After the Norman Conquest six new market towns were founded in Broadway, Chipping Campden, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Burford and Northleach. Winchcombe was the head of a small shire before this. The Normans built a stone church in nearly every manor and more than half the land was owned by monastries. The closure of the monastries brought new gentry, whose gabled stone houses are an important legacy. The concept of land ownership strengthened as the open fields were whittled away or abolished by Acts of Parliament. More corn was grown by the farmers and less sheep were kept. Farms became larger, employing more labourers (whose cottages survive today), whilst the trade of the towns declined.
The Lygon Arms
The Lygon Arms is steeped in history. It is intriguing to think that, during the Civil War, King Charles I conferred with his confidants here and Oliver Cromwell actually slept at The Inn. Formerly The White Hart and privately owned since 1532, The Lygon Arms became part of a Group of Hotels in 2005, and is now part of the Barcelo Group.
St Eadburgha's Church
The font and pillars at Old Broadway Church are Norman, but as the church is dedicated to the Saxon St Eadburgha, it is possible that a wooden church previously existed. The church is only used in the summer months.
Broadway High Street
The street through Broadway was an ancient 'ridgeway' and and the main road from Worcester to London. It remains a wide street or 'broad way' hence the name.
Broadway became a busy stagecoachstop on the route from Worcester to London and later Broadway was home to various artists and writers including Elgar, John Singer Sargent, J.M. Barrie, Vaughan Williams, William Morris and Mary Anderson.
Broadway Tower and William Morris
Broadway Tower is an 18th century folly tower inspired by Capability Brown whilst landscaping Croome Court for the 6th Earl of Coventry. James Wyatt was commissioned as architect for the folly and completed the building in 1798.
The architecture used a large range of influences in one small building ranging from castle battlements and fortified walls to balconies with French windows and roof viewing platform.
Broadway Tower has enjoyed a number of well-known owners and occupants one of which was William Morris, famous architect, designer, poet and revolutionary used the Tower as a holiday retreat together with his friends Edward Burne-Jones and Rosetti. It was from Broadway Tower that significant letters were written by Morris leading to the founding of the society for the preservation of historic houses and monuments.
John Singer Sargent
Sargent’s first major success at the Royal Academy came in 1887, with the enthusiastic response to Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, a large piece, painted on site, of two young girls lighting lanterns in an English garden in Broadway, The Cotswolds. The painting was immediately purchased by the Tate Gallery.
Mary Anderson
Mary Anderson was an American stage actress. Ordered to rest after her breakdown, Mary Anderson visited England. In 1890 she married Antonio Fernando de Navarro, an American sportsman and barrister of Basque extraction, who was a Papal Privy Chamberlain ofthe Sword and Cape. They settled at Court Farm, Broadway, Worcestershire, where she cultivated an interest in music and became a noted hostess with a distinguished circle of musical, and ecclesiastical guests. A devout Roman Catholic she had a chapel built in her attic, with stained-glass windows designed by Paul Woodroffe. She has been cited as a model for characters in the Lucia novels of E F Benson, either the operatic soprano Olga Bracely or Lucia herself, as well as the prototype for the heroine of William Black's novel The Strange Adventures of a House-Boat.
She resisted encouragements to return to the theatre, but did a number of fund-raising performances during World War I in Worcester, Stratford and London. The latter included roles as Galatea, Juliet and Clarice in W. S. Gilbert's play Comedy and Tragedy.She published two books of her memories, the 1896 A Few Memories and the 1936 A Few More Memories, and collaborated with Robert Smythe Hichens on a 1911 New York stage adaptation of his novel The Garden of Allah.
She died at her home in Broadway, Worcestershire, England, in 1940, aged 80.
J.M. Barrie
After the First World War Barrie sometimes stayed at Stanway House (5 minutes drive from Broadway). He paid for the pavilion at Stanwaycricket ground. Barrie founded an amateur cricket team for his friends.
Francis D Millet
Frank Millet rented Farnham House, where in 1885 his friend John Singer Sargent is thought to have started his iconic painting 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose'. The work was completed in 1886 in the grounds of nearby Russell House, where the mediaeval Abbot's Grange had been converted into studios.