- Joined
- Sep 27, 2002
- Messages
- 3,411
The Cotswolds are a range of low, grassy hills, a central part of the Jurassic Limestone Belt. The Jurassic Limestone Belt stretches across England from the south-west to to the east coast in Lincolnshire. The honey coloured limestone is much used for building as it is attractive, easily shaped and weathers well, buildings made from it often being much older than they first appear.
At the nearest point, the Cotswolds are about 45 minutes drive from Birmingham, quite handy for pottering about in. Several of the towns and villages are veritable tourist honeypots, being popular both with foreign tourists and people from the midlands on day trips.
A few miles east of Leamington Spa is Southam, a small market town with several interesting old buildings and pubs.
The pharmacy, a Tudor oak-framed building. The original windows can be discerned either side of the more recent ones.
The Old Mint, a Tudor pub.
The Battle of Cropredy Bridge was a significant battle of the civil war, in which about 9,000 royalist troops commanded by the king were attacked by about 9,000 parliamentarians.
Cropredy Bridge, a few miles outside Banbury.
Near Cropredy Bridge is the little village of Great Bourton. The church has an unusual Victorian Lychgate-cum-belfry.
The well-kept war memorial outside Great Bourton church.
The cozy village pub, Great Bourton.
The joiner's Arms, Bloxham. I recommend the lunches! The building is Tudor (Henry VII or Henry VIII), if the arched doorway is anything to go by.
Bloxham, the Red Lion and it's garden.
The Rollright Stones:
The King Stone. A legend states that a witch turned a king and his army to stone. The King Stone stands alone in Warwickshire on the north side of a Roman road which is still in use today and which was used in the time of King Edward the Elder to mark the boundary between Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. The stone was probably erected in the late Neolithic.
Over the road in Oxfordshire stand the King's Men. A stone circle of the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, it is the most easterly stone circle in Britain. The (Roman) road is behind the hedge. Also in the immediate vicinity are the slight remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, a possible Neolithic long barrow an Iron age farm and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Across a field are the Whispering Knights, a cluster of upright stones forming the burial chamber of a Neolithic long barrow, probably getting on for 2,000 years older than the stone circle.
In the town of Chipping Norton: A bookshop.
Pub in Chipping Norton.
The Blue Boar, a cozy old pub in Chipping Norton.
Lovely log fire in a modern stove in the old inglenook fireplace of the Blue Boar.
Shop in the village of Broadway, this building dates to about 1600.
Thatched buildings in Broadway.
The Lygon Arms, a rather grand hotel in Broadway. Parts of the building date back to 1532.
The Broadway Hotel - a very nice and well preserved old building.
The Swan Hotel, very nice food served here
Just outside Broadway is the ancient church dedicated to St. Eadburgha, the grand-daughter of King Alfred the Great. Churches were not normally dedicated to Anglo-Saxon saints after the Norman conquest so we have a clue to an early date.
There is an interesting stone stile into the churchyard, which has many old gravestones, some going back 300 years or even more.
Some early gravestones.
The gravestones of two soldiers who fell in the First World War. The one on the left is a standard War Graves Dept. stone, the other was set up privately.
In the north wall of the chancel is this blocked late Norman window.
Inside the church, an early carriage for coffins.
This appears to be a much damaged Anglo-Saxon font on a plinth made with re-set medieval floor tiles. The round pier is Norman, of around 1150.
The Norman north arcade. The wall above is both tall and thin, strongly indicating an Anglo-Saxon date. The south arcade is also Norman but is slightly later.
This is just a tiny sample of the places in the Cotswolds. The larger towns and villages in the immediate area include Banbury, Shipston-on-Stour, Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden, Moreton-in-Marsh, Winchcombe, Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Burford and, possibly most famous of all, Bourton-on-the-Water. There are innumerable small villages and hamlets too, not to mention the rolling green hills covered in fluffy sheep!
Hope you like
At the nearest point, the Cotswolds are about 45 minutes drive from Birmingham, quite handy for pottering about in. Several of the towns and villages are veritable tourist honeypots, being popular both with foreign tourists and people from the midlands on day trips.
A few miles east of Leamington Spa is Southam, a small market town with several interesting old buildings and pubs.
The pharmacy, a Tudor oak-framed building. The original windows can be discerned either side of the more recent ones.
The Old Mint, a Tudor pub.
The Battle of Cropredy Bridge was a significant battle of the civil war, in which about 9,000 royalist troops commanded by the king were attacked by about 9,000 parliamentarians.
Cropredy Bridge, a few miles outside Banbury.
Near Cropredy Bridge is the little village of Great Bourton. The church has an unusual Victorian Lychgate-cum-belfry.
The well-kept war memorial outside Great Bourton church.
The cozy village pub, Great Bourton.
The joiner's Arms, Bloxham. I recommend the lunches! The building is Tudor (Henry VII or Henry VIII), if the arched doorway is anything to go by.
Bloxham, the Red Lion and it's garden.
The Rollright Stones:
The King Stone. A legend states that a witch turned a king and his army to stone. The King Stone stands alone in Warwickshire on the north side of a Roman road which is still in use today and which was used in the time of King Edward the Elder to mark the boundary between Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. The stone was probably erected in the late Neolithic.
Over the road in Oxfordshire stand the King's Men. A stone circle of the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, it is the most easterly stone circle in Britain. The (Roman) road is behind the hedge. Also in the immediate vicinity are the slight remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, a possible Neolithic long barrow an Iron age farm and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Across a field are the Whispering Knights, a cluster of upright stones forming the burial chamber of a Neolithic long barrow, probably getting on for 2,000 years older than the stone circle.
In the town of Chipping Norton: A bookshop.
Pub in Chipping Norton.
The Blue Boar, a cozy old pub in Chipping Norton.
Lovely log fire in a modern stove in the old inglenook fireplace of the Blue Boar.
Shop in the village of Broadway, this building dates to about 1600.
Thatched buildings in Broadway.
The Lygon Arms, a rather grand hotel in Broadway. Parts of the building date back to 1532.
The Broadway Hotel - a very nice and well preserved old building.
The Swan Hotel, very nice food served here
Just outside Broadway is the ancient church dedicated to St. Eadburgha, the grand-daughter of King Alfred the Great. Churches were not normally dedicated to Anglo-Saxon saints after the Norman conquest so we have a clue to an early date.
There is an interesting stone stile into the churchyard, which has many old gravestones, some going back 300 years or even more.
Some early gravestones.
The gravestones of two soldiers who fell in the First World War. The one on the left is a standard War Graves Dept. stone, the other was set up privately.
In the north wall of the chancel is this blocked late Norman window.
Inside the church, an early carriage for coffins.
This appears to be a much damaged Anglo-Saxon font on a plinth made with re-set medieval floor tiles. The round pier is Norman, of around 1150.
The Norman north arcade. The wall above is both tall and thin, strongly indicating an Anglo-Saxon date. The south arcade is also Norman but is slightly later.
This is just a tiny sample of the places in the Cotswolds. The larger towns and villages in the immediate area include Banbury, Shipston-on-Stour, Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden, Moreton-in-Marsh, Winchcombe, Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Burford and, possibly most famous of all, Bourton-on-the-Water. There are innumerable small villages and hamlets too, not to mention the rolling green hills covered in fluffy sheep!
Hope you like
Last edited:
