From the Time Traveller's Guide to Elmley Castle

Scroll down the page until you find the information you need. You will find more information about this place in the Time Traveller's Guide on the heritage detective's website.

You have found some strange humps and bump on the ground on Bredon Hill. 

Information for Arthur.

You have discovered that people have lived on and around Bredon Hill for thousands of years. The humps and bumps are all that is left of the places where they lived and worked. Tell Arthur that you know that in his time great lords lived in castles and their castles were often in defensive positions on the top of hills. Explain to him that once there was a great stone castle here, but all that is left of it are the humps and bumps in the ground. He may find this difficult to believe as the stone castles he knew seemed so strong! You have discovered that the Beauchamp family once owned this castle. They held land all over Worcestershire but they were the tenants of the Bishop of Worcester and had to do him homage for it.  Nonetheless, in Arthur’s time the Beauchamp family was rich and powerful and on its way up in the world. They were to become the Earls of Warwick!

You have found the stream that runs down the village street.

Information for Arthur

Tell Arthur that this stream has been here for a very long time. In olden times when people didn’t have tap water the Elmley people had fresh water from this stream. Every year two wardens were appointed, and their job was to see that the stream was properly cared for. They might find dead animals in it, or other nasty things, and they would have to see that they were removed. Part of the banks might cave in and they would have to clear this or any other obstruction away. Some of the problems were caused by the people who lived here.  Many of them kept ducks for food and eggs and sometimes they would escape and of course ducks love water. They had to be chased off and their owners fined.  Another thing that happened was that when housewives were doing the washing they were supposed to take their bucket and fill it from the stream and do their washing at home.   Sometimes, if they thought nobody was looking they would carry their washing to the stream and wash it here.  If they were caught they would be fined. 

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You have found the village school.

Information for Arthur

There has been a school here since 1869.  John Eaton rode his pony to this school from Kersoe in the 1930s.  He remembers it was a very small school then with only 23 pupils! The children danced around the Maypole on Oak Apple Day just like the children who attend the school today. This tradition has been going on here for 200 years and the whole school participates.  The children process up the village street to the village square where the May Queen is crowned. Then there is a demonstration of country dancing and the children dance around the Maypole.

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You have found The Old College

Information for Arthur

They say that foundations of this building date from the 14th century.  In those days this was home to the Warden of the College. He lived here with the eight priests and four clerks who were employed to say Mass for the soul of William Beauchamp and his family!  Saying prayers for the dead was and significant and sacred part of medieval religion and people who had the money would erect chantry chapels in their church and leave enough money to pay for the candles to burn and services go on, forever. William Beauchamp, who was Lord of the Manor and very rich, went one step further in Elmley. He established a whole college to serve his chapel, this included a choir of men and boys who chanted the prayers and sang the services. They all lived in the college and the boys were given an education, something rare in those days. They learned to read and to write and to sing - in Latin of course.  Several times a day they would be part of the procession from the College to the Church. Today many people remember this building as the village hall. 

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You have found village pub.

Information for Arthur.

If you look carefully you will see a new and modern sign hanging from this building.  Like most of the buildings in Elmley Castle this one is a very old and has lots of stories to tell and a new story has just begun. Once upon a time Elmley Castle had three pubs, now it has just one and it was in danger of loosing that.  A group of 26 concerned local people decided to invest in it for the benefit of the community. They have carried out a complete revamp and now it is running as the village pub once again.  The Elizabeth they remember here is Queen Elizabeth 1 who came to Elmley in 1575 as part of the royal progress that year.  She was the guest of the Savage family who had the lordship of the manor for 335 years after the Beauchamps. The Queen stayed from 20-22 of August, nobody is quite sure where.  Just imagine how this event must have affected this small community, queens never travelled alone and they all ate and revelled!  No wonder the pub is still called Elizabeth.

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You have found St. Mary’s Church.

Information for Arthur.

Walk all the way round the outside of this church and look for the herringbone masonry in the chancel walls.  Stone masons were placing pieces of stone like this before the Norman Conquest. If you see it in the walls of a church you can be pretty certain that it is an early  stone church, probably Saxon.  Of course there is not much of it left to see today. Consider how different this part of the church looks from the part by the tower. The battlements make it look more like a castle!  Walls have been knocked down and new ones built as the building has been enlarged or changed over the centuries so this church has quite a story to tell. If you go inside and look at the font you will find its pedestal  dates from the 11th or early 12th century while the bowl was fashioned in the time of Henry VIII. The sculptor decorated the bowl to record the history of the lords of the manor of Elmley.  Have a look and see if you can find the coat of arms of the Beauchamp family; look for a bear with a ragged staff. The Beauchamps were the lords of the manor in Arthur’s time.

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You are looking at Bredon Hill.

Information for Arthur

You have some good news for Arthur.  You have discovered that people have lived on and around Bredon Hill for thousands of years. The humps and bumps are all that is left of the places where they lived and worked. Tell Arthur that you know that in his time great lords lived in castles and their castles were often in defensive positions on the top of hills. Tell him that Elmley really did have a castle and if he and Gruff go up in the blue hut on a fine day and they fly over Bredon Hill they will see it.  Of course it won’t be anything like they might be imagining, just a few humps and bumps thats all there is to see but he will still be able to make out the shape of the castle.  In Arthur’s time people would probably be able to see the great castle on the hillside from many of the tiny villages and hamlets around here. The Beauchamp family owned this castle and were Lords of the Manor but they held the land from the Bishop of Worcester.

 

Information from the Heritage Detectives

The heritage detectives of Elmley First School are sure that Arthur will find lots to interest him here in Elmley Castle.  When they started their quest to collect information for the Time Traveller’s Guide they discovered that Elmley Castle may be a small place but it has a big story, they found out that there has been a fort or a castle on Bredon Hill since 700BC! They learned that the lords of the Manor here were among the most powerful people in Worcestershire and that this was a place of knights and castles. You can certainly let your imagination run riot here.