E is for Ewelme

Every village needs a chalk stream flowing through it, a dreamy manor house, wobbly cottages, almshouses, a red-brick school and a Grande Dame. Ewelme is such a place.

Welcome to the next instalment of my new A - Z Chilterns Treasures journey of discovery in the Chiltern Hills. What is proving dynamic about this journey is that this week, I am acting on suggestions of where to go for the letter E.

Oilseed rape in full May bloom in the South Oxfordshire Chilterns

Tucked away in the folds of the South Oxfordshire Chilterns, is the tiny village of just over 1,000 residents. Ewelme, pronounced “Yoo elm” 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, that eventually makes its meandering way to the River Thames. Production has sadly ceased but now the beds are owned and managed by the Chiltern Society who organise regular events here.

On the Swyncombe road about a mile outside the village is where I first stop to look around and familiarise myself with the lay of the land.

Everything in its place, even the fly-tipping

The English countryside is well managed and manicured, everything in it’s place, but that’s not to say it is without beauty, untidiness or heaven-forbid, fly-tipping beside a gate - 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. Even vapour trails add their dotted and dashed pattern to the perfect blue sky. I am being buzzed by an enormous bumblebee, time to move on.

Two bugs and a vapour trail.

I picked my along the path before settling on a decayed tree trunk which offered respite from the sticky mud. A rabbit darts beneath the hedgerow, and I can see a weedy smoke trail from a small fire further up the valley. Overhead is a low-flying aeroplane just taking off from nearby RAF Benson that competes with the birdsong.

Quick thinking has its rewards

If you like medieval villages, there is plenty to satisfy you here: lots of typical Chilterns brick and flint and crooked doorways with well-tendered gardens bursting with flowers. 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 quick thinking by local army commander Colonel Francis Martyn who refused to give up the key to the Civil War Roundheads who surprisingly obeyed, leaving the church unscathed.

How many parishes can boast a “grande dame” who has the finest alabaster tomb in the country?

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, phew! but because she and her husband gave Ewelme its (rebuilt) church, new superior grammar school and almshouses. She also happened to be the granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and her father, Thomas Chaucer was lord of the Manor of Ewelme and governor of Wallingford Castle. 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.

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.

The tomb dominates the space in a style and manner usually reserved for a Knight and his Lady. 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.

Local pride

Too many village churches are nothing but disappointment and dust, sanitised by the Victorians who liked to clean up the mess and paint over the unsightly to better suit their view of the world. But here you have it all, a medical complex that has seen continuous community use for about 600 years, from childhood through to death, and I am certain, watched over by the community who take great pride in their heritage, it will cope with the pressures and fancies of the next 600 years.

Out through the west door, leads you into the pretty cloister around which the 14th century almshouses residents live, which in turn lead into the compact school grounds that makes for a magical medieval complex. The school has outgrown the red brick building and has extended discreetly behind another brick wall to the rear.

In the village store, opposite Kings Pool, I enjoyed coffee and wondered if there was any truth to the legend that a lady-in-waiting had in fact pushed King Henry Vlll in!

Please leave your car in the car park at the entrance to the village and explore on foot.

Thank you for the suggestions that inspired this visit, keep them coming! The next letter is F. Fo for….? Where should I go?

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Links you will need

The Ridgeway National Trail passes through Ewelme through a surprisingly remote part of southern central England; from its start in the World Heritage Site of Avebury, it follows a ridge of chalk hills in a north-easterly direction for 87 miles to Ivinghoe Beacon, near where I live. Popularly known as ‘Britain’s oldest road’, The Ridgeway follows the route over high ground used since prehistoric times by invaders and herdsmen.

Treat yourself to the cheese scones at the Ewelme village shop before you go.

Last week it was D for Discovery in the Hambleden Valley, and before that, C for Chilterns Chalk on our A - Z Chilterns Treasures.