the vale with the surrounding +hills. The tower still performs its function, and every day the chimes +play a different tune, all familiar airs that never tire, but with +repetition seem rather to gain in association and charm. + +If we take the path from the tower which brings us to the left side of +Saint Lawrence's church, we skirt an old wall which bounded the great +courtyard of the Abbey, and joined the great church to the gate-house. +We soon come to a door of fifteenth century workmanship, and close by +is a curious Gothic chimney of about the same date. On the inner side +was the porter's lodge, and from here to the adjacent church of Saint +Lawrence ran a covered way, probably a vaulted passage like a cloister +walk, through which the officiating priest would enter. If we proceed +we soon find ourselves at the bottom of Vine Street, and looking +across Merstow Green; and over the house-tops, bounding the horizon we +see Clark's Hill, a steep bank on the opposite side of the river, +traditionally said to have been planted by the monks as a vineyard. On +our left is a large plastered building enclosed within substantial +iron railings. This was once the great gatehouse of the Monastery, and +was built in the fourteenth century by Abbot Chiriton, who obtained a +special licence from King Edward the Third to fortify the abbey +precincts. The windows and the wing projecting outwards are +comparatively modern, but a Gothic window may be seen in the wall +facing the churchyard, and the original arches can be traced on the +garden front. Close by, and possibly adjoining, was the Barton Gate +which led to the stables and outhouses. The long low building of +stone and timber, washed over in the old manner with lime, which rises +from the grass on our left was once the Almonry of the Abbey. It is +now occupied as offices and separate dwellings. The front is extremely +picturesque with its buttresses, perpendicular window and quaint +openings. The western portion, built mainly of timber, with here and +there the remains of carving, and a diaper imprinted on the plaster, +contains the great fireplace, clearly indicated on this side by the +mass of solid stonework. Turning the corner into Little Abbey Lane we +come to the yard at the back, and we may be allowed to view the +interior of the Almoner's kitchen, which still retains some of its +primitive character. From this apartment a passage runs through the +entire length of the building, and this was no doubt originally +continued, forming a communication with the main buildings of the +Monastery. In the corner of the courtyard, beneath a brick gable which +is mere modern patchwork, the passage takes an abrupt turn, and in the +angle is placed a curious "lantern" of stone, which, from its +character, may very probably be the work of the Gloucester school of +masons of the fifteenth century. The proper position and use of this +curious relic is only guessed at. The chambers below are said to have +served the purpose of a prison at one time, the prisoners' food being +placed in the lantern, and taken by the unfortunate inmates through +the hatch cut in the wall behind. The passage is continued from this +corner to the outer wall of the building where it abruptly terminates +in a screen of modern construction. If we go farther round this block +into the garden we shall come to another cottage, and in the front +room we may see a well-carved fireplace ornamented with five +quatrefoils. It is composed of the oolite stone used for all the finer +and more important work in the Monastery, but has been lately painted, +with unfortunate result. Beyond a partition is a beautifully carved +fragment which would seem to have formed part of an elaborate shrine +or chantry, but now serves as the lintel of the scullery window. +Overlooking the garden in which we stand as we leave the door is the +gable end of a plain rectangular building, now cottages, but formerly +the Abbot's stables. + +One more relic completes the list of the remains of the "late Abbey," +as Leland pathetically alludes to that important establishment. +Walking across the Green we see before us an old stone porch embattled +above, and behind it a plain building of two storeys. This was the +Grammar School of Abbot Lichfield, and his inscription over the door +may still be deciphered, "ORATE PRO ANIMA CLEMENTIS ABBAT." The +schoolhouse is of timber, and has been little altered, except that the +front is spoiled by the substitution of brick for wood and plaster; +the ornamental battlement on the porch is also of recent date. + +For more than a hundred years after the destruction of the noble pile +the site was used as a stone quarry, and fragments may be found in +almost all the older houses in the town, and in many farm buildings in +the neighbourhood. There is hardly an old garden near that has not +some carved stones of curious shape recognisable by the antiquary as +having once formed part of a shaft, a window, or an archway of the +proud Abbey. Of these scattered fragments the most important is the +lectern of alabaster, Romanesque in style, now, after long misuse and +neglect serving its original purpose in the church of Saint Egwin at +Norton, a village lying nearly three miles to the north of the town. A +description of this relic will be found in the last section of this +work. + +The local tradition of the splendour of the Monastery is no doubt +handed down to us by Thomas Habington, the antiquary, who visited the +town in 1640. "There was not to be found," he writes, with pardonable +exaggeration, "out of Oxford or Cambridge, so great an assemblage of +religious buildings in the kingdom"! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PARISH CHURCHES + + +The two parish churches, placed together in one yard, make with the +bell tower an unusually striking group. What then would be the +feelings aroused in the spectator were the great church, a cathedral +in magnitude and splendour, still visible, rising majestically above +roofs and spires. To us the Abbey which is gone can do no more than +add solemnity to the scene which once it graced. It matters little by +which entrance we approach the churchyard, for from every side the +buildings group harmoniously; each of the steeples acting as it were +as a foil to the other: and both the spires unite in adding dignity to +the bell tower. The churchyard in Norman times would seem to have been +part of the Abbey precincts, as it is enclosed within Abbot Reginald's +wall already described, and a second wall, part of which is still +standing, divided it from the Monastery and the monastic grounds. + +The Church of All Saints seems to have served, from very early times, +as the parish church. As we examine it we read, as in an ancient and +partly illegible manuscript, its long story. The restorer, more +ruthless than Age or Time, has, with the best intentions, laid his +heavy hand upon it, and obliterated much of its character and history; +but enough remains to interest us, though pleasure is now mingled with +much vain regret. In the simple Norman arch through which we pass as +we enter the nave, and perhaps the western wall with the small +round-headed windows, we find the earliest records. The slight tower +with its sharply-pointed windows