Bredon is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Wychavon Wychavon () is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. The largest towns therein are Evesham and Droitwich Spa; the council is based in the town of Pershore. The district also includes numerous villages and surrounding rural ...

district at the southern edge of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

in England. It lies on the banks of the River Avon on the lower slopes of Bredon Hill.

Location and geography

Bredon is located northwest of the

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

town of

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

on the B4080 road. The River Avon forms the western boundary of the parish, and two of its tributaries, the Carrant Brook and Squitter Brook form the southern boundary. The parish extends from the Avon valley floor at an elevation of in the south-west to the upper slopes of Bredon Hill at an elevation of in the north-east. The northern third of the parish falls within the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

AONB. At its greatest extent, the parish measures approximately long by wide and covers around .

Population

Bredon parish includes the hamlets of Bredon's Hardwick, Kinsham and Westmancote. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 2,705.

Etymology

The name ''Bredon'' is first attested in

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

s from 775 and 780 which survive in eleventh-century copies, in the forms and . The settlement takes its name from the nearby hill now known as Bredon Hill, which was evidently once simply called ''Bredon''. The first element of the name derives from Brittonic *''breɣ'' ("hill"). This word, whose literal meaning was presumably not understood by Old English-speakers, was borrowed into

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

as a name for the hill, with the addition for clarification of the Old English word (also meaning "hill").

History

Bredon's history of farming and settlement goes back at least four thousand years. Archaeological remains establish that parts of the parish were settled early in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

(2500–800 BC). There are numerous

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

(800 BC–100 AD) remains, some of which would have related to Kemerton Camp, a large

univallate hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late European Bronze Age and Iron Age. Some were used in the post- Roman period. The fortif ...

at the summit of Bredon Hill. The parish is also rich in remains from the Britto-Roman Period (43–410 AD), revealing a continuing history of settlement and farming. Modern Bredon has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period (c.500–1066), when in c.716 Æthelbald, King of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

, gave land to his kinsman Eanwulf the grandfather of

Offa Offa ( 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ...

to found a monastery. For some time, the manor of Bredon continued under an abbot of its own, but by 844 it had become the property of the

Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...

. It remained part of the Worcester monastic estate until the Reformation. From the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

(1066) to the end of the Late Medieval Period (1500), the parish was governed under the feudal system. The manor was held by the Bishop of Worcester, who maintained a summer residence, park and fisheries on the site of the first monastery, and the medieval village developed around these church buildings. Following the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in the 16th century, the manor passed to the Crown. In 1718, wealthy resident William Hancock founded Bredon Hancock's Endowed Church of England First School. Bredon's Act of Inclosure was passed in 1811, and among those gaining large consolidated holdings were the lord of the manor, Rev. Richard Darke, and the rector, Rev. John Keysall. The

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill railway station, ...

, one of the world's oldest main line railways, was constructed during the 1830s and 1840s through the village, with Bredon railway station opening in 1841. This remained in operation until 1965, when it was closed under the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

. The station is currently closed on the

Cross Country Route The Cross Country Route is a long-distance railway route in England, which runs from to via , , and or . Inter-city services on the route, which include some of the longest passenger journeys in the UK such as to , are operated by CrossC ...

. In February 1971, a new section of the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

was opened, cutting through the parish to the west of the village.

Buildings

There are 43 listed buildings in the village, including St Giles's Church and Bredon Barn (both Grade I), and the Old Rectory (Grade II*); the remainder are Grade II. A further 41 buildings were formerly listed prior to the abolition of the Grade III category in 1970. As is the case in most Cotswold villages, a variety of architectural styles and materials are in evidence, but almost all historic buildings are at least partly built from Cotswold limestone, quarried on Bredon Hill. Timber-frame construction was used as a secondary material up until the mid-17th century (often not painted black and white until the 20th century). The earliest surviving building in the village, the parish church of St Giles, is one of England's most admired churches. It is built largely in the Norman, Early English and Decorated styles. A substantial part of the nave, the north porch and the western tower arch date from the 12th century, with significant additions in the 13th and 14th centuries – the most visible being a tall, octagonal spire, dating from 1300 to 1350, made famous by the poet,

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon ...

. A number of 14th century heraldic tiles are set in the sanctuary steps, showing the arms of England, France, Beauchamp of Powick, Beauchamp of Warwick, Mortimer, Berkeley and others. The church contains many interesting monuments, including several to members of the interrelated Reed, Copley and Parsons families. To the west of the church is Bredon Barn, a late 14th century threshing barn (often incorrectly referred to as a

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...

) measuring approximately 40 metres by 12 metres. It has an enormous steep pitched roof covered in Cotswold limestone tiles. Walls are of limestone rubble masonry, divided into nine bays by oak posts on stone plinths forming aisles and carrying the open timber roof. The barn was badly damaged by fire in 1980. Now restored, it is in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

Natural history

Bredon and its surroundings are exceptionally rich in wildlife, boasting sites of international importance for their rare fauna. The parish contains parts of the Bredon Hill

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

; parts of three

Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

; and parts of twelve Local Wildlife Sites (the best sites in Worcestershire not covered by national designations). Bredon Hill has been recognised as the third most important site in the UK for dead-wood beetles and other invertebrates, a large proportion of which are in Bredon. The north of the parish is the richest area in Worcestershire for rare arable plants. Kemerton Lake Nature Reserve (half in the parish), managed by the Kemerton Conservation Trust, is the West Midlands Region's most important site for dragonflies, with 22 species recorded.Kemerton Conservation Trust
retrieved 23 November 2011. It is also Worcestershire's most important site for jack snipe, and more than 170 other bird species have been recorded here. Purple milk-vetch, violet click beetle, barbastelle bat, lesser horseshoe bat, otter, polecat and great-crested newt are some of the other interesting species found in and around the village. File:Bredon Fields Farm - geograph.org.uk - 52740.jpg, Farm in Bredon File:Bredon church - geograph.org.uk - 318613.jpg, St Giles's Church, Church Street File:The Royal Oak, Bredon - geograph.org.uk - 318650.jpg, The Royal Oak pub, Main Road File:Main street at Bredon - geograph.org.uk - 629814.jpg, The Fox and Hounds pub, Church Street File:Wychavon Way on Bredon Hill - geograph.org.uk - 66349.jpg, Wychavon Way on Bredon Hill File:Site of Bredon Station - geograph.org.uk - 61490.jpg, Bredon railway station (currently closed)

References

External links

Bredon, Bredon's Norton & Westmancote Parish CouncilVictoria County History, A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3, 1913Bredon Hill SSSI citation
{{authority control Villages in Worcestershire Civil parishes in Worcestershire Wychavon