Bretforton

Bretforton
Bretforton post office
Population	1,023
OS grid reference	SP092440
• London	86 miles (138 km)
District	Wychavon
Shire county	Worcestershire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	EVESHAM
Postcode district	WR11
Dialling code	01386
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance	West Midlands

Bretforton is a rural village in Worcestershire, England. Bretforton is 4.4 miles east of Evesham, in the Vale of Evesham. It is the largest farming village around Evesham. At 2001, Bretforton has a population of roughly 1,023 with roughly 428 households.

Bretforton is unusual for a village of its size for having both three substantial large gentry dwellings with large Jacobean Manor House, A Gothic Hall and a Grange.

History

The village dates at least from the Saxon period with 'Ton' a modern spelling of the Saxon (Germanic) 'tun' which meant enclosure or village. The village was owned as outlaying farmland of Evesham Abbey. After the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1540’s the principal landowning family was the Ashwin’s who owned the local Manor house. The village has several local legends of ghosts including the celebrated 'Spot Loggins' and incidents of three grisly murders over the centuries.

Education

Bretforton consists of two schools, one is a Pre-school and the other is a primary school. The schools are:

• Bretforton Pre-school
• Bretforton First School

Places in Bretforton

The Fleece Inn

• The Fleece Inn was originally built in about 1400 as a longhouse by a prosperous yeoman farmer called Byrd; longhouse is an early type of farmhouse which incorporated accommodation for livestock on the ground floor, alongside the family’s living quarters.
• This particular longhouse later became a pub and was rebuilt in the 17th century, but remained in the Byrd family until 1977 when Lola Taplin bequeathed it to the National Trust.
• Lola was a direct descendant of Mr Byrd and lived her entire life at the Fleece. She died at 83, having run the pub on her own for the last 30 years of her life.
• A curious mediaeval tradition also survives at the Fleece, preserved in accordance with Lola’s wishes. This is the practice of chalking ‘witch circles’ on the floor in front of each hearth to prevent witches from getting in through the chimneys.
• Reputedly Oliver Cromwell’s Pewter Dinner service was exchanged on the way to the battle of Worcester and this is on display at the pub. Even if this account is not true, this is a superb example of 17th century English Pewter ware.
• The BBC has also used the Fleece Inn and surrounding village 'green' for it's 1993 £5 million production of Charles Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit where the pub was renamed the 'Green Dragon' for the duration of shooting.

Bretforton Manor

• Although of earlier, medieval origin, the manor house, listed Grade II, was mainly built of local stone in 1605 and substantially remodelled in 1877;
• Reputedly haunted - local gossip includes a Spectral horse and carriage and sounds of thumps and bangs from the former nursery rooms
• A secret priest-hole in the library
• Popular legend ascribes the panelling in the hall to a Spanish galleon wrecked in the Armada of 1588
• Bretforton Manor has four reception rooms, six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a staff flat.
• It stands in 7.3 acres of grounds next to the church with outbuildings include stabling, a 15th century dovecote, a cider house and an indoor swimming-pool complex.

Bretforton Hall

• Built in 1830 in neo-Gothic style
• Notable features include a full Octagon shaped Gothic tower and gorgeous ogee headed windows
• The Hall is now run as a private clinic providing treatment using Cymatics

References

[[File:Weston Road.JPG|thumb|left|Picture of Weston Road, Weston Road is the main road running through Bretforton. (2009)]

Picture of Filming at the Fleece Inn,(1993)

Picture of Filming at the Fleece Inn,(1993)