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.
