Broadway

Few will be unaware of Broadway, since it's Edwardian rediscovery this picturesque Cotswold town has attracted visitors from all over the world. Broadway has fallen from the high wolds lying at the foot of the escarpment, the main street once climbed the lower slopes of Fish Hill slipping away as the ascent defied further building, Now a bypass takes the heavy traffic past Broadway, returning the upper part of the village to it's Victorian calm.
In common with several other Cotswold settlements Broadway began as a planned  medieval town created by Pershore Abbey in the late 12th or early 13th centuries as a source of revenue. This may explain the position of the Norman church dedicated to St Eadburgha, which is a mile or so along the Snowshill road close to an older route over Fish Hill. The town prospered in the 17th and 18th centuries deriving a large portion of it's income from the wool and cloth trades and served as an important stopping place when coach travel blossomed, stimulated by the creation of turnpike roads. A medieval building the Abbot's Grange survives at the eastern end of the town.

As the old church was an inconvenient distance from the 17th century town, a chapel of ease was built near the marketplace in 1608, St Michael, this church was rebuilt in 1839. However, the wonderfully evocative Norman church St Eadburgha's is still used in the summer months. Eadburgha was a Saxon princess who as a child chose a bible over a bag of jewels, she was the daughter of Edward the Elder. A Saxon dedication suggests the presence of an earlier church on the site. St Eadburgha stands on the edge of Broadway perched above a wooded valley surrounded by fields. The elegant exterior gives the impression of a wealthy Perpendicular wool church but a soon as you step into the lofty nave a Norman structure is revealed. A three-bay pointed arcade with round piers betrays the buildings Norman origins, outside two west buttresses and the remains of an east buttress show the whole building to be c1200. The towers seems to have been built into the original nave preserving the piers of a fourth bay while the east responds were topped with battlements.The west and east tower arches are 14th century but the chancel arch retains imposts c1200. A vaulted roof spans the tower-crossing while the upper stages are Perpendicular as are the chancel windows although there is evidence of 13th century lancets. A Jacobean altar rail guards the communion table at the eat end of the chancel. The chancel has a trefoil headed piscina with continuous roll-moulding. A 13th century south transept has a south window of three stepped pointed-trefoiled lights, a piscina suggests the transept was used as an additional chapel. The nave roof sits on a wall plate with fleurons and one carved head. Above the chancel arch is a Royal Coat of Arms of Charles I dated to 1641.A Norman tub font has medieval encaustic tiles around it but inside the north door is the base of a 13th century hexagonal font with slender shafts. The church guide suggests the pulpit, that has Perpendicular panels, was once a travelling pulpit that would have been tied to the back of a horse. There are screens and benches in the choir which were constructed from medieval fragments. On the east wall is a brass to Anton Daston died 1571, this is a palimpsest, engraved on a Flemish brass plate, part of which is now in Westerham, Kent. There are fragments of medieval glass in many of the windows. A recent edition are beautiful oak pews made by Christopher Holmes of Rookery Farm, Broadway. The church has a peal of six bells including a Bagley bell of 1778.
Unfortunately the church has been a victim of several thefts, particularly a carved Flemish panel and the parish chest, these are illustrated on my Flckr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwthornton/sets/72157633151004936, it would be wonderful if these pieces could be found and restored to their proper place.

Snowshill

High on the valley side clings the village of Snowshill, indeed you could believe that the houses are slowly sliding down the escarpment. The heart of the settlement is a square of 17th century cottages which surround the Victorian church and on a lower road the famous Snowshill Manor now in the hands of the National Trust. Although the views across the steeply sloping village are wonderful in the winter months with snowdrops pouring down the wooded slopes the bleak winds that tear through the treetops prove how apt a name Snowshill is. The sunken lanes that climb the ridge above the cottages lead onto the high wolds that were once the sheep downs, the medieval source of the Cotswold's wealth. Nowadays, the large fields scattered with broken stone grow billowing expanses of wheat with only the skylarks and the yellowhammers for company. Towards the peak of this open landscape is a blaze of purple lavender, the Cotswold Lavender farm that attracts many visitors in the summer months.
Although the church St. Barnabas was built in 1864 Snowshill is an ancient parish, the manor, tithes and chaplaincy of Snowshill and nearby Stanton were granted to the Abbey of Winchcombe by King Kenulf of Mercia in the early 9th century. It remained in the Abbey's hands until the Dissolution when it was moved from the Diocese of Worcester to the newly formed Diocese of Gloucester. There are tithe records as early as 1183 and several references to the chapel throughout it's history however no illustrations of the old church have been found.Descriptions of the medieval church by a Dr Parsons and the more famous Sir Robert Atkins both describe a small church with a west tower and battlements.
The present church cost £1700 but funds were not sufficient to provide a spire as originally intended and the window surrounds which should have been carved remain as square blocks of stone. The architect is unknown although Pevsner suggests Henry Day of Worcester, the windows are late 13th century Geometrical in style let into walls of unusual thickness. There are a few survivals from the original church, a Perpendicular octagonal font with quatrefoils with floral centres, a pulpit with Jacobean panels and a single bell cast in Bristol c1350 which bears the impression of a coin and the inscription "+ In the name on Trinite Gillis Belle Men Call Me". The church has several attractive stained glass windows, an east window of 1864 by Ward & Hughes, chancel north and south windows probably by Frederick Preedy c1870 and the west window also Preedy c1885. The churchyard has several 17th century table tombs and a churchyard Memorial cross by F.L. Griggs, 1923.
The village is also well known for the Manor c1500, remodelled c1600 and bought by Charles Paget Wade in 1919, who restored the ruinous building in the Arts and Crafts spirit. He used the Manor to display an eccentric collection of antiques including Japanese armour and church-wardens' staves, the property was acquired by the National Trust in 1951.