Table Of ContentBOOKJ3F BRITISH
1LLAGES
Bookof
B V
ritish illages
B
ookof
B V
ritish illages
A GUIDE TO 700 OF THE
MOST INTERESTING AND ATTRACTIVE
VILLAGES IN BRITAIN
London New York Sydney Cape Town Montreal
r
BOOK OF BRITISH VILLAGES
was edited and designed by
The Reader's Digest Association Limited, London
First Edition Copyright © 1980
Reader's Digest Publishing Limited Company Number 879747
(Formerly known as Drive Publications Limited)
Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1X 6AB
Reprinted with amendments 1990
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without permission in writing from the publishers.
(R) Reader's Digest, The Digest and the Pegasus logo are registered trademarks of
The Reader's Digest Association Inc, of Pleasantville, New York, USA
ISBN 0 276 42018 7
C
ontributors
The publishers would like to thank the
following people for major contributions to this book
ARTISTS AUTHORS
Peter Bailey Jill Coombes Richard Jacobs Richard Adams John Arlott Anne Baker
Launcelot Jones Peter Jones Ivan Lapper Monica Belcher John Burke David Clarke
Robert Micklewright Peter Morter Robert Dougall Ross Finlay Bryn Frank
George Tute Venner Artists Dr Margaret Gelling David Green
Christopher Hall Terence Harris
Professor W. G. Hoskins John Hudson
Isobel Hunt J. Geraint Jenkins John Kitto
Philip Llewellin David MacFadyen
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Sir Fitzroy Maclean Dr Venetia Newall
Malcolm Aird Mike Burgess David Gallant David Owen Rowland Parker John Physick
Neil Holmes Ian Howes Lucinda Lambton Miss Read Roger Redfern Richard Reid
Jane Lewis Sir Fitzroy Maclean Richard Shields Tony Venison
S. & O. Mathews Colin Molyneux John Talbot White Ralph Whitlock
Patrick Thurston John Vigurs Trevor Wood Gerald Wilkinson Ron Woodman
George Wright John Wyand Alistair Wregg David Young
C
ontents
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A-Z GAZETTEER OF
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ritish illages
8-416
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PERSONAL PORTRAITS OF
FIVE FAVOURITE VILLAGES
BROUGHTON IN FURNESS 60
by Richard Adams
NEW ALRESFORD 144
by John Arlott
PEASEMORE 216
■ ■ - by Miss Read
STRACHUR 276
by Sir Fitzroy Maclean
WESTLETON 378
by Robert Dougall
SPECIAL FEATURES
THE VILLAGE YEAR 26 HOW VILLAGES GOT THEIR NAMES 242
by Dr Venetia Newall by Dr Margaret Gelling
THE COTTAGE GARDEN 36 THE VILLAGE GREEN 262
by Tony Venison by John Talbot White
DISCOVERING VILLAGE HISTORY 76 LOST VILLAGES 298
by Rowland Parker by Professor W. G. Hoskins
TREES AND THE VILLAGE 116 THE VILLAGE AT WORK 316
by Gerald Wilkinson by Christopher Hall
VILLAGE BUILDINGS 166 VILLAGE CRAFTS 340
by Richard Reid by J. Geraint Jenkins
THE VILLAGE CHURCH 184 THE SQUIRE AND THE MANOR HOUSE 390
by John Physick by Christopher Hall
THE VILLAGE THEN AND NOW 408
by Christopher Hall
MAPS TO PIN-POINT THE VILLAGES BY REGION 417-443
—— ....................- —-
GAZETTEER OF VILLAGE CRAFT CENTRES 444
Abbots Bromley Abbotsbury
STAFFORDSHIRE DORSET
6 miles south of Uttoxeter (page 430 Be) 8 miles north-west of Weymouth (page 421 Ca)
A Butter Cross on the village green is a reminder St Catherine's Chapel, set on the summit of a
of the days when Abbots Bromley was a market steep 250 ft hill, commands the large and spread-
town. The six-sided timber building marks the out village of Abbotsbury. The chapel - built in
spot where, as far back as the 14th century, local the 14th century with thick stone walls, sturdy
people did their trading in butter and other buttresses and a heavy, barrel-vaulted roof -
produce. There are several fine houses in the overlooks the barns, thatched cottages and
village, particularly in Bagot Street where the orange-stone houses that make up the village.
