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[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.
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New, Edmund H. - Evesham