and delicate spire was added, +probably supplanting an earlier and simple porch, in the time of the +Edwards. The arches and northern clerestory of the nave belong to a +rather later period when the church was found too narrow for the +increasing population; while the arches on the southern side with no +clerestory above, are probably later still. The choir and north wall +of the nave are the work of the restorer, and tell us nothing but a +tale of culpable neglect and mistaken zeal! The head of the north door +of the chancel is, however, a relic of the original building, and this +should be carefully examined. It is beautifully cut with double rows +of cusps, and is of fourteenth century workmanship. The latest Gothic +additions are the work of Clement Lichfield. To this Abbot we owe the +outer porch so deeply panelled, with its two entrance doorways, its +pierced battlements, and finely carved timber roof; to him also do we +breathe our thanks as we stand looking up at the lovely vaulting of +the Lichfield Chapel built by him in his younger days when Prior of +the Monastery. Here was Lichfield buried, and beneath the floor his +body lies; formerly a memorial brass engraved with effigy and +inscription marked the spot, but this has long since disappeared. The +inscription, however, can be read on a tablet lately erected by pious +hands to perpetuate his memory. Over the entrance we may still see the +initials of the builder carved upon an ornamental shield. The windows +are now filled with modern glass, not unworthily telling the +oft-repeated story of the "vanished Abbey." In the upper lights are +represented figures of the Virgin Mary, and of Eoves with his swine. +The shields on either side of the former figure bear the lily and the +rose; to the left of Eoves are the arms of the Borough of Evesham, and +on the right those attributed to the ancient Earls of Mercia. The +figures below show Saint Egwin, with the arms of the See of Worcester +to the left, those of the Monastery to the right; and Abbot Lichfield, +with his own arms (Lichfield alias Wych) on the left, and those of the +Rev. F.W. Holland, to whose memory the windows were glazed, oh the +right. In the west window of the chapel is Simon de Montfort, Earl of +Leicester, with the arms of de Montfort on the left, and those of +James the First, who granted the Borough its charter, on the right. +Above him is his opponent and conqueror, Prince Edward; to the left +his own arms as eldest son of the monarch, and to the right the +traditional arms of Edward the Confessor; who according to the Abbey +Chronicles first granted the town a market and the right of levying +tolls. In one of the carved panels below these windows is a variation +of the coat-of-arms of the Monastery. + +As we leave the church porch we shall notice the black and white house +adjoining Abbot Reginald's gateway on the right. This is now a private +house, but was until lately the Vicarage. The lower rooms have been +made to project to the level of the first floor, and the +picturesqueness given by an overhanging storey has thus been lost. In +one of these rooms is a large fifteenth-century fireplace of stone. + +The Church of Saint Lawrence has little to say to us of its history. +Though an old foundation the irregular western tower is the earliest +part now standing, and this is not older than the fourteenth or +fifteenth century; the rest of the church was built in Lichfield's +time, but after having lain in ruins for many years it underwent a +complete restoration towards the middle of last century, with the +result that much of the Gothic character is lost. The general plan of +the church with its panelled arcade and open clerestory is original, +but the northern side is modern, and compared with the old work hard +and lacking in feeling. The east window and the chapel now used as the +baptistery are both fine examples of perpendicular architecture and +worthy of careful study. The carved detail round the east window with +its playful treatment of flying buttresses, battlements, and pinnacles +is charming in its delicacy and proportion; and some of the detail is +almost as sharp as when it left the mason's hand four hundred years +ago. The chapel is, in its way, perfect, a complete vault of fan +tracery. The decayed condition of the broken canopies, once flanking +an altar, and which were the work of the same hands as the east +window, shows into what a dilapidated condition the church had fallen. +There was a corresponding chapel on the north side of the nave, but +this has been long demolished. The present font is an unsympathetic +copy of the old one, dating from the fifteenth century and still +preserved at Abbey Manor. Outside the tower on the north side, and set +on a level with the eye, should be noticed a carving of the +Crucifixion, much worn by weather and rough usage; but even yet may be +traced a master hand in the attitudes and proportion of the figures. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TOWN + +_The towne of Evesham is meetly large and well builded of tymbre ... +The market is very celebrate_.--LELAND, _circ._ 1540. + + +The town of Evesham consists, by reason of its insular position, of +only one thoroughfare. The river winds round enclosing it on three +sides, so that, there being but one bridge, there is no other outlet +except towards the north. There are four principal streets: High +Street, which was in all probability an extension of the "celebrate" +market along the Worcester and North Road; Vine Street and Bridge +Street, both skirting the boundary wall of the abbey precincts, and so +probably the oldest in their origin; and Port Street, the main +thoroughfare of Bengeworth, forming part of the London road beyond the +river bridge. High Street, Bridge Street, and Vine Street lead from +the Market Place, and here we will stand and look around. On the north +side is the "market-sted," "fayre and large" as when Leland viewed +it, but now converted to private uses. It is a fine example of Gothic +timber construction; but to think of it as it appeared to Leland's +admiring gaze, we must imagine the walls and partitions of the lower +storey cleared away, and fancy it supported only by massive pillars of +oak, roughly hewn and of great strength. Below was the market +sheltered from the rain, and such as may still be seen at Ledbury and +other places; and above were chambers devoted to the business of the +town, and presumably of the various guilds, of which little is now +known. + +About 1586 the "New Town Hall" was erected, probably of stone from the +ruins of the Abbey, on the west side of the square; but from this +point the older part of the building is entirely obscured by recent +additions, and to understand its first appearance we must walk round +it into Vine Street. The general plan, though the difference in +material necessitates changes in form, is much the same as in the +older Booth Hall, for by this name the older market hall is known. +There is the basement, open until lately and used as a market, and +above is the large hall, and the rooms for public business. The clock +turret and ornamented gable were added in commemoration of Queen +Victoria's Jubilee of 1887. Little else calls for notice, but the +group of timber gables