Bagot Almshouses date from 1705. Some of the buildings' stones came from old
Abbots Bromley was in the Forest of Needwood monastery sites, and the area's meadows and
in medieval times, and continues traditions gardens abound in mullioned windows, age-
associated with the forest. The Horn Dance is blackened timbers, ancient stone roof-tiles, and
performed on the Monday after the first Sunday paving on raised footpaths - most of them half
after September 4 and starts at 8 a.m. outside the buried in ivy.
vicarage. The horns are kept in the church The abbey which gave the village its name was
throughout the rest of the year. The six sets of founded in the middle of the 11th century.
reindeer horns are of Saxon origin, but the Today, with the exception of the half-ruined but
dancers wear Tudor dress as they dance their imposing Abbey Barn, little remains of the abbey
way around an 8 mile circuit of local farms. The and its related buildings. The tithe barn was built
deer-men carry the horns on their shoulders and in the 14th century, and measures 272 ft by 31 ft.
are accompanied by a Fool, a Hobby Horse, Maid It is one of the largest buildings of its kind in
Marian and a Bowman. The Horn Dance is Britain and, together with an adjacent pond,
probably an ancient version of a 'beating the marks the nucleus of the abbey site. Near by is
bounds' ceremony. the 15th-century Church of St Nicholas, which
Richard II hunted in the forest, and was often contains a marble monument of an abbot, dating
the guest of the Bagot family. As a reward for from the early 13th century. To the west of the
providing him with good hunting, Richard gave church are several large, post-Reformation houses
the Bagots a herd of goats whose descendants, - including Abbey House, Abbey Dairy House,
known as Bagot goats, were in a special park at the Old Manor House, and the Vicarage.
Blithfield Hall. The house was built by the Bagot Abbotsbury lies in a sheltered, green valley
family in Elizabethan times. about 1 mile from the coast. Just beyond the
The Church of St Nicholas stands slightly encircling hills is the northern end of Chesil
downhill from the village, and although of medi Beach, a massive rampart of pebbles piled up
eval origin has a Queen Anne tower with a over the centuries by strong tides and stretching
balustraded top. The ceremonial horns are kept 17 miles from Bridport to Portland. Behind the
at the east end of the north aisle. beach is a long, narrow and brackish lagoon
Near the church is the school of St Mary and called The Fleet, and for the past 600 years the
St Anne, a public school for girls. It was founded western corner of the lagoon has housed a colony
in 1874, and became part of the Woodard Foun of swans, which feed on a rare grass in the area,
dation in 1921. Zostera marina.
Each May, hundreds of crammed-together
nests, each occupied by a pair of swans, provide
Abbey riches The great, grey, buttressed gable of this a fascinating sight. The Swannery is open to the
enormous 14th-century thatched barn looms over Abbotsbury. public - as are the 18th-century gardens on the
In medieval times it swallowed a tenth - or a tithe - of Beach Road west of the village. The gardens are
everything the villagers grew or raised in their farms and so sheltered from the sea winds, and so frost-free,
fields. The barn formed part of a rich Benedictine abbey, now that subtropical plants grow there in the spring.
a ruin, its size testifying to the power of the abbot, who levied Unusual shrubs flourish later in the year.
tithes from a wide area around. Beyond is the 15th-century A mile-and-a-half to the north-west of the
Church of St Nicholas, inside which is a marble monument to village is Abbotsbury Castle, an Iron Age earth
one of those powerful abbots. work set on a hill and covering some 10 acres.
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