120 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1908 
In the Art School, a building formerly used as a malt-house, but 
the walls of which are now lined with students’ drawings and designs, 
Mr Ashbee gave a short address. He said: The extraordinary 
beauty of the High Street must have attracted the attention of his 
hearers as they passed down it. He did not know any street in 
England, with the exception of Burford, which displayed such ex- 
ceptional form. Line and form seemed to have been instinctive to 
the old builders. They so grouped and placed their houses that they 
conformed entirely to the rule laid down by Sir Christopher Wren, 
that if two rows erected in a street were laid down with the roofs 
facing each other, there should be ample room to pass between. In 
this way the beauty and dignity of a street were preserved. Then there 
was the unity of design and tradition of workmanship. The spirit of 
Cotteswold building was still there. An old mason was still among 
them who had seen the same style pass down from his father, as that 
father had seen it handed down from a previous generation, and 
in this way they had not lost their hold on the medieval traditions. 
Two definite periods were represented in the High Street—the great 
medizval period connected with the name of William Greville, when 
wool was the staple industry, and the Jacobean period, associated with 
the name of Sir Baptist Hicks, the great silk merchant, in the reign of 
James I. The speaker then referred briefly to Greville’s house, 
to the Woolstaplers’ Hall opposite, which he (Mr Ashbee) now 
inhabits, and to which members were subsequently introduced. It 
was also mentioned that the medizval builders planned their streets 
in relation to the common lands that surrounded the community. 
This was why they so often found long gardens at the back of 
the houses, as under such an arrangement the people could easily cul- 
tivate the adjacent fields, which were held in common, and were 
situated near the gardens. Sir Baptist Hicks made a great fortune by 
lending sums of money to the impecunious Court of James I. He 
pointed out that whereas the members of the Court were shabbily 
dressed, he would for a consideration dress them in silk. This 
was agreed to, and Baptist acquired a number of valuable monopolies, 
which brought fresh sources of prosperity to Campden. He built the 
beautiful Market House, and that grand mansion of which now they 
saw only the ruins. Mention was made of Robert Dover, and the 
famous games played on Dover Hill, and the silk mill, in which 
the workshops of the Guild are now situated. The silk mill was the 
last word, so to speak, in the industries of Campden. 
After inspecting Mr Ashbee’s house—a fine specimen of medizval 
architecture restored by its present owner and tenant—the party 
travelled to Meon Hill, the most northern spur of the Cotteswolds. 
While some walked to the place decided upon for lunch, others drove. 
Mr Dixon, with kindly consideration, had had brought from his home 
at Mickleton a supply of refreshments, and very welcome they were. 
Before resuming the journey, Mr Gray suitably acknowledged the 
services so ably rendered by Mr Richardson, the Hon. Secretary, and 
Mr Sawyer said their gratification was heightened by the thought that 