in the corner near the churchyard will +certainly attract the eye by their picturesque grouping. The most +prominent of these gables is carved with a flowing design, and in the +upper angle can be seen a large T, and some smaller letters which have +not been deciphered. Above the chimneys rise the tower and spire of +All Saints Church. + +[Illustration: _In the_ Market Place, _Evesham_] + +The breadth of High Street may be accounted for by the supposition +that the roadsides in this direction were broad and grass-grown, and +used for the market, which was large and important. Indeed, until +quite lately, the fairs now carried on in a closed market were held in +the open street, the animals being penned up by hurdles. Bordering the +green sward houses would have sprung up to cater for the wants of the +farmers and drovers, and, as the town grew larger, a continuous line +of street would be formed, and the grass edge would naturally be paved +for cleanliness and convenience. The irregularity of the houses in +shape, size, and colour will at once strike the visitor. The primitive +timber has been almost entirely superseded by the more "respectable" +and secure brick front, but the interiors and the backs of the houses +show that the construction is often really of wood with a thin veneer +of old-fashioned respectability. High Street leads on to Green Hill, +now severed from the town by the railway, and becomes the main road +northwards. Near the end of the street, towards the railway stations, +is a building of stone and brick thinly coated with plaster, roofed +with stone tiles, and with a recessed porch and balcony. The railing +of the balcony especially should be noticed, being of unusual design, +and very likely the work of the local blacksmith more than two hundred +years ago. The name, Almswood, reminds us that here was once a wood +belonging to the office of the Almoner to the Abbey. On the same side +of the street, nearer the centre of the town, is another interesting +house. It is a mansion of brick, and in front are some very fine +railings fixed on a low wall of stone. The door, which is in the +middle of the front, is approached by wide steps, and over it is a +heavy canopy supported by wrought-iron brackets of decorated scroll +work. This house belonged to a certain Thomas Cookes, whose family +were large landowners in the neighbourhood of Tardebigg in the +northern part of the county, and was built by him in the time of King +William III. It contains a fine staircase, ornamental fireplaces, and +panelled walls. At the back is a paved yard enclosed by short wings, +and from here a stairway and tunnel lead under a narrow street into +what was once a large and beautiful garden. Though now sadly curtailed +and overlooked, enough is left to show what it must have been like in +former days. Beside the main path is a tall and well-cut sundial of +stone, with a weather-vane at the top pierced with the initials of +Robert Cookes, and the date 1720. At the end of the garden is a break +in the wall, formerly railed across, and flanked on either side by +tapering columns. This was a favourite device for obtaining a long +vista extending beyond the garden, and when it was constructed the +view over the meadows and river to Clark's Hill must have formed a +charming outlook. It is now obstructed and spoiled by a modern street. +In the farther corner of this old-fashioned garden is a tower of wood +known as the Temple, and at the back of this an external staircase +winds, giving access to the upper rooms, both curiously decorated with +carving and painting. There is little doubt that some of the woodwork +came from the Abbey. Facing this is an arbour formed of a huge +Jacobean mantel of carved oak, bearing in the centre the arms of the +Borough of Evesham. + +[Illustration: (High Street)] + +An eighteenth century romance attaches to this property. A young +doctor, skilful, extravagant, and presumably attractive, won the hand +of a Miss Cookes, who inherited the place from her father. After the +death of his wife this physician, Baylies by name, being deeply in +debt, and having mortgaged his property, disappeared. The house and +garden were taken possession of by one of the principal creditors, who +must have justified his claim, for the house long remained in his +family. The enterprising doctor was next heard of in Prussia, where he +became court physician and adviser to the Emperor Frederick the Great. + +Three old streets lead out of High Street. To the west, Magpie Lane +ends in the river meadows; and to the east, Swan Lane and Oat Street +reach the river at the Mill. + +Vine Street is little more than a continuation of the Market Place +towards Merstow Green; and its old name, Pig Market, shows that it was +used in the same manner. Here, again, many of the old houses have been +refronted, thus appearing of a much later date than they are in +reality. The Georgian dislike of gabled irregularity is once more +exemplified. But Vine Street is saved from becoming commonplace by the +low line of buildings at the end, still known as the Almonry, and over +which the Gatehouse, in spite of its dismantled and modernised state, +still seems to keep guard. + +Bridge Street is probably the most ancient of the streets. The houses +on the south side have gardens reaching to the Abbey walls, a position +which would add greatly to their security in early times, and the +narrowness of the roadway also goes towards proving its antiquity. +This must have been the most frequented thoroughfare, leading as it +did in old times to the ford, and afterwards to the bridge and the +Abbot's mill beside it. Here were the oldest inns; and though all the +house-fronts have been sadly modernised, either by the insertion of +huge plateglass windows or in some less defensible manner, yet the eye +still passes with pleasure from house to house, and the effect of the +irregularity, heightened by the contrast of light and shade, is +picturesque in the extreme. + +Starting at the top we have on one side the old Booth Hall already +described. On this side the bay windows projecting from the level of +the first floor add much to the quaint effect. Almost opposite is "The +Alley" continuing one side of High Street into Bridge Street and the +Market Place. As seen from the High Street side this narrow passage +between the shops retains much of its old character, and the windows +with their wooden frames and mullions are worth notice. The house on +the left next to the Bank with its prominent bay windows was at one +time the town house of a family named Langstone, and it was here that +King Charles the First stayed and held his "Court" in 1644. Almost +opposite is a stately front of brick dating from the next century, of +elegant proportions and with well-designed spouts. Further down on the +right side is a much renovated gabled building of timber, possessing +a fine doorway of the fifteenth century with its massive door and +wrought-iron hinges intact. Almost next door is "The Crown," one of +the old coaching inns with the courtyard opening on the street. At one +time an open gallery ran round the first floor, and traces of this may +be seen on the further side. A little above the old house we have just +noticed was the White Hart