Chipping Campden and Dover’s Hill

About trip

The beautiful curving High Street and imposing church of Chipping Campden are two landmark features of the Cotswolds. Many of the town's buildings date from the time of James I and earlier, while the church is arguably the finest in the Cotswolds. The beautifully preserved state of many of the buildings is largely due to the work of the Campden Trust which was formed in 1929 by a group of local architects and craftsmen. But as well as the town there are other features along the route, including a lovely section of woodland and the viewpoint from Dover's Hill – an incentive for the steep climb from the valley. Directions: a Park in Chipping Campden. From the main street turn down Back Ends beside St. Catherine’s Church towards Hoo Lane. At the sharp right-hand bend, take the first turning on the left into Birdcage Walk. Continue ahead along the path to a road. Continue over the road to the corner of a field. Take the path half-right uphill to the road. b Turn right and, after ¼ mile (400m), take the path across the field signposted to Broadway Tower. At the road, turn left and continue to a junction. c Bear right and continue for ¼ mile (400m) to a bridleway on the right just after a right-hand bend. d Turn right and go downhill, keeping close to the right-hand field boundaries when the track emerges from the wood. Re-enter the woodland through a five bar gate and look out for a stile and footbridge when a field comes into view on the right. e Cross the stile and head half-left across the field. Cross the stile and footbridge near the corner and turn right uphill, crossing a track, to a stile in the top corner of the field. f Continue in the same direction uphill across two fields and over a stile to a gate. Turn left and join the road through a gate. g Turn right and, after 300yds (275m), take the path on the left to Dover’s Hill. Go straight on over the summit, crossing the stile ahead and continuing across a field to the road. h Turn left and take the second path on the right (the Cotswold Way) back to Chipping Campden. Places of Interest: 1 'Chipping' is found in several Cotswold place names and derives from the Saxon ‘ceping’ meaning a market. This was to prove very appropriate, for the town later established itself as a market centre for wool. Woolstaplers Hall was built by a wool merchant in 1340 as a meeting place for the staple merchants to purchase raw fleece. The most famous of the merchants was William Grevel, mentioned by Chaucer in Canterbury Tales. His 14th century house remains almost unaltered in the High Street. The church of St James was built following his bequest, and is almost entirely 15th century, lending it a unity of style. There are several notable features inside, particularly the brass of Grevel and his wife, among the largest and oldest of Gloucestershire brasses. Another important local figure was Sir Baptist Hicks, a merchant banker, who built the Market Hall in 1627. He also built the attractive row of almshouses near the church in 1612. 2 The Kiftsgate Stone is a holed standing stone on the site of a former ‘moot site’ where local people discussed business and dispensed justice. The Magna Carta was read from the stone as were the proclamations of monarchs, the last one being that of George III. 3 Whitsun Games were probably held on this hill as far back as Saxon times but it was later the site of the famous Cotswold 'Olympick' Games, begun by Robert Dover in 1612. They were certainly not for the weak in body or spirit, involving such activities as wrestling, hand walking, shinkicking, and a particularly rough pursuit called singlestick fighting. The occasion became very popular and in the 1830s as many as 30,000 people attended. Unfortunately, the Games became unruly leading to demands for the event to be cancelled. The Games were stopped in 1853. They were revived in 1951 and now take place on the Friday after Spring Bank Holiday, although not all of the original events are included.