Chipping Campden
Encyclopedia
Chipping Campden is a small market town
within the Cotswold district
of Gloucestershire
, England
. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English cēping, "a market, a market-place"; the same element is found in other towns such as Chipping Norton
, Chipping Sodbury
and Chipping (now High) Wycombe
.)
A rich wool
trading
centre in the Middle Ages
, Chipping Campden enjoyed the patronage
of wealthy wool
merchant
s (see also wool church
). Today it is a popular Cotswold
tourist destination with old inns, hotel
s, specialist shops and restaurant
s. The High Street is lined with honey-coloured limestone
buildings, built from the mellow locally quarried
oolitic limestone known as Cotswold stone
, and boasts a wealth of fine vernacular architecture
. At its centre stands the Market Hall with its splendid arches, built in 1627.
Other attractions include the grand early perpendicular
wool church
of St James – with its medieval
altar frontals (c.1500), cope
(c.1400) and vast and extravagant 17th century monuments
to local wealthy silk merchant Sir Baptist Hicks and his family – the Almshouse
s and Woolstaplers Hall. The Court Barn near the church is now a museum celebrating the rich Arts and Crafts
tradition of the area (see below). Hicks was also responsible for Campden House, which was destroyed by fire during the English Civil War
possibly to prevent it falling into the hands of the Parliamentarians
. All that now remains of Hicks' once imposing estate are two gatehouses, two Jacobean
banqueting houses, restored by the Landmark Trust
and Lady Juliana's gateway. Hick's descendants still live at the Court House attached to the site.
There are two famous and historic gardens nearby: at Hidcote Manor Garden
, owned and managed by the National Trust
, and at Kiftsgate, in private ownership but open to the public.
Two miles to the west, in the grounds of Weston Park near Saintbury, are the earthwork remains of a motte and bailey castle.
. Another procession from there past the fairground in Leysbourne and the Alms Houses brings that stage of the celebration to a close whilst the fair continues until mid-night and, like a ghost, is gone by the morning.
, following the move of Charles Robert Ashbee
with the members of his Guild and School of Handicraft from the East End of London
in 1902. The Guild of Handicraft specialised in metalworking, producing jewellery and enamels, as well as hand-wrought copper and wrought ironwork, and furniture-making. A number of artists and writers settled in the area, including F. L. Griggs
, the etcher, who built Dover's Court, one of the last significant Arts and Crafts houses, and set up the Campden Trust with Norman Jewson
and others, initially to protect Dover's Hill from development. H. J. Massingham
, the rural writer who celebrated the traditions of the English countryside, also settled near the town. Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy
, the Sri Lankan philosopher and art critic who was a colleague of Ashbee, settled at Broad Campden, where Ashbee adapted the Norman
chapel for him.
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
within the Cotswold district
Cotswold (district)
Cotswold is a local government district in Gloucestershire in England. It is named after the wider Cotswolds region. Its main town is Cirencester....
of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
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...
. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English cēping, "a market, a market-place"; the same element is found in other towns such as Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about southwest of Banbury.-History until the 17th century:...
, Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury is a market town in the county of South Gloucestershire, south-west England, founded in the 12th century by William Crassus . The villages of Old Sodbury and Little Sodbury are nearby...
and Chipping (now High) Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
.)
A rich wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
trading
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
centre in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, Chipping Campden enjoyed the patronage
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of wealthy wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s (see also wool church
Wool church
A wool church is an English church built primarily from the proceeds of the mediaeval wool trade. Wool churches are common in the Cotswolds and in East Anglia, where enormous profits from the wool business spurred construction of ever-grander edifices....
). Today it is a popular Cotswold
Cotswold
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in central England that give their name to:*Cotswold *Cotswold *Cotswold Chase, a horse race*Cotswold Games, annual games in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire...
tourist destination with old inns, hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s, specialist shops and restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s. The High Street is lined with honey-coloured limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
buildings, built from the mellow locally quarried
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
oolitic limestone known as Cotswold stone
Cotswold stone
Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic limestone quarried in many places in the Cotswold Hills in the south midlands of England. When weathered, the colour of buildings made or faced with this stone is often described as 'honey' or 'golden'....
, and boasts a wealth of fine vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
. At its centre stands the Market Hall with its splendid arches, built in 1627.
Other attractions include the grand early perpendicular
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
wool church
Wool church
A wool church is an English church built primarily from the proceeds of the mediaeval wool trade. Wool churches are common in the Cotswolds and in East Anglia, where enormous profits from the wool business spurred construction of ever-grander edifices....
of St James – with its medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
altar frontals (c.1500), cope
Cope
The cope is a liturgical vestment, a very long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour....
(c.1400) and vast and extravagant 17th century monuments
Church monument
A church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a dead person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms, from a simple wall tablet to a large and elaborate structure which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial or...
to local wealthy silk merchant Sir Baptist Hicks and his family – the Almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s and Woolstaplers Hall. The Court Barn near the church is now a museum celebrating the rich Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
tradition of the area (see below). Hicks was also responsible for Campden House, which was destroyed by fire during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
possibly to prevent it falling into the hands of the Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
. All that now remains of Hicks' once imposing estate are two gatehouses, two Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
banqueting houses, restored by the Landmark Trust
Landmark Trust
The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then gives them a new life by making them available for holiday rental...
and Lady Juliana's gateway. Hick's descendants still live at the Court House attached to the site.
There are two famous and historic gardens nearby: at Hidcote Manor Garden
Hidcote Manor Garden
Hidcote Manor Garden is a garden located on the outskirts of the small village of Hidcote Bartrim, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England and owned by the National Trust....
, owned and managed by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, and at Kiftsgate, in private ownership but open to the public.
Two miles to the west, in the grounds of Weston Park near Saintbury, are the earthwork remains of a motte and bailey castle.
Cotswold Games
Since the early seventeenth century the town has been home to a championship of rural games, which later turned into Robert Dover's Cotswold Olimpick Games. The Olimpicks are held every summer on the Friday evening following the late Spring Bank-holiday (usually late May or early June), on Dover's Hill, near Chipping Campden. Peculiar to the games is the sport of shin-kicking (hay stuffed down the trousers can ease one's brave passage to later rounds). To mark the end of the games, there is a huge bonfire and firework display. This is followed by a torch-lit procession back into the town and dancing to a local band in the square. The Scuttlebrook Wake takes place the following day. The locals don fancy dress costumes and follow the Scuttlebrook Queen, with her four attendants and Page Boy, in a procession to the centre of town pulled on a decorated dray by the town's own Morris Men. This is then followed by the presentation of prizes and displays of Maypole and Country dancing by the two primary schools and the Morris Men Morris dancingMorris dance
Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers...
. Another procession from there past the fairground in Leysbourne and the Alms Houses brings that stage of the celebration to a close whilst the fair continues until mid-night and, like a ghost, is gone by the morning.
Arts and Crafts movement
In the early 20th century, the town became known as a centre for the Cotswold Arts and Crafts MovementArts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
, following the move of Charles Robert Ashbee
Charles Robert Ashbee
Charles Robert Ashbee was an English designer and entrepreneur who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement that took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the socialism of William Morris.-Early life:He was the son of businessman and erotic...
with the members of his Guild and School of Handicraft from the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
in 1902. The Guild of Handicraft specialised in metalworking, producing jewellery and enamels, as well as hand-wrought copper and wrought ironwork, and furniture-making. A number of artists and writers settled in the area, including F. L. Griggs
F. L. Griggs
Frederick Landseer Maur Griggs, RA, RE was a distinguished English etcher, architectural draughtsman, illustrator, and early conservationist, associated with the late flowering of the Arts and Crafts movement in the Cotswolds...
, the etcher, who built Dover's Court, one of the last significant Arts and Crafts houses, and set up the Campden Trust with Norman Jewson
Norman Jewson
Norman Jewson was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practiced in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Gloucestershire, a feudal village in rural southwest England, under the influence of Ernest Gimson...
and others, initially to protect Dover's Hill from development. H. J. Massingham
H. J. Massingham
Harold John Massingham was a prolific British writer on matters to do with the countryside and agriculture. He was also a published poet.-Life:...
, the rural writer who celebrated the traditions of the English countryside, also settled near the town. Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy
Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West...
, the Sri Lankan philosopher and art critic who was a colleague of Ashbee, settled at Broad Campden, where Ashbee adapted the Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
chapel for him.
Notable people
- Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
the prolific English novelist, playwright, short story writer and critic lived, between 1931 to 1933, with his wife VivienVivien GreeneVivien Greene was the widow of the distinguished novelist Graham Greene and an authority on doll's houses....
at "Little Orchard" in the town. - Ernest WilsonErnest Henry WilsonErnest Henry "Chinese" Wilson , better known as E. H. Wilson, was a notable English plant collector who introduced a large range of about 2000 of Asian plant species to the West; some sixty bear his name.-Career:...
, plantsman, was born in the town. - Sir Percy HobartPercy HobartMajor-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart KBE CB DSO MC , also known as "Hobo", was a British military engineer, noted for his command of the 79th Armoured Division during World War II...
, armoured vehicle strategist and commander of the 79th Armoured Division in the Second World War, came from Chipping Campden and led the Home Guard there during the war.