The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-08-14
THE LEGEND OF EVESHAM.
A Picturesque English Town and It's An
cient Hfat0ry.

most on itself; on the lower slope of
the hill, beside the river, a little town;
and above its 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-glasscs, 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, a Cen
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
to that effect which is worth the telling.
Egwin, bishop of Worcester in the
year 700 or thereaboutS, was a saint of
shining piety, but unpopular in his do
cese, which had not long been con-
verted 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 and
answer the charges. SO to Rome he
went; but before starting, to show how
lowly he accounted himself, he ordered
a pair of iron horse -fetterS. and having