What a summer its been, barely a moment to rest my weary paws before the next guests were checking in and don’t talk to me about the human staff whilst I’ve been working my paws to the bone the lazy ones have been doing nothing, nothing I say!
But with the end of the season only days away I did allow Jo a day off to celebrate her burpday, with Zoe and Handsome Jack in tow we headed to the town of Evesham.
Evesham is a market town in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands. The town was founded around an 8th century abbey, one of the largest in Europe, which was destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, with only Abbot Lichfield’s Bell Tower remaining. During the 13th century one of the two main battles of the Second Barons’ War took place near Evesham, marking the victory of Prince Edward, who later became Edward I of England; this became known as the Battle of Evesham.
Having parked up on a large field we headed through the town park, set in the grounds of Evesham Abbey, overlooking the river Avon. It was very well maintained with large play areas, a bandstand and a lily pond.
Part way through the park was a very impressive War memorial with a solider on top looking out across the greenery.
Just behind the memorial was the Bell Tower. Evesham Bell Tower is a freestanding belfry originally founded in 1207 by Adam Sortes, the present tower, the fourth to stand on the same site, was founded and built by Clement Lichfield, Abbot of Evesham, as the bell tower for Evesham Abbey in the 16th century. It is the only part of the abbey complex to survive wholly intact. The nearer we got the more impressive it became with its simple but effective décor.
Just to the left of it was a planted garden which had once been part of the abbey and was an area where the monks would have grown their food, there was little to see on the growth front but the gateway was wonderful and although weather worn through the years we could still see where statues had been carved into it.
Behind the tower sat two churches, St Lawrences Church and All Saints Church, we headed into All Saints first only to find a service in progress, rather than detract from that Jo took a quick picture and we shuffled back outside again.
St Lawrence’s Church was empty as we headed inside, a now redundant Anglican church was built by the Benedictine monks of Evesham Abbey in the 12th century. The first documentary evidence of the church is in 1195, it was dedicated by the Bishop of St Asaph in 1295 The church was significantly rebuilt in about 1470, replacing the earlier church. From 1659, it ceased to have its own vicar and was served by the clergy of All Saints. The fabric of the church deteriorated and by the winter of 1718 it had become unusable. Repairs started in 1737, but these were done badly, and the roof collapsed in 1800. The church was abandoned. In the early 19th century, Edward Rudge commissioned the architect Harvey Eginton, who carried out major re-building in 1836. In 1978, the parish of St Lawrence united with that of All Saints, and St Lawrence’s was declared redundant.
Tall stone arches led my eyes to the lovely ceiling where I could just see some bosses high above me. A beautifully tiled floor led to an impressive stained glass window over the alter.
An equally impressive window stood nearby with an abundance of information on the artists who are best known for the stained glass work.
The pulpit had some wonderful carvings to look at before my attention was drawn to a side chapel which had an incredible roof and window to admire, including a much older part of the church which stood out from the more modern stonework.
A short walk took us to the town’s museum, The Almonry Museum which also serves as the Tourist Information. The museum derives its name from the original use of the building as the almonry of the 14th century Evesham Abbey. When Evesham Abbey was closed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Almonry became the personal home of the last Abbot, Philip Ballard, since then it has served as an ale house, offices, tea rooms and a private home. It was purchased by Evesham Borough Council in 1929 and opened as a heritage centre in 1957.
It was like entering a warren of curiosities with rooms leading off a main corridor all over the place. The Abbey room held an impressively large chair along with a pretty fireplace and exhibits from the former Abbey.
The corridor had a number of shop windows showing different trades that the town had once had in plenty, small rooms gave us glimpses into the life that people of the town would have once led.
Upstairs led us to a room called the Civic Room where the majors regalia lived along with covenants and citations.
I found a small kitchen area tucked away with a gent sitting down for his tea, he didn’t smile or wave but being the polite mammoth that I am I gave him a nod of greeting.
The last area was full of fossils and the most exciting find of all, Mammoth remains, possibly from one of my long lost family which was most exciting.
Jo got equally excited over the classroom setting which featured small desks and a dunce’s hat which she told me was something that she had been subjected to in her first years of school.
Arriving back outside we wandered towards the shopping areas taking time to admire the mock Tudor buildings and the town square, sadly the most impressive building was shrouded under scaffolding and tarpaulin.
The high street was filled with all the modern shops of the day but just above the frontages we could admire some of the much earlier architecture.
Arriving at the river we stood for a moment admiring the barges before retracing our steps to the restaurant that Zoe had booked for the burpday lunch which proved to be a hit with everyone and extremely delicious. With full tummies and burpday cake consumed we headed back to the farm for the last few days of glamping ready to pack the tipis away and fill the car with our possessions ready for our road trip that starts very soon.