VOL. XVI.(2) EXCURSION—CHIPPING CAMPDEN I19 
CHIPPING CAMPDEN CHURCH 
At the Church the Vicar, the Rev. T. Carrington, was ready to 
receive the visitors, and a genial and humorous guide he proved 
himself to be. First he led the way to the oldest part of the building, 
now used as a vestry. -He explained that the church originated 
in a monk’s cell, attached to the See of Chester, the monk being 
required to conduct daily prayers. Then passing to the chancel, 
attention was directed to the fine brasses of Sir William Greville and 
his wife. Greville was a famous wool merchant. His house, built in 
the fourteenth century, still stands in a fine state of preservation, and 
he is said to have been the founder of the Warwick family. No 
wonder that he ‘should have been spoken of as the ‘‘ flower of 
English wool-merchants.” He has been credited with being mainly 
responsible for the erection of the noble Perpendicular church which 
is one of the architectural glories of the North Cotteswolds, but 
Mr Carrington does not subscribe to this opinion, seeing that Greville 
died in 1401, and the church was not finished until 1480. Later 
in the day the visitors learnt that the mother church was formerly at 
Broad Campden—a Norman structure, subsequently converted into a 
private residence—and that it is believed that this unusual occurrence 
happened at the time of the Plague, after which arose the church at 
Chipping Campden. The brass lectern dates from 1816, and is 
of great beauty. The Jacobean pulpit is also a striking feature, and 
half a font built into a pillar near the pulpit is a relic of the old church. 
The south chapel of the chancel has been used as a burial place 
of the Hicks and Noel families, and contains four life-sized effigies and 
two busts. On the north side of the altar is a canopied tomb, on the 
slab of which reclines the figure of Sir Thomas Smith, a Lord 
of the Manor of Campden; in the middle of the south chapel, on 
an altar-tomb, recline the superb alabaster effigies of Sir Baptist 
Hicks and his wife, arrayed in mantles, ruffs, and coronets; and on 
the south side of the chapel are the marble effigies of Sir Edward Noe! 
and his wife, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir Baptist 
Hicks, standing in a recess, enveloped in shrouds. Before leaving 
the church the Vicar exhibited the silver flagons, alms plates, and— 
most interesting of all—a gorgeous cope of late fourteenth century 
work. The tower of this church is a handsome example of late 
Perpendicular style, and most of the windows have the lozenze-shaped 
termination to their hood-moulding which is so characteristic of the 
same period. 
Adjacent to the church is all that remains of Campden House, 
that magnificent building destroyed during the great civil war of 
the seventeenth century by fire, by order of Prince Rupert, to 
prevent it falling into the hands of Cromwell’s forces. By the light 
of its fire, so a contemporary account says, Rupert marched over 
Broadway Hill to join Charles I. at Evesham. 
To see Campden well, the man of artistic taste and an inquiring 
turn of mind should pitch his tent there for several days. 
