Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-09-02
THE LEGEND OF EvEsHAM.
A Picturesque English Town and Its Al
Client History.

about a green hill, and returning al
most on itself; on the lower slope OF
the hill, beside the river, little town;
and above it's mills and roofs, two spires
| and one pre-eminent tower, all set in
the same churchyard.
The vale itself, as we dropped down
| toward Evesham, was insensibly chang
ing. Unawares we left the pastures
behind, and drifted into land of Or
chards and market-gardens-no Devon
shire orchards, with carpets of vivid
grass, but stiff regiments of plum trees,
and between their files asparagus grow
ing, and sage and winter lettuce under
hand-glasses, and cabbages splashed
with mauve and crimson. We had
crossed, in fact, the frontier of fruit
growing country that in England has no
rival but Kent. The beginnings of this
prosperous gardening are sometimes
ascribed to one Signor Bernardo. Gen
oese gentleman who settled at Evesham
in the middle of the seventeenth CEN
fury. But more probably these orchards
grew for the same reason that the
meadows above are fat and bell tower
stands in Evesham. There is legend
10 that effect which is worth the telling.
Egwin, bishop of Worcester in the
year 700 or whereabouts, was a saint OF
shining piety, but unpopular in his do
cese, which had not long been con
verified from paganism, and contained
many "ethnic and uncomely customs
Against these the bishop Numbered, till
the people seized him and hauled him
before Ethelred, then king of Mercia
charging him with tyranny and many
bitter things. The matter was referred
to the Holy Father at Rome, who com,
manded Egwin to appear before him anc
answer the charges So to Rome he
went; but before starting, to show how
lowly he accounted himself, he ordered
pair of iron horse-fetters, and having
put his feet into them, caused them tc
be locked and the key tossed into the
Avon. Thus shackled, he went forward
to Dover, took ship, and came to the
Holy City; when, 10, miracle! His at
PENDANTS had gone down to the Tiber te
catch a fish for supper. Scarcely wa,
the line cast when a fine salmon took
and leaped ashore, without struggle
to escape. They hurried home with
their prize, opened him, and found in
side the key of the bishops letters.
1t is needless to say that the pope
after this, made short work of the
charges against Egwin. The accused
was loaded with honors, and sent home
with particular recommendations to
King Ethelred, who lost no time in re
storing the bishop to his see and ap.
| pointing him tutor to his own sons.
Among other marks of friendship the
king gave Egwin large tract of land.
1t was savage, inhospitable, horrid with
thiclzets and forest trees. Yet Egwin
liked 1t; for he kept pigs, which found
abundance of food there. So, dividing
the wilderness into four quarters, he
appointed a swine-herd over each,
; whose names were Eoves and Ympa,
two brothers; and Trottuc and Carnuc,
brothers also. Eoves with whom alone
we are concerned) had charge over the
eastern portion, and it happened to him
one day that a favorite SOW strayed of
into the thiclxest of the woods. Eoves
spent weeks in searching after her anc
at length wandered SO far that he toe
, lost his way. He shouted for succor
but none came. Growing appalled,, he
began to run headlong through the un
dergrowth, when suddenly he STUN
> bled ON the lost SOW, having three
, young ones with her. She came
gladly to his call, granting anc
muzzling at his legs; then turned, ant
began to hurry into the deeper forest
|
P Eoves followed, and soon, to his won
e der, reached glade, open and some
0 what Steep where was virgin stand
d ing, lovelier than the monday, and two
= others beside her, celestially robed
f having psalteries in their hands ant
+ singing holy songs. The sw1ne-hert
understood nothing of the vision; bu
hurrying back was lucky enough to fine
y an egress from the woods, and returned
e | To his homo
y This matter was reported to Egwin
It and he, being eager to see the place
II with his own eyes, was led thlther by
n Eoves. There it was vouehsafed to hin
# to see the same vision, and, as it faded
to hear voice from the chief virgin
y saying, This place have I chosen.
II Whereupon he understood that he, like
e Eneas, had been guided by a SOW tt
# the spot where he must build and sooI
}, the Abbey of Evesham, or Eovesham
o began to rise where the virgin hac
q stood. This was in 7O3, and the build
/, ing was finished in six years.
- Such is the legend. A town sprant
70 up around the monastery; the thicket
% were cleared and became pasture-land
h and orchards; the country smiled an,
e the abbey waxed rich. Ithoused sixty
IS seven monks, five matrons, three poo
1T brothers, three clerks, and sixty five
ny servants to work in brew-house, bake
~ house, kitchen, cellar, infirmary; t,
u make clothes and boots; to ope1
the great gate; to till the gardens
Sc vineyards and orchards; and to fsl
for cells in the Avon below. Whel
Is William de Beauchamp, whose castl
Or stood at Bengeworth, on the opposite
bank, broke into the abbey church ant
plundered it, about 1850 A. D., the alb
N bot communicated him and his re
Of tanners, RACED his castle, and mad
IN a burial ground of the site. IL
Id 1880, under the rule of Clemen
lie Lichfield, the Abbey possessed fifteel
ar manors in the county of Wooster alone
"a in Worcestershire six, in Warwickshir
three, in Northamptonshire two, witt
As lands, rents, and advowsons far an,
wide. Out of Oxford and Cambridg
g, there was no such assemblage of relig
id ious buildings In England. Then Glen
a ent Lichfeld reared "a right sumptu
De GUS and high square tower of stone;
~ and almost at once King Henry VIII