Bidford-on-Avon
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
. In the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
it had a population of 4,830.
Location
Bidford-on-Avon village is, as its name suggests, situated on the River Avon, some 7 miles (11.3 km) downstream of Stratford-upon-AvonStratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
and about the same distance upstream of Evesham. The village grew up around an ancient ford, (Byda's Ford) now replaced by a narrow stone bridge, on the Ryknild Street Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
, now a minor country road to Honeybourne
Honeybourne
Honeybourne is a village and civil parish about east of Evesham in Worcestershire, England. Much of the parish is farmland. RAF Honeybourne just south of the village was operational from 1940 until 1947.-History:...
4 miles (6.4 km) to the south. To the north Alcester
Alcester
Alcester is an old market town of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 8 miles south of Redditch, close to the Worcestershire border...
is about 4 miles (6.4 km) away, Redditch
Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...
10 miles (16.1 km) away and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
25 miles (40.2 km) away. It also lies on the Heart of England Way
Heart of England Way
The Heart of England Way is a long distance walk of around through the Midlands of England. The walk starts from Milford Common on Cannock Chase and ends at Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds passing through the counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire.The walk provides links...
.
Local government
Bidford-on-Avon is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It falls within the areas of Stratford-on-Avon District CouncilStratford-on-Avon (district)
Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district of southern Warwickshire in England.The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" to distinguish it from its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based, although this name often causes confusion .The district is mostly rural and...
and Warwickshire County Council
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
. The three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government.
Besides the village of Bidford itself, the civil parish includes the settlements of Barton
Barton, Warwickshire
Barton is a village in Warwickshire, England, on the Avon, near Bidford-on-Avon, it forms part of the civil parish of Bidford-on-Avon. The name appears in 1315 as Berton.-External links:...
, Broom
Broom, Warwickshire
Broom is a village located in the parish of Bidford-On-Avon and features two pubs, Broom Hall and Broom Tavern, with Broom Hall being larger in size. The village lies relatively close to it's sister village, Wixford and Broom features a population of 97. Broom was created in the 1800's as a farm...
and Marlcliff. Broom lies to the north of Bidford, whilst both Barton and Marlcliffe lie south of the river.
History
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
is said to have joined a party of Startford folk which set itself to outdrink a drinking club at Bidford-on-Avon, and as a result of his labours in that regard to have fallen asleep under the crab tree of which a descendant is still called Shakespeares tree. When morning dawned his friends wished to renew the encounter but he wisely said "No I have drunk with “Piping Pebworth
Pebworth
Pebworth is a village and civil parish in the county of Worcestershire, lying about 8 km north-north-west of the town of Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire. Until 1931, the parish – which includes the hamlet of Broad Marston – was itself in Gloucestershire, as part of Pebworth Rural District...
, Dancing Marston
Long Marston, Warwickshire
Long Marston is a village about southwest of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. The southern and western boundaries of the parish also form part of the county boundary with Worcestershire.-History:...
, Haunted Hillboro’, Hungry Grafton
Temple Grafton
Temple Grafton is a village and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, situated about east of Alcester and West of the county town of Warwick. The place name is misleading, the Knights Templar never having any association with the place but owing to a naming error made...
, Dodging Exhall
Exhall, Stratford-on-Avon
Exhall is a small village located approximately 1.7 miles south-south-east of the Roman town of Alcester, and approximately 6 miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England...
, Papist Wixford
Wixford
Wixford is a hamlet and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, situated south of Alcester. The name derives from a compound of the Old English personal name Whitlac with the noun for a river crossing "ford"...
, Beggarly Broom and Drunken Bidford” and so, presumably, I will drink no more. The story is said to date from the 17th century but of its truth or of any connection of the story or the verse to Shakespeare there is no evidence. The Falcon Inn was a favorite tavern in his day. .
There is also an ancient Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
burial ground under the free car park located just behind Spice Avon, formerly the pub "The Anglo-Saxon". Bidford was the birthplace and childhood home of the author Barbara Comyns Carr
Barbara Comyns Carr
- Early life :Barbara Irene Veronica Bayley was born in the Warwickshire village of Bidford-on-Avon in 1907. She was one of six children and the family home was Bell Court on the banks of the River Avon...
.
Bridge
The bridge is wider than a Packhorse bridgePackhorse bridge
A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow masonry arches, and has low parapets so as not to interfere with the horse's panniers.Packhorse bridges were often built on the trade routes that...
, suggesting that Bidford was an important river crossing. It dates from the early 15th century but has been repaired many times; in the 16th century stone from Alcester
Alcester
Alcester is an old market town of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 8 miles south of Redditch, close to the Worcestershire border...
's demolished priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
was used. There are eight arches, with cutwaters on the upper side. In 1644 Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
demolished the bridge to cover his retreat from Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
- this was repaired in 1650 by Quarter Sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...
, for whom Bidford Bridge was a 'county bridge' under its control. The bridge underwent repairs as a combine harvester
Combine harvester
The combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. The name derives from the fact that it combines three separate operations, reaping, threshing, and winnowing, into a single process. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn ,...
got stuck on it and the sides had to be demolished for it to be freed.
Railway
Bidford no longer has an active railway line, but it once had a station on the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction RailwayStratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway
The Stratford Upon Avon & Midland Junction Railway was a small independent railway company which ran a line across the empty, untouched centre of England. It visited the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and a little of Buckinghamshire, only existing as the SMJR from 1909 to...
, which ran east-west across country from Broom Junction
Broom, Warwickshire
Broom is a village located in the parish of Bidford-On-Avon and features two pubs, Broom Hall and Broom Tavern, with Broom Hall being larger in size. The village lies relatively close to it's sister village, Wixford and Broom features a population of 97. Broom was created in the 1800's as a farm...
on the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
's Barnt Green
Barnt Green
Barnt Green is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, located immediately south of Birmingham, with a population at the 2001 census of 1,733.-Origins:...
-Redditch
Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...
-Alcester
Alcester
Alcester is an old market town of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 8 miles south of Redditch, close to the Worcestershire border...
-Evesham
Evesham
Evesham is a market town and a civil parish in the Local Authority District of Wychavon in the county of Worcestershire, England with a population of 22,000. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon...
-Ashchurch
Ashchurch
Ashchurch is a village and former civil parish in the Tewkesbury district of Gloucestershire, England. The parish was originally called Eastchurch, due to its position east of the parish and town of Tewkesbury, and had a population of 6,064 at the 2001 UK census.The former Ashchurch Parish covered...
line, through Stratford-upon-Avon to Towcester
Towcester
Towcester , the Roman town of Lactodorum, is a small town in south Northamptonshire, England.-Etymology:Towcester comes from the Old English Tófe-ceaster. Tófe refers to the River Tove; Bosworth and Toller compare it to the "Scandinavian proper names" Tófi and Tófa...
and beyond. The Broom to Stratford section (including Bidford and also Binton
Binton
Binton is a village and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England. It is about five miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 272.-History:...
), was an early casualty, with passenger services suspended in June 1947 and closure rubber-stamped as permanent in May 1949. The line itself remained open with the south curve of Broom Junction until at least 1952.
Road
The village was featured on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
motoring programme Top Gear
Top Gear (current format)
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
when the presenters resurfaced a local road in a single day, a task that would have usually taken an entire working week.
Churches
The Anglican parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
is dedicated to St. Lawrence and St. Joseph the Worker Church is the local Roman Catholic church. Bidford also has a Methodist church and a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
church.