How many villages can boast a “Grande Dame” who was not only a rare recipient of the Order of the Garter, but because she and her husband gave Ewelme its church and new superior grammar school?
Tucked away in the folds of the South Oxfordshire Chilterns, a small village of just over 1,000 residents has so many wonderful stories, I really don’t know where to start.
On the Swyncombe road about a mile outside the village of Ewelme is where I stopped to take a deep breath and familiarise myself with the lay of the land. The last time I was here was to visit St Botolph’s, a little church that celebrates the patron saint of travellers just along the Ridgeway National Trail.
Managed or manicured
Managed or manicured, everything is in it’s countryside place. But that’s not to say it is without beauty, it’s how you see it that counts. Symmetry, patterns, parallel lines, even the turn of the plough creates its own pattern picked out by the sunlight. Little dabs of lime green growth in the hedgerows contrasts with the emerald green of the field behind. Even the vapour trails add their dotted and dashed pattern to the perfect blue sky. I am buzzed by an enormous bumblebee, circling my muddy shoes.
Ewelme is located north east of the market town of Wallingford, or you can take the back lanes and approach from Swyncombe and Cookley Green. The village is nestled in a green dip, with narrow lanes and pretty cottages tumbling down the hillside to congregate along now defunct watercress beds that are fed by the Ewelme Brook, eventually making its meandering way to the River Thames. Production has sadly ceased, but now the cress beds are owned and managed by the Chiltern Society.
The rewards of being a quick thinker
If you like medieval villages, there is plenty to satisfy you here: lots of typical Chilterns brick and flint and crooked doorways, well-tendered gardens bursting with flowers, the 15th century cloistered almshouses and modest school; but the real gem is the lovely church of St Mary the Virgin that commands the village heights with a 14th century tower that can be seen from almost anywhere above walls and rooftops. Much has been written about this church, it’s memorials, tombs and occupants that can still be seen today thanks to some quick thinking by local army commander Colonel Francis Martyn. He bravely refused to give up the key to the church and the Civil War Roundheads who surprisingly obeyed, leaving the church unscathed. By coincidence I was in Peterborough Cathedral last week and saw the great damage the Roundheads inflicted there and to the tomb of Katherine of Aragon, only recently repaired.
The reason everyone visits is to gaze at the rather splendid tomb of Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk and patron of the church who died in 1475 aged 71. We remember her not only for her status, wealth, influence, three husbands, family connections and rare recipient of the Order of the Garter, but because she and her husband gave Ewelme its (rebuilt) church, new superior grammar school and almshouses. She was also the granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and her father Thomas Chaucer was lord of the Manor of Ewelme and governor of Wallingford Castle. That is quite the pedigree!
Was it her age, number of husbands or largesse that can’t fail to dazzle?
The side chapel where she is buried has a curious array of church furnishings that include the original medieval floor tiles, a gaudy turn-of-the-century alter piece adorned with English saints, the sole surviving medieval seat and fabulous IHS monogrammed walls. The tomb dominates the space in a style and manner usually reserved for a Knight and his Lady. Arranged over three levels, from the most elaborate and celebratory at the top to the realistic effigy of the occupant in her funeral shroud at the very bottom. She is buried alone as her third husband suffered a ghastly traitors fate and is buried far away in Suffolk, so she had to make do with adoring cherubs instead.
Please be a considerate visitor and leave your car in the car park at the entrance to the village and explore on foot. You’ll see more and not piss off the locals.
The church is open and shut by the Almspeople so keeps normalish hours. The rest of the complex, other than the school, is open for visits any time. The almshouses are private but you can wander round the cloisters, visit the cemetery where Jerome K Jerome is buried and see the amazing sarcophagus and brasses in the church.
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