Inn, the most celebrated house when country +inns were in their prime. It is now in the occupation of a market +gardener and has been much altered, but some of the passages and rooms +are still to be seen in the back premises. An amusing story connected +with the White Hart Inn has been revived by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, +who by means of it has endeavoured to explain the line in "Troilus and +Cressida." "The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break." The +anecdote is related by Robert Armin, who claims to have been an +eye-witness of the incident; and this would seem probable, as the +local touches are correct and Armin was for some time a member of the +company alluded to. It is to be found in a work entitled, _Foole Vpon +Foole, or Sixte Sortes of Sottes_, published in 1605, and re-edited +and issued, with the author's name attached, in 1608, as _A Nest of +Ninnies_. The fool referred to in the line quoted above is suspected +to be not merely the imaginary representative of a type but the +popular local Fool of Shakespeare's time, a fellow of brilliant parts, +but eccentric, and, we must suppose, lacking in balance and common +sense. We are told that one winter Lord Chandos's players visited +Evesham, and Jack Miller, our Fool, became greatly attached to the +company and in particular to Grumball the clown; indeed, so greatly +was he enamoured that he "swore he would goe all the world over with +Grumball." The townspeople being loth to lose so popular a character, +Jack was locked in a room at the back of the White Hart Inn from which +he could see the players journeying on their way to Pershore, their +next stage, by the road on the farther side of the river. With +difficulty he contrived to escape by the window, and ran down to the +water's edge. The stream, says our author, "was frozen over thinely," +but Miller "makes no more adoe, but venters over the haven, which is +by the long bridge, as I gesse some forty yards over; yet he made +nothing of it, but my hart aked when my eares heard the ise crack all +the way. When he was come unto me," continues Armin, "I was amazed, +and tooke up a brick-bat, which lay there by, and threw it, which no +sooner fell upon the ise but it burst. Was not this strange that a +foole of thirty yeeres was borne of that ise which would not endure +the fall of a brick-bat?"! The fact that Robert Armin and William +Shakespeare were fellow-actors at the Globe Theatre lends probability +to Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps' elucidation. + +Continuing our way beyond the Crown Hotel we see on our right, below +the level of the street, a quaint row of gables with little shops +below quite unchanged by the present conditions of trade. Passing +onward towards the bridge we shall see to the best advantage the full +effect of this most picturesque of streets. + +Alas! that modern enterprise and modern requirements should have +demanded the removal of such a bridge as fifty years ago spanned the +stream in eight irregular arches. Here we have convenience, but will +this condone for the charm of picturesqueness and long association? We +cannot but mourn over the loss. From the bridge we look up the river +to the weir, mill and water-meadows. On the right, by the yard not far +up the stream, stood, in the troublous reign of King Stephen a castle; +and from this fortress William de Beauchamp sallied forth, forcibly +entered the Abbey, and carried away the goods of the Church. But an +abbot in those days was quite equal to meeting a hereditary sheriff on +his own ground. Abbot William de Andeville descended on the castle, +took it, razed it to the ground, and consecrated the site as a +cemetery; no vestige of either castle or cemetery now remains. Old +Bengeworth is hardly more than one long street, and there is little +now to claim our attention. On the right side of the street, set back +behind some iron railings, is a school founded early in the eighteenth +century by John Deacle, a man of humble origin and a native of +Bengeworth, who, moving to London became a wealthy woollen draper with +a shop in Saint Paul's churchyard, and finally an Alderman of the +City. In the new church is his tomb with an elaborate effigy in the +costume of the period. Passing up the street we should turn before +coming to the Talbot Inn and look back: from this point the irregular +houses and roofs with the Bell Tower rising beyond make an attractive +vignette. The old churchyard can be seen behind the Talbot Inn. The +church is gone in favour of the modern and "handsome" structure which +we saw before us as we turned out of the main street. Here are only +the graves and the base of the old tower. Opposite the remains of the +tower is an old stone house, once the manor, where a little chapel can +still be seen in an upper room. Except the monument to John Deacle +there is nothing in the new church to call forth our interest. + +[Illustration: THE BELL TOWER FROM BENGEWORTH] + +By pursuing our way past the old burial-ground, and taking the turn to +the right we find ourselves in Cooper's Lane, associated with a family +long connected with the borough. To our left is a pretty cottage, and +beyond, seen among the trees but with outhouses abutting on the road, +is the Mansion House, still retaining in every feature that old-world +sense of remoteness and repose so precious in these days; like a +backwater of a rapid river, lying unmoved while the stream of life +rushes vociferously by; a veritable "haunt of ancient peace." + +The lane leads us into the Cheltenham Road, and we should turn into +the public Pleasure Grounds, or, better still, walk a few steps +farther along the road, until we have passed them, in order to see the +true situation chosen by the monks for their church and +dwelling-place. + +How dignified does the Bell Tower appear, with the twin spires, rising +from the summit of the bank, above the willows which edge the fish +ponds! And below in the smooth waters their image is reflected, broken +and clear at intervals. All the morning does the sun glorify the +scene, and beneath its intense rays the towers gleam white against the +blue heavens. Every third hour the bells in Lichfield's tower play an +old tune fraught with sweet memories. The horses browse in the meadows +or stand beneath the shade of the tall elms. Often a brightly-coloured +caravan is to be seen encamped near the ponds, and beside it a fire +which sends a faint cloud of blue smoke up against the dark green of +the foliage. Out come the children to play on the green slope, to fish +in the ponds or gather flowers in the meadow below. An old barge, +perhaps, lies under the bank, towed up with much labour from the +Severn. Pleasure boats pass now and again, disturbing the water and +breaking the reflections into a thousand fragments. Evening comes on; +the sun declines, and the face of the tower is dark against the +glittering beams; the water receives the glow and reflects the +radiance. Tower, spires, trees and landscape assume one sombre hue; +clear cut against the sky their forms appear; and, as night falls, the +single deep-toned bell rings out the "Curfew" across the silent vale. + +Though lying outside the town, and separated from it by the railway, +Green