Chipping Campden

19 September 2006

 

 

We visit nearby Chipping Campden.  It’s a sunny morning, with a cool breeze, ideal for walking.

 

 

There are still a few tourists about, but it’s relatively quiet.  No coach parties, as far as we could see, though there were one or two in Broadway, which we came through on the way. 

 

There was plenty of room in the central car park next to the Market Hall (right), built in 1627.

 

 

 

We walk north along the High Street, in the direction of the church.  Chipping Campden is much more extensive than Broadway, but shares the same Cotswold architecture, and most of the shop fronts are understated behind the original stone mullions.

 

Unlike Broadway, the street is narrow, cutting out the low sun.  It feels cool.

 

 

 

We pass a garden dedicated to the memory of Ernest Henry Wilson (1876-1930), one of the great plant collectors, who brought back many species from abroad, especially from China, for employers in both the UK and the US.  

 

The memorial garden was created in the 70s with plants selected from the 1200 or so that Wilson had introduced.  

 

 

 

Teresa in the Wilson Memorial Garden

 

 

We reach the church of St James.  A Norman church stood on this site before 1180.  From about 1260, but mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries, the church was rebuilt in the perpendicular style.

 

 

 

Next to the church are the lodges and gateway of the old Campden House, built by Sir Baptist Hicks in the 17th century. 

Baptist Hicks was born in 1551, and, from the textile trade and financial dealings, he became a rich man:  in 1613 he purchased estates around Campden and built Campden House. 

The lodge house, together with two pavilions and an almonry, is all that remains of the house.  During the Civil War, it was burnt down, rather than being left to fall into the hands of the Parliamentarians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The West Tower of the church was completed in about 1500 and at 120 ft is a landmark from whatever direction Campden is approached.

 

 

Inside the church we once again find our photographic arrangements have come unstuck – Roger having inadvertently taken multiple exposures of the previous photo, leaving virtually no space in the memory.  Teresa manages to delete one or two to make room.

 

 

 

 

The fine East Window (left) by Henry Payne was completed in 1925 in memory of those who fell in the Great War.  There are also honours boards and manuscript volumes recording these losses.

 

The ornate tomb (right) in the Gainsborough Chapel is a memorial for Sir Baptist Hicks.  A friend and supporter of Charles I, he was ennobled in later life.  He died, aged 78, in 1629. 

Sir Baptist was a generous benefactor to Chipping Campden.

 

 

 

We returned along the High Street looking at the shops.  There were a couple of mini-markets, but many of the shops catered for the expensive tastes of what appeared to be (on a an admittedly very small sample) mainly American and Japanese visitors.  The second-hand bookshops were definitely for collectors rather than readers.

 

More about Chipping Campden

 

 

Home    Diary 2006    September