CLEEVE PRIOR 



Near a quiet village in Warwickshire, and in close relation to its 

 accompanying farm buildings, is this charming old manor house. It is 

 not upon a main road, but stands back in its own quiet place on rising 

 ground above the Avon. Everything about it is interesting and quite 

 unspoilt. The wooden hand-gate, with its acorn-topped posts, that 

 stands upon two semi-circular steps may not have been of the pattern of 

 the original gate — it has an eighteenth-century look — but it is just right 

 now. It leads into a half dark, half light, double arcade of splendid old 

 clipped yews. Looking from the gate they seem to be tall walls of yew 

 to right and left, showing the projecting porch of the house at the end ; 

 but, passing along, there are seen to be openings between every two trees, 

 each of which gives a charming picture of the lawns and simple flower 

 beds to right and left. The path is paved with stone flags ; the garden is 

 bounded with a low wall of the local oolite limestone that rock-plants 

 love. A few thin-topped old fruit-trees, their stems clothed with ivy, 

 are another link between the past and present, and the somewhat pathetic 

 evidence of their having long passed their prime and being on the down- 

 ward path, is in striking contrast with the robust vigour of the ancient 

 yews, already some centuries old, and looking as if they must endure for 

 ever. 



Eight yews stand on either side — sixteen in all. They are known as 

 the twelve Apostles and the four Evangelists. The names may have 

 belonged to them from the time of their planting, for the whole place 

 belonged in old days to Evesham Abbey, and is pervaded with monastic 

 memory and tradition. This may also account for the excellence of the 



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