Hill is included within the limits of the borough, and forms +part of the Evesham parishes. The hill is memorable on account of the +well-known battle, described in the next chapter, in which Prince +Edward gained the victory over Simon de Montfort, thus concluding the +Barons' War. The exact site of the encounter is not known, but +tradition points to a spot in the Abbey Manor grounds called +Battlewell, on which it is averred de Montfort was slain; and the +fight probably extended over a great part of the level plateau on both +sides of the present main road. + +Unfortunately Battlewell lies in private grounds, but the position may +be seen from Clark's Hill. It lies a hundred yards to the left of the +road nearly opposite a pretty thatched lodge, but cannot be seen from +the highway. + +Just beyond is a double cottage dividing the road into two, and on the +right is a shady lane. This is Blayney's Lane, and, as already +mentioned, it was once the London road; by pursuing it we come to the +river meadows and Offenham Ferry. The main road runs straight on, and +leads, through the village of Norton, to Alcester, Stratford, +Birmingham, &c. The way to the left is the old Worcester road, and +skirts the grounds of the Abbey Manor. If we take this lane and +descend the hill we may turn sharply to the left near the bottom and +return to the town by the "New Road"; or walk on a short distance with +Wood Norton--the Duke of Orleans' house--on its wooded slope, in full +view, and follow a lane on the left leading to Chadbury Mill. + +The Abbey Manor, with its pretty grounds, is not open to the public. +In addition to the beautiful views obtained from its walks and lawns +it contains many treasures of local interest. Chief among these are +fragments of columns, window tracery, sculpture, and other relics +brought by an ancestor of the present owner, a noted antiquary, from +the site of the Monastery. Here are carefully preserved a splendid +abbatial chair richly carved and of great size, bearing the monastic +arms, and in remarkable preservation; also two quaint effigies of men +in plate armour fashioned in solid oak about three-quarters of the +size of life. These figures stood on the face of the belfry tower, +and, by turning on a pivot, struck the hours; they are in all +probability coeval with that building. + +In one of the shrubberies, hidden from public view, is an obelisk +commemorating the fall of Simon de Montfort, and in the plantation +near the lower road is a tower, like the house denoting the period of +the late Georgian Gothic revival, and bearing the name of the Earl of +Leicester. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM + + _When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,_ + _Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;_ + _A leader of courage undaunted was hee,_ + _And oft-times he made their enemyes flee._ + + _At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine_ + _The barons were routed and Montfort was slaine._ + + --THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN. + + +One of the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin at +Evesham was the tomb of the great and popular hero Simon de Montfort. +Such tombs were a source of much profit to the ecclesiastical +institutions of those days. Hither pilgrims flocked in great numbers, +particularly on the day specially devoted to the memory of the saint +or martyr, and offerings were made proportionate to the wealth of the +devotee. Not only was it supposed that spiritual advantages could be +gained by devotion at these holy places, but cures innumerable were +believed to have been worked through the intercession of the departed +spirit. Hence the great monasteries often partook of the nature of our +present-day hospitals, "the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" +thronging thither; and, if at first unsuccessful, trying shrine after +shrine in the hope of eventual restoration to health. + +Though de Montfort was not canonised as a saint and martyr, yet he +appears to have been regarded in such a light by the common people, +and among the archives of the Monastery was preserved a long list of +accredited cures and miracles reported to have been worked at his +tomb. + +It was on the morning of Tuesday, August 4th, 1265, that the memorable +battle, ending in the death of Simon de Montfort, was fought. Earl +Simon was travelling on the previous day from the neighbourhood of +Worcester to join his eldest son, also named Simon, at Kenilworth. +With the Earl was King Henry the Third as prisoner or hostage, and on +the night of Monday, the 3rd of August, the Earl and his retinue were +received as guests in the Abbey, his army being quartered or encamping +in the town. + +Prince Edward, King Henry's eldest son, was in the neighbourhood with +a large army, but his movements for some days past were unknown to de +Montfort. On the Saturday before the arrival of the Barons' army at +Evesham the Prince had surprised the younger Simon at Kenilworth, +killed or taken as prisoners the greater part of his army, and seized +all the baggage and standards. The same day he had returned to +Worcester and joined the Earl of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer, both +leading considerable forces. + +Thus we see the Earl, with his adherents, resting at Evesham, +unconscious of the fact that, unaided, he must soon face three +powerful foes. Next day saw his fate decided. + +Early on Tuesday morning all was stir and bustle in the Monastery and +in the little town. The troops were preparing to depart at daybreak +towards Kenilworth, where father and son were to meet and arrange +their future tactics. In the early dawn Nicholas, the Earl's barber, +ascended one of the towers of the Abbey, and, gazing northwards, over +Green Hill he descried soldiers bearing standards which were evidently +those of the younger Simon. For a few moments joy prevailed at the +thought of so happy a meeting; but this feeling soon gave place to +anxiety and dread. Closer examination showed that though the standards +were those of the Earl's son the soldiers who carried them were not +Simon's but Prince Edward's followers. In a moment all was clear: the +younger Simon had been defeated, perhaps slain, and de Montfort must +fight single-handed or yield his cause ingloriously. Retreat over the +bridge by which the army had entered the town was useless, for soon +it became known that Roger Mortimer was following the route the barons +had taken the day before, and would soon be on their rear. With the +river on both sides of them, and both ways blocked by enemies, two +alternatives alone presented themselves, to fight or to yield. To add +to the hopelessness of their position the Earl of Gloucester, with his +army, was now joining Prince Edward by the upper Worcester road. De +Montfort knew that against such odds the fight would be a hopeless +one, and urged his supporters to flee while there was yet time, and +not to lose their lives in an unavailing struggle; but none would +desert their leader in the hour of peril. "Then," exclaimed the Earl, +"may the Lord have mercy on our souls for our bodies are in the power +of our enemies." + + * * * * * + +It is recorded that on this fatal Tuesday all the elements seemed to +unite in adding horror to the scene of carnage. Shortly before this a +great comet had made men fear and wonder; and now, on this morning the +sky was overcast with such dense clouds that the land was in darkness; +so black were the heavens that nothing like it had been known within +the memory of man. A violent tempest, with a deluge of rain and +terrific thunder and lightning, swept over the country. The terrified +monks could not see their books as they chanted the Psalms in the +darkened choir, and as they sat in the refectory they could not tell +what food lay upon their trenchers. + +Meanwhile the battle raged on the hill above the town; desperately the +barons fought, but, one by one, they fell overpowered by numbers. +Though the earl was sixty-five years of age he fought "stoutly, like a +giant, for the liberties of England" to the end. + +We will not dwell on the horror of the battle. Popular tradition still +points to the spot where the great leader was slain, and there, beside +a spring called Battlewell, was placed a sacred rood. Two young de +Montforts fell by their father's side, and many barons, knights, and +common soldiers; but few fled. The stragglers from the defeated army +were, many of them, slaughtered, as they attempted their escape; and +by Offenham Ferry, where in those times probably stood a bridge, there +is a meadow, once an island, which to this day bears the name of +"Deadman's Ait." The chroniclers tell of the shameful mutilation of +the earl's corpse, and how the limbs were distributed through the +country, but the dismembered body was buried reverently by the monks +in the most sacred part of their church, even before the High Altar. +The severed hands were sent by a servant to the wife of Roger +Mortimer, at Wigmore Castle in Shropshire. They arrived, so says the +legend, while the Mass was being celebrated, and, at the raising of +the Host, they were seen, before the bag containing them was opened, +clasped in the attitude of prayer above the head of the messenger. In +fear and trembling, Lady Mortimer returned the bloody trophy. + +Prince Edward himself attended the funeral of Henry de Montfort, his +cousin and friend, in the Abbey church. + +"Such," sings Robert of Gloucester, "was the murder of Evesham, for +battle none it was." + +As in the case of other national heroes of old times, popular fancy +was allowed to play unfettered round the memory of this noble family. +In the well-known ballad preserved by Bishop Percy, of "The Beggar's +Daughter of Bednall Green," it is imagined that Henry de Montfort was +rescued at night from the field of battle while still living, by "a +baron's faire daughter," in search of her father's body; that she +nursed him, and that, on his recovery they married, their daughter +being "prettye Bessee." + +The miracles we read of, and to which reference has been made, are +many and varied. For some time the fear of royal censure and +punishment prevented cures being openly attributed to "Saint Simon," +but it was not long before the fame of his healing power spread, and +persons were brought from all parts of the country to "be measured by" +Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as +simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a +cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to +meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal. + +The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at +the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be +cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the +battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power +not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around +that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be +slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes +on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast, +personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of +the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or +incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the +"judgements" may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the +manners of some of the clergy of that date. + +A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and +by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish +the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I +reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a +servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in +chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise +abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from +the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict." + +In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife, +whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet +Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit +"Saint Simon's" relics. + +For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a +paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe +the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed +"saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:-- + + "Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious! + Noblest flower of chivalry! + O'er the pains of death victorious, + England's saviour, praise to thee. + More than all the saints in story, + Ere they gained their rest in glory, + Thou of cruel wrongs hast borne; + Foully foes thy corpse insulted, + O'er thy head and limbs exulted + From thy mangled body torn. + Once of wrongs the great redresser + Be thou now our intercessor, + Pray for us with God on high." + +"Pray for us, blessed Simon, that we may be made worthy to obtain the +promises of Christ." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS + +"_Who was he that went out from the command at Gloucester in such a +blaze, to adde glory unto conquest, and crown hit actions with a +never-dying honour, when he took the strong garrisoned Evesham in a +storme of fire and leaden haile; the loss whereof did make a king shed +tears? Was it not Massey_?" + + --CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLET. + + +Once more the peaceful vale was destined to become a field of battle. +At an early stage in the conflict between King and people Evesham was +fortified and garrisoned by the Royal party, and Samuel Sandys was +appointed military governor. The exact nature of the fortifications we +cannot exactly know, but it is certain they were complete, and +sufficient to withstand a siege if properly manned. A ditch, and +rampart of earth surmounted by timber palisades was the probable form +of defence, but no signs of such earthworks now remain, and the +position of them is unknown. + +King Charles paid his first visit early in July, 1644, and he is said +to have stayed in what was at that time a large house, probably +gabled, with projecting bay windows, on the north side of Bridge +Street. This mansion, for it was no less though now divided into +shops, was the town house of the Langstones, an influential family in +the neighbourhood. Here the King remained two nights, and from "our +Court at Evesham" he despatched a conciliatory message "To the Lords +and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster." + +Sir William Waller, the Parliamentary general, was hanging in the rear +of the royal army, and so without more delay the King moved towards +Worcester, taking with him the garrison, guns, and ammunition. Before +leaving, the army partly destroyed the outworks and rendered the +bridge over the river impassable. The townspeople were evidently more +in sympathy with the Roundheads than the Cavaliers, for on the +departure of the royal forces they immediately repaired the bridge, +and Waller entered and remained some days before following the chase. + +A week later the King returned, on his way back to the loyal city of +Oxford, much to the dismay of the inhabitants. For their rebellious +behaviour a fine of two hundred pounds was imposed on the borough, and +in addition to this they were forced to provide the royal army with a +thousand pairs of shoes. + +A year later we find the King once more passing through Evesham. This +time he left a garrison in charge of the town under Colonel Legge. But +Evesham was too important a place in this conflict, being a connecting +link between the "loyal cities" of Worcester and Oxford, to be left in +the hands of the King's party unchallenged. Almost immediately, in the +same month of May, 1645, Colonel Massey, Governor of Gloucester, with +a troop of horse and foot collected from the neighbouring counties, +attacked the town, and after vainly calling upon Colonel Legge to +yield, they assailed the fortifications at the bridge and in five +other places at the same time. After a short but hard fought encounter +the Royalists surrendered, and until the end of the struggle Evesham +remained in the hands of the Parliament. + +On the 29th of May the House of Commons ordered the Speaker to convey +their thanks to the colonel and his officers in acknowledgment of +their great service. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RIVER + + _There is a willow grows aslant a brook,_ + _That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;_ + _There with fantastic garlands did she come,_ + _Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples._ + + --SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet. + + +In tracing the history of our little town from its origin it has often +been observed how important a part has been played in its fortunes by +the river that flows through and partly encircles it. It is to the +river that the town owes its position, and its very existence probably +depended upon the advantages which the stream provided. To the early +settlers a good supply of water and natural means of protection were +necessary to life, and both these were offered by this narrow tongue +of land. + +For a long period the river was of little use for traffic, and not +until the seventeenth century was it made properly navigable. Now, +through the neglect of the owners of the navigation rights, it is once +more reverting in places to its primitive character. From Evesham to +Tewkesbury the stream is still in good order, but for a short +distance only towards Stratford-on-Avon. + +Apart from the fascination exercised on the mind by the ever changing +surface of water, varied and rippled by motion and by wind, the beauty +of this river is mainly due to the delicate and varied foliage of the +willows and other trees which grow freely beside it, the luxuriant +growth of flowers along its banks--"of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, +and long purples"--and the variety of blossoming water plants. Few +trees are more graceful than the willow when a slight breeze fans its +branches, mingling the "hoar leaves" with the grey green of the upper +side of the foliage; and many, before and since Shakespeare, have +preserved in the "inward eye" such a vision, reflected in "the glassy +stream" or more usually in the slightly ruffled surface below. The +level meadows, or sloping banks, which skirt the stream have a quiet +charm, and beautiful indeed are they in June, when thickly carpetted +with buttercups and ox-eye daisies. At almost every turn rise the blue +hills, completing the landscape and throwing the sunny meadows into +relief. + +We can hardly realise to ourselves the protective value of the river +in old times without rowing both up and down the stream for a mile or +more. Above the town, before reaching the railway bridge we should +look back and notice how steeply the land rises from the river on this +side. On the margin is the mill, and above are the houses, roof over +roof, descending again in steps to the river bridge. At the top is the +Bell Tower, and the church spires are seen near it. From the railway +embankment, or the higher ground beyond, the best picture which the +town affords is to be seen. Below us winds the river, and over the +meadows on an eminence is the cluster of houses forming the town; as a +background we have Bredon Hill, delicately outlined, or dark blue as +if overhanging the vale. + +Beyond the bridge we soon come to a picturesquely-situated farmhouse, +standing on a steep bank, and looking down upon the meadows. This is +the Parks Farm, and all the fields on this side bordering the river +were once the deer park of the great Abbey. Presently we reach +Offenham Ferry, while a little beyond, set back behind willow trees +and plough-land, is the village; and we soon catch sight of the old +church tower peering over the bank. At the further extremity of the +village, quite near the bank, is the "Court" farm, once protected by a +moat fed by the river, and used by the Evesham Abbots as a country +retreat. Hither Clement Lichfield, the last Abbot, retired on his +resignation, and here he probably died. + +The village of Offenham is peculiar in lying away from any main road, +and this gives it an air of repose and antiquity, which is pleasant in +these days. Whether the place owes its name to Offa, King of Mercia, +is an open question, but according to tradition this monarch owned +land and had a palace here, the site of which is pointed out by the +villagers. + +Beside the ferry we have passed there was in old times a bridge, and +still, when the water is very low, the solid foundations of the piers +may be seen with pointed buttresses facing up and down the stream. +When this bridge was destroyed no one can tell; but once upon a time +the road from Worcester to London came over Green Hill, and leaving +Evesham more than a mile to the south, descended the steep hill where +now a grass-grown track marks its course, crossing the river by this +bridge. The farm on the right bank is known by the name of Twyford, +and so we guess that the creek which leaves the main stream a little +way above the ferry once continued its course, forming an island with +a ford on either side. Deadman's Ait is the traditional name of this +island field, and it is supposed some of the stragglers from the +battle of 1265 were slain here while attempting to escape by the ford +or bridge. + +The irregularity of the river banks, now nearly level with the water, +sloping gently upwards, or steep and at times almost precipitous, is +much marked as we proceed on our way up the stream. After passing some +gardens, and a steep bank overgrown with gorse, the sluggish stream +quickens its pace, and we soon reach an abrupt turn where the current +is met by an unyielding wall of lias. Under the bare limestone the +water is deep and rushes swiftly, but above, the bank is covered with +tangled growth of blackberry and wild clematis, and in spring the +ground beneath the trees is blue with hyacinths. This sudden turn is +Norton Corner, and though no signs of that village can be seen it +stands hardly a mile away over the ridge of fields. The whole course +we have come may be followed on foot by the old tow-path from the +mill. From this point, after crossing the railway, a farm road will +take us to the end of the village; or we may take the footpath through +the arch beneath the line that we passed a few hundred yards further +down. + +After leaving Norton Corner by boat, the river, for a space slow and +easy, soon becomes swift, and as we approach the ruins of an old lock +the passage is attended with difficulties by reason of the shallow +water and the stony bed. If we successfully pass these rapids and gain +the next mill further progress is easy, but the mill can only be +passed by lifting the boat over the steep weir. On the way we pass +the old Fish and Anchor Inn, and a new ford calculated rather for the +convenience of vehicles than of boating parties. From the "Fish and +Anchor" we may ascend the long ridge of Cleeve Bank, and command a +fine view of the valley and the winding of the stream below. +Harvington Mill is at our feet, and the spire of the village church is +visible beyond; further up the stream, some distance beyond the +hanging wood, is Cleeve Mill, one of the prettiest spots on the river. +The village of Cleeve Prior lies behind the bank, and there may be +seen, besides the picturesque cottages and church, the old Manor, now +a farmhouse, with a quaint avenue of box, elaborately clipped, leading +to the front door. Over the fields on the further bank are the +Salfords, and among the trees the curved gables of a fine old Jacobean +mansion may be distinguished. The next place of interest on the stream +is Bidford with its many arched bridge of mediaeval date. + +If we follow the downward course of the Avon we find ourselves making +a circuit of the town; for a considerable distance the Bell Tower does +not leave us but seems to follow our boat, and ever and anon it +reappears over the meadows and among the trees on our right hand. +Hampton Church stands on rising ground, among the trees, on our left, +and soon we are at Hampton Ferry. If we prefer the walk we can take a +footpath by the bridge or the Bell Tower, and follow the winding +stream to this point. According to the old chronicles a church was +built at Hampton, in the reign of Canute, by Leofric and Godiva, so +well known in the regions of romance, and they gave land here to the +Abbey. The church we see was built and rebuilt by the Monastery, but +whether on the ancient site we know not. It is a small but beautiful +example of perpendicular architecture, and with the dark spreading yew +tree, the remains of the old cross, and the delicately weathered +tombstones, it makes a picture upon which the eye dwells with calm +satisfaction. + +The hill above the ferry is Clark's Hill, and the bank we are told was +terraced by the monks of old as a vineyard. Whether tradition is true +to facts we cannot surely say; a field beyond the ridge still bears +the name of the vineyard, and this may have been the actual site. The +ascent of the steep bank is rewarded on a clear day by the splendid +panorama which lies around. From the terrace walk we look down upon +the town, noticing with regret the predominating hues of brick and +slate which mark the modern suburbs; but the old tower, the churches, +and the gatehouse, despoiled but yet dignified, unconsciously hold +the eye. The old wall of the Abbey precincts ended here at the river, +and beside it runs Boat Lane, which would bring us out on the Green. + +Looking down the stream, over the railway bridges, we see Green Hill, +with the Abbey Manor and its grounds the most prominent feature. At +some little distance to the right of the house is a grassy comb, and +at the upper end is the spring to which legend points as the spot +where Simon de Montfort was slain, and which still bears the name +Battlewell. + +Stretched around us are the Cotswolds, and if we take a path, or lane, +leading over the hill westward we may, from the brow, behold Malvern's +rugged length and the isolated mass of Bredon. Further northward, if +the atmosphere be clear, we should distinguish the most striking +height of the Abberly range, a peak which on one side would almost +seem to overhang, and, away beyond, the Clee heights looking down on +the beautiful and historic town of Ludlow. + +Returning to our boat, we glide beneath the Abbey Manor, with its +wooded slopes, and presently we reach Chadbury Lock and Mill. On a +fair and warm day we may rest here in perfect content, listening to +the rush of the weir, watching the swallows flit and skim over the +calm water and break the glassy surface into circling ripples; or +gazing with silent pleasure down the stream as it continues its +peaceful course by wood and meadow. + +Not far below Chadbury, past Wood Norton--a country seat of the Duke +of Orleans, and by him lately rebuilt--its deer park and plantations, +past flowery banks, and thick beds of rushes haunted by waterfowl, is +the village of Fladbury. Pleasant-looking houses with trim gardens +border the river on our right, and beyond are two mills, with the +rushing weir between. That on our left is Cropthorne Mill, now a +dwelling-house. + +In Fladbury Church are some coats-of-arms in stained glass, said to +have come from the Abbey of Evesham. One shield bears the device of +Earl Simon. There is also a fine altar tomb, inlaid with brasses, +bearing the effigies of some members of the Throckmorton family. The +building is architecturally interesting, but the internal effect is +marred by the removal of the plaster, thus exposing the rough masonry +of "rubble," and the irregularity is much emphasised by "pointing." + +On the opposite side of the river is Cropthorne, surmounting a steep +bank. Here are many picturesque cottages of timber and thatch, and in +this village of orchards, the effect of the street is much heightened +if it be seen in the time of the apple-blossom. In this and the +neighbouring parishes we may still find much of that rustic beauty +which we have learned to associate with the names of Birket Foster and +Mrs. Allingham. + +The church contains many points of interest. As we enter we cannot but +be impressed by the simple arches of the Norman nave, the carved pews +of mediaeval date, and the Jacobean monuments--their once gaudy +colouring mellowed by age. Few churches have been treated with such +gentle consideration, and rarely do we find the true Gothic feeling so +carefully preserved. A beautiful Saxon cross, intricately carved, and +the ancient altar stone, lately discovered buried beneath the floor, +are two valued treasures. + + + + +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. + +[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 mediaeval 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 +mediaeval 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 + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Evesham, by Edmund H. 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