The Cotswolds: A Cultural History (Landscapes of the Imagination)

With its gentle hills and timeless villages, the Cotswold countryside is a vision of natural beauty and rural calm, but it is also a region rich in history. In this new addition to the Landscapes of the Imagination series, Jane Bingham offers an intriguing portrait of the Cotswolds over the centuries, ranging from ancient stone circles and ruined Roman villas to the Cotswolds today, a picturesque destination spot popular with country-weekenders, tourists, and celebrities. Readers will visit fine churches and manor houses that have survived from the Middle Ages, and tour a landscape still bearing the scars of the Civil War. The home of kings and nobles since Saxon times, the region is famous for its elegant estates, such as Blenheim Palace--England's grandest stately home--while signs of the early industrial age can be seen in its mills and factories. Artists, musicians, and writers were also drawn to this rural paradise, from William Shakespeare and William Morris to T.S. Eliot and Ralph Vaughn Williams. Bingham captures it all in her charming portrait of this glorious spot in the heart of southern England. With Its Gentle Hills And Timeless Villages, The Cotswold Countryside Is A Vision Of Rural Calm, But The Region's History Reveals A Darker Picture. Over The Centuries, People In The Cotswolds Have Known Prosperity, But They Have Also Experienced War, Poverty, And Despair. Lying Between The Provinces And The Capital, The Region Has Been Home To Kings And Aristocrats, And Has Played A Dramatic Role In The Story Of Britain. Everywhere In The Cotswolds Are Reminders Of The Past: Prehistoric Monuments, Ruined Roman Villas, And Tudor Mansions. Wealthy Medieval Wool Merchants Paid For Fine Churches And Manor Houses. Later, The Landscape Was Scarred By The English Civil War, While Evidence Of An Industrial Past Can Be Seen In The Mills And Factories Of The South-west. After The Wool Trade Reached Its Peak In The Fifteenth Century, The Fortunes Of The Cotswolds Suffered A Slow Decline. By The 1890s Poverty Was Widespread And Villages Were Sinking Into Picturesque Decay. It Was Around This Time That William Morris And His Followers Discovered The Area And Established Thriving Centers For Arts And Crafts. In The Following Century Writers And Artists Moved To The Cotswolds And Tourism Gathered Pace. Today, The Region Continues To Attract Visitors, As Well As Country-weekenders And Celebrities. Observing Such Changes, And Describing The Landscape, Has Been A Lively Company Of Writers, Artists, And Musicians. Some Belong To A Particular Place, While Others Have Viewed The Region As Outsiders. In Their Writings, Art, And Music, They Have All Celebrated The Distinctive Character Of The Cotswolds--provided By Publisher. Introduction. A Country Made Of Men's Visions. Looking At The Land; The History Of The Cotswolds; Changing Views : Commentators On The Cotswolds; Living Landscape Or Heritage Park?; Recent Views : Behind The Pretty Pictures; The Insiders' View; Imagination And Images; Responses To The Landscape -- Chapter One. Ancient Echoes : From Prehistory To The Coming Of The Anglo-saxons. Exploring Belas Knap; Tombs From The Stone Age; At The Rollright Stones; Bronze-age Survivals; Clues From The Celts; Remembering The Romans; Tracing The Ancient Ways; After The Romans; Anglo-saxon Echoes -- Chapter Two. Finding God In Gloucestershire : Saints, Churches And Clerics. Early Abbeys And The Boy Saint Of Winchcombe; Sacred Sites And Saxon Sculptures; Norman Churches And Carvings; Stories On Walls; Woolgothic Wonders; The End Of The Abbeys; Fame And Fraud At Hailes Abbey; Visitors At The Rectory : Jane Austen And John Wesley; John Keble At Eastleach; Non-conformism : A Different Way Of Worship; Selsey Church : Pre-raphaelite Showcase What Next? -- Chapter Three. Living Off The Land : Sheep, Crops And Stone. Wealth From Wool; Fields, Commons And Walls; Good Times And Bad Times For Farmers; Experiments And Communities : Charterville