A History of Burford | Exploring the Cotswolds

hi there welcome to the college door I'm Robin Schaffer and you find me in the wonderful ancient Cotswolds town of perfect referred to widely as the gateways from Cotswolds birth had started life as a fortified river crossing indeed that's what the Weatherford means regarded an important shallow part of the river English through which people with animals were able to pass it is of course very common with towns and villages are built on river crossings this one was part of a main route north to chipping norton stratford-on-avon sides to Bampton rabbit the nearest bridge over the next rather bigger River Thames along the ridge just south of Perth it runs the a40 which is the east-west route running from London all the way to fish guard in the West case of Wales so Burford has always stood at the crossroads two major weeks across the country these days the time the scene is one of the most beautiful preserves medieval times in the whole country I see certainly in this interest in fact the journey down the steep hills towards the river is one of those experiences rare in the whole world that's given the right light and weather can actually take your breath away now there is some irony increases the beauty of birth of today is largely as a result of the town's past failures chance to really succeed tend to be developed and redeveloped until their original character is almost completely changed Burfoot has had a highly checkered past as therefore remained pretty unspoiled so we're going to take you on a little tour of this amazing time if you'd like to come with me I'll show you right [Music] [Music] approaching Bertha from the east the first sign of the little market town is the spire of the church protruding from the trees that surrounded the serene Valley through which the river wind Rashmi Ana's is classic controlled countryside flat meadows on the valley floor framed with undulating hills which is divided into a patchwork of kinship pastures perfect for the raising of sheep for which in medieval times this area was justly famous the High Street dips steeply down to the river and is lined with beautiful buildings to start with they're largely a residential stone built of the occasional Cotswolds gable set about the street with a tree-lined border on either side which gives way to the broad ancient Market area carefully designed by the medieval planners it's this Street for its fascinating collection of stone fronted cottages shop fronts medieval alleyways arches and courtyards interspersed with large and grand medieval houses that draw so many visitors to Burford from all corners of the world between the late 11th and mid 13th centuries the pattern of Burford streets and houses plots were laid out by a succession of local manorial Lords keen to exploit the ever increasing importance of the local wool trade the High Street was marked out wide enough to over market plots of land roughly at right angles to the street these plots that can clearly be seen to this day from the air and were over standard width from length so that future development and expansion was possible there was the market in raw wool for both local and international consumption that laid the foundation for success in China birth from the 17th century the town started and losses in importance it became just a small local market town serving its local community as a result from that time onwards the birth of buildings were generally repaired and remodeled rather than rebuilt leaving the beautiful village we see today after a brief revival of fortune in the 18th century coach stock between London and bath the main east-west road was diverted away from the town the birth of fell into what must have looked like a terminal decline when the railways by parcel town it must have seemed like the end but it was the discovery of Burford by the Arts and Crafts movements in the 19th century that gave birth to lifted needed led by the highly influential William Morris this group was a great advocate of the preservation of old towns and buildings and most importantly of the control of restoration was so often ruins the very thing it seeks to preserve Murray set up the society for the protection of ancient buildings partly in response to the over-enthusiastic ministration of the church in Burford in the 1870s the church as it is today is at its core at 12th and 13th century building sitting in what still feels like a secluded religious enclosure on the northeast corner of the time with its arms as is and graveyard at its feet it was in the 14th and 15th centuries of the height of the wool boom that the church you see today took shape in May 1649 the church was a scene of a grim event the civil war was over King Charles the first had been executed but unrest still dogged the new regime unsettled by the fact that they were not getting paid and rumours that they will be sent to Ireland three separate regiments of the army mutinies and moved to join up arriving in Burford on the 13th of the month in the middle of that night they were surprised by the arrival of Cromwell's army and after a short skirmish were captured and imprisoned in the church four of their number would contend to death and on the 17th three of them were publicly shot in the churchyard while the rest of the mutineers known later as the Levellers watched from the church roof the fourth has made to preach to the rest about the folly of mutiny the parish was left with a very hefty bill for the restoration of the church roof nowaday is one of the most beautiful and peaceful churches in the area the Burford Church of sin John the Baptist is an essential part of any into the Cotswolds we're going to start our journey up velvet ice creams here on the bridge which is at the northern end the bridge is first recorded in 1323 but was almost certainly built a little bit before that slightly to the west of before which we mentioned before which is at the end of the original medieval Street resulting as you can see in a slight bend in the road the house behind me cob house it's called was lived in a various time by members of the clergy including in the early 1800s Edward Philip Cooper was a relative of Jane Austen during the Second World War the house was used by the armed forces and then subsequently divided into flat finally in 1958 it was sold by the church and now it forms to our grand private hazards [Music] in 1609 a man called Robert VG and as those of you have seen our film on the Bantam grammar school will know was a usurer something of a rogue settled the husks on the site behind me on his sister and on her marriage to Richard Oswald stone French adlington the existing house was built around 1725 for one John Jordan to redesign evidently strongly influenced by Paris house in Bloomsbury these days it's the Methodist Church [Music] there's a record of a house here in that 1473 belonging to a prominent merchant called John Kenneth it was left to the parish in return for an annual mass for his sold in 1610 it became an in under one John Sylvester and the brick facade was added in 1715 by the then land or with him cash so they could stand out from the other inns in the street he hoped to draw those eighteenth-century fashionistas travelling between London and bath [Music] this timber-framed building Riley sets Foreman its octagonal stone columns is called the tolsey it's typical of a range of market houses or town halls found in towns in the area its primary function was to collect the tolls from the market traders as you can see it's perfectly situated to look over the medieval Market area in the high street below its prominent position of the meeting of sheep Street and High Street also helped the market authorities stop any unauthorized access to the market it's interesting to notice that the east-west roads of sheeps region Whitney Street were staggered by the medieval planners where they enter the high street in order to control through traffic and ensure no one failed to pay their dues these days the top floor of the building is used by the local council for its meetings [Music] well we've had an amazing day in this beautiful medieval town a perfect it's an extraordinary place it's well worth a visit it's the first of many films we're going to make about the wonderful towns and villages of the Cotswolds we'll be putting them up on a regular basis from now on I hope to keep up with us if you subscribe to our YouTube channel it's free and we'll keep you posted about everything we pulls out if you want to find us we're on Twitter and Facebook in the Cotswolds Explorer and of course our website is the Cotswolds Explorer doctor on UK we look forward to seeing you see [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Cotswold Explorer

Views: 31,326

Rating: 4.9637775 out of 5

Keywords: Burford, The Cotswolds, Burford Cotswolds, Windrush, Oxfordshire, West Oxfordshire, Cotswolds, Documentary, Video Guide, Burford Oxfordshire, Things to do in Burford, Places to see in Burford, Burford History, Cotswolds Documentary

Id: Kob2YEgI7aM

Length: 11min 12sec (672 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 10 2017