Evesham

n the general aspect of the country, and this is due not only to the contour of the surface and the nature of the soil, but also to the manner of cultivation; and, as has already been indicated,

t of the plum-blossom is surprisingly beautiful; and in the autumn a luxuriant effect is given by the heavily-laden trees bending beneath their weight of yellow or purple fruit. But against these transient effect

ustry is "writ large" in the towns and villages wherever it is practised

nd its limits, and even within them we may still find cornfields, rich pasture and w

on-under-hill and Elmley Castle, both lying under Bredon. The value of the hills as a shelter and background to the vale has been touched on in former pa

f currant bushes and plum trees; but the river meadows are still untouched, and without going far afield we may fi

ily by road as by river; from the top of the village Clark's Hill may be gaine

nd 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 a

y the monks of Evesham, lies on the

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

he 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

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 dat

he church of Cow Honeybourne which, with the exception of the tower, has been e

Here we may see a lectern of Norman date, carved out of a block of alabaster with curious forms of beasts and foliage; and in the centre, rudely cut is the figure of a bishop, holding in his left hand a crozier, his ri

st, and are good examples of Renaissance ornament and sculpture of three successive periods. The Bigge family, to the memory of whom they were erected, inherited through Sir Philip Hoby much of the Abbey land in this di

let which we see before us is Lenchwick, and if we take the village street, after passing the lane to Chadbury we presently come to a steep but short descent with a

ttle doubt that this house was constructed of the same material. By the "irony of fate" this mansion, born of the spoliation of that institution, in its turn fell

E