And Whiteway; Old Mont Of Enstone : A Life On The Land; Farming Today : Super-stars And Strugglers; The Stone And The Magician : Quarries And Quarrymen; Using The Stone : Stonemasons And Dry-stone Wallers; Building Today : The Tradition Continues -- Chapter Four. The Cotswolds At War : Battlefields, Memories And Memorials. The Civil War Begins : The Battle Of Edgehill; Fighting On The Edge : The Battle Of Lansdown; A Region At War; Damage And Confusion; The Battle Of Stow-on-the-wold : The End Of The Fighting; Images Of Cavaliers : Stow-on-the-wold And Swinbrook; The Burford Levellers; Two World Wars; Bertie, May And Mrs. Fish In Wartime; Modern Times -- Chapter Five. Posh Cotswolds : Royalty, Aristocracy And Celebrities. Woodstock Palace : Kings And Queens In The Forest; Minster Lovell And A Dreadful Doom; Sudeley Castle And The Tudors; Blenheim Palace : England's Grandest Stately Home; Marlboroughs, Vanderbilts And Churchills; Dyrham Park And The Remains Of The Day; Chastleton And Stanway : Houses With Memories; New Owners For Old Homes -- Chapter Six. Mills, Steam And Machinery : The Industrial Age. Hard Labour At Castle Combe; A Truly Noble Manufacture; The Coming Of The Machines; John Halifax, Gentleman : Perfect Progress At Dunkirk Mill?; They Say The Suffering Is Very Great Indeed; Changing Trades; Blankets And Bliss In Oxfordshire; Carving Up The Landscape : Roads And Canals; Great Railway Adventures : Isambard Kingdom Brunel; Train-spotting In The Cotswolds : The Reverend Awdry -- Chapter Seven. Heaven On Earth: William Morris At Kelmscott Manor And Broadway Tower. William And Janey; A Little House Out Of London; A Serpent In Paradise; The Old Grey House By The River; Later Years At Kelmscott; Kelmscott Today; Views From Broadway Tower -- Chapter Eight. Seeking The Simple Life : Arts And Crafts At Sapperton And Chipping Campden. Back To The Land : In Search Of A Rural Alternative; Gimson And The Barnsleys : The Start Of A Dream; Pinbury Park : A Workshop In The Woods; Settling In At Sapperton; Ernest Gimson : Master Designer; Ashbee's Vision : The Start Of The Guild Of Handicrafts; Creating Camelot : The Guild At Chipping Campden; Good Years For The Guild; The End Of The Dream; Chipping Campden Today -- Chapter Nine. Arty Crafty Cotswolds : The Next Generation. Campden Crafts; Fine Furniture In Broadway; Plain Pottery In Winchcombe; Women Designers In The Cotswolds; Arty Crafty Lifestyles; Designing Cotswold Homes; Owlpen Manor : Resuscitated Dream-place; Arts And Crafts On Display : Two Museums And Rodmarton Manor; Cotswold Crafts Today -- Chapter Ten. A Cotswold Life : Laurie Lee In The Slad Valley. Lees In The Valley; Scenes From Slad; After Rosie; Return To Slad; A Child In The Valley; The Return Of The Native?; Slad Today -- Chapter Eleven. Picturing The Scene : Writers, Artists And Musicians In The Cotswolds. William Shakespeare : Wild Hills And Justice Shallow's Country; On Bredon Hill With Housman; Ivor Gurney : Poetry And Music At Cranham And Crickley; James Elroy Flecker On Painswick Hill; Hilaire Belloc : A Brief Voyage On The Evenlode; A Poet Laureate In Chipping Campden; A Supertramp In Nailsworth; T. S. Eliot At Burnt Norton; U. A. Fanthorpe At Wotton-under-edge; John Buchan's Adventures In Wychwood Forest; J. B. Priestley's Hitherton-on-the-wole; Barbara Pym In Finstock; Jilly (and Joanna) In Rutshire; Artists And Writers In Broadway; The View From Far Oakridge : Rothenstein, Beerbohm And Drinkwater; Stanley Spencer In Leonard Stanley; Music From The Cotswolds : Vaughan Williams And Holst -- Chapter Twelve. Eccentric Cotswolds : Collectors, Dreamers And Dangerous Games. Snowshill Manor : A House Of Curiosities; Curiouser And Curiouser; Sezincote House : A Mogul Fantasy; Batsford Arboretum : Inspiration From The East; Mitfords In The Cotswolds; A Very Unusual Childhood; Games, Quarrels And Horror At Swinbrook; Swinbrook Today; Woodchester Mansion : The House That Was Never A Home; Toddington Manor : Damien Hirst's Treasure Cave -- Chapter Thirteen. Shaping The Landscape : Gardens And Gardeners In The Cotswolds. Cirencester Park : Alexander Pope's Enchanted Forest; Eighteenth-century Elegance : Rousham, Painswick And Stanway; Capability Brown At Blenheim; Humphry Repton (and Jane Austen) In The Cotswolds; Chastleton House : A Jacobean Wonderland; Owlpen Manor : Gardens Of Paradise; Arts And Crafts Gardens In The Cotswolds; Major Lawrence Johnson At Hidcote Manor; Two Women's Visions : Kiftsgate Court And Barnsley House; The Gardener Prince At Highgrove -- Chapter Fourteen. The Cotswolds At Play : Sports, Games And Leisure Pursuits. Hunting Country; Equestrian Sports; Ancient Races; Cricket On The Wolds; The Cotswold Olimpicks; Festivals, Fairs And Merrymaking; Cheese Rolling, River Football And Other Strange Pursuits; Morris Dancers (and Some Strong Reactions); Leisure And Pleasure; The Heart Of England : Rambling And Ramblers -- Further Reading -- Index Of Literary & Historical Names -- Index Of Places & Landmarks. Jane Bingham. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Contents 6 PREFACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11 Introduction: “A COUNTRY MADE OF MEN’S VISIONS” 14 Looking at the Land 16 The History of the Cotswolds 17 Changing Views: Commentators on the Cotswolds 19 Living Landscape or Heritage Park? 22 Recent Views: Behind the Pretty Pictures 23 The Insiders’ View 25 Imagination and Images 26 Responses to the Landscape 26 Chapter One: ANCIENT ECHOES: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 30 Exploring Belas Knap 30 Tombs from the Stone Age 32 At the Rollright Stones 34 Bronze-Age Survivals 36 Clues from the Celts 36 Remembering the Romans 37 Tracing the Ancient Ways 40 After the Romans 41 Anglo-Saxon Echoes 42 Chapter Two: FINDING GOD IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE: SAINTS, CHURCHES AND CLERICS 44 Early Abbeys and the Boy Saint of Winchcombe 44 Sacred Sites and Saxon Sculptures 47 Norman Churches and Carvings 48 Stories on Walls 49 Woolgothic Wonders 49 The End of the Abbeys 51 Fame and Fraud at Hailes Abbey 53 Visitors at the Rectory: Jane Austen and John Wesley 55 John Keble at Eastleach 56 Non-Conformism: A Different Way of Worship 58 Selsey Church: Pre-Raphaelite Showcase 58 What Next? 59 Chapter Three: LIVING OFF THE LAND: SHEEP, CROPS AND STONE 60 Wealth from Wool 60 Fields, Commons and Walls 65 Good Times and Bad Times for Farmers 67 Experiments and Communities: Charterville and Whiteway 68 Old Mont of Enstone: A Life on the Land 70 Farming Today: Super-stars and Strugglers 72 The Stone and the Magician: Quarries and Quarrymen 73 Using the Stone: Stonemasons and Dry-stone Wallers 74 Building Today: The Tradition Continues 77 Chapter Four: THE COTSWOLDS AT WAR: BATTLEFIELDS, MEMORIES AND MEMORIALS 78 The Civil War Begins: The Battle of Edgehill 78 Fighting on the Edge: The Battle of Lansdown 81 A Region at War 82 Damage and Confusion 83 The Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold: The End of the Fighting 84 Images of Cavaliers: Stow-on-the-Wold and Swinbrook 85 The Burford Levellers 87 Two World Wars 89 Bertie, May and Mrs. Fish in Wartime 90 Modern Times 91 Chapter Five: POSH COTSWOLDS: ROYALTY, ARISTOCRACY AND CELEBRITIES 92 Woodstock Palace: Kings and Queens in the Forest 92 Minster Lovell and a Dreadful Doom 96 Sudeley Castle and the Tudors 97 Blenheim Palace: England’s Grandest Stately Home 99 Marlboroughs, Vanderbilts and Churchills 101 Dyrham Park and The Remains of the Day 102 Chastleton and Stanway: Houses with Memories 103 New Owners for Old Homes 104 Chapter Six: MILLS, STEAM AND MACHINERY: THE INDUSTRIAL AGE 106 Hard Labour at Castle Combe 106 “A Truly Noble Manufacture” 108 The Coming of the Machines 111 John Halifax, Gentleman: Perfect Progress at Dunkirk Mill? 112 “They Say the Suffering is Very Great Indeed” 114 Changing Trades 116 Blankets and Bliss in Oxfordshire 116 Carving up the Landscape: Roads and Canals 119 Great Railway Adventures: Isambard Kingdom Brunel 121 Train-Spotting in the Cotswolds: The Reverend Awdry 124 Chapter Seven: “HEAVEN ON EARTH”: WILLIAM MORRIS AT KELMSCOTT MANOR AND BROADWAY TOWER 126 William and Janey 128 “A Little House out of London” 129 A Serpent in Paradise 130 The “Old Grey House by the River” 133 Later Years at Kelmscott 135 Kelmscott Today 137 Views from Broadway Tower 139 Chapter Eight: SEEKING THE SIMPLE LIFE: ARTS AND CRAFTS IN SAPPERTON AND CHIPPING CAMPDEN 142 Back to the Land: In Search of a Rural Alternative 144 Gimson and the Barnsleys: The Start of a Dream 144 Pinbury Park: A Workshop in the Woods 146 Settling in at Sapperton 148 Ernest Gimson: Master Designer 149 Ashbee’s Vision: The Start of the Guild of Handicrafts 150 Creating Camelot: The Guild at Chipping Campden 151 Good Years for the Guild 154 The End of the Dream 155 Chipping Campden Today 156 Chapter Nine: ARTY CRAFTY COTSWOLDS: THE NEXT GENERATION 158 Campden Crafts 158 Fine Furniture in Broadway 160 Plain Pottery in Winchcombe 162 Women Designers in the Cotswolds 164 “Arty Crafty” Lifestyles 166 Designing Cotswold Homes 167 Owlpen Manor: “Resuscitated Dream-Place” 168 Arts and Crafts on Display: Two Museums and Rodmarton Manor 170 Cotswold Crafts Today 171 Chapter Ten: A COTSWOLD LIFE: LAURIE LEE IN THE SLAD VALLEY 172 Lees in the Valley 172 Scenes from Slad 174 After Rosie 175 Return to Slad 177 A Child in the Valley 178 The Return of the Native? 178 Slad Today 179 Chapter Eleven: PICTURING THE SCENE: WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS IN THE COTSWOLDS 182 William Shakespeare: “Wild Hills” and Justice Shallow’s country 183 On Bredon Hill with Housman 185 Ivor Gurney: Poetry and Music at Cranham and Crickley 185 James Elroy Flecker on Painswick Hill 187 Hilaire Belloc: A Brief Voyage on the Evenlode 189 A Poet Laureate in Chipping Campden 189 A Supertramp in Nailsworth 191 T. S. Eliot at Burnt Norton 193 U. A. Fanthorpe at Wotton-under-Edge 195 John Buchan’s Adventures in Wychwood Forest 196 J. B. Priestley’s Hitherton-on-the- Wole 197 Barbara Pym in Finstock 198 Jilly (and Joanna) in Rutshire 199 Artists and Writers in Broadway 200 The View from Far Oakridge: Rothenstein, Beerbohm and Drinkwater 203 Stanley Spencer in Leonard Stanley 204 Music from the Cotswolds: Vaughan Williams and Holst 206 Chapter Twelve: ECCENTRIC COTSWOLDS: COLLECTORS, DREAMERS AND DANGEROUS GAMES 208 Snowshill Manor: A House of Curiosities 208 “Curiouser and Curiouser” 210 Sezincote House: A Mogul Fantasy 212 Batsford Arboretum: Inspiration from the East 214 Mitfords in the Cotswolds 214 A Very Unusual Childhood 216 Games, Quarrels and Horror at Swinbrook 217 Swinbrook Today 219 Woodchester Mansion: The House That Was Never a Home 220 Toddington Manor: Damien Hirst’s Treasure Cave 223 Chapter Thirteen: SHAPING THE LANDSCAPE: GARDENS AND GARDENERS IN THE COTSWOLDS 226 Cirencester Park: Alexander Pope’s “Enchanted Forest” 227 Eighteenth-Century Elegance: Rousham, Painswick and Stanway 228 Capability Brown at Blenheim 230 Humphry Repton (and Jane Austen) in the Cotswolds 231 Chastleton House: A Jacobean Wonderland 232 Owlpen Manor: Gardens of Paradise 233 Arts and Crafts Gardens in the Cotswolds 234 Major Lawrence Johnson at Hidcote Manor 234 Two Women’s Visions: Kiftsgate Court and Barnsley House 235 The Gardener Prince at Highgrove 237 Chapter Fourteen: THE COTSWOLDS AT PLAY: SPORTS, GAMES AND LEISURE PURSUITS 240 Hunting Country 242 Equestrian Sports 242 Ancient Races 244 Cricket on the Wolds 244 The Cotswold Olimpicks 246 Festivals, Fairs and Merrymaking 248 Cheese Rolling, River Football and Other Strange Pursuits 249 Morris Dancers (And Some Strong Reactions) 250 Leisure and Pleasure 252 The Heart of England: Rambling and Ramblers 253 FURTHER READING 256 INDEX OF LITERARY, ARTISTIC & HISTORICAL NAMES 264 A 264 B 264 C 264 D 265 E 265 F 265 G 265 H 266 I 266 J 266 K 266 L 266 M 266 N 267 O 267 P 267 R 267 S 267 T 268 V 268 W 268 Y 268 INDEX OF PLACES & LANDMARKS 269 A 269 B 269 C 269 D 270 E 270 F 270 G 270 H 271 I 271 J 271 K 271 L 271 M 271 N 271 O 271 P 271 Q 272 R 272 S 272 T 272 U 272 W 273 Y 273