A medieval instruction to the people of Upton on Severn
“Wee do order yt no Cowes Bellys be emptied in the street by ye buchers”.
Sounds like a sensible precaution against mucky streets, do you suppose they complained about dog poo?
A few miles from Tewksbury is the village of Deerhurst which has a Saxon chapel called Odda’s.
It was built in 1056 by Earl Odda in memory of his brother who died in 1053. It had been incorporated into a farmhouse at some point and was therefore “lost” but in 1885 it was rediscovered by the local vicar and the family whose kitchen it was had to return it to being a chapel.
So it seemed like a good wheeze for Gill and I to walk along the Severn Way to the chapel and a 16th century religious establishment called The Coalhouse Inn, have some lunch and then walk back a different way.
Gill can then drop me back next to the pub tomorrow morning saving me 4 miles of walking with a rucksack although funnily enough I have got so used to carrying it it is no longer a big issue.
The church next door is also Saxon some of which dates from 804. The font is of a similar age, it was thrown out in 1653 and found in a farmyard in 1845 being used as an animal drinking trough, the base was discovered in a local pub 20 years later and the two reunited in the church.
On the way we passed the Cheltenham College boat house where the rows of wellies at the top and bottom of the page were photographed.
Gill returns home tomorrow and I continue my adventure south, Gloucester tomorrow and then on towards the Severn bridges. I will probably finish the walk next Wednesday or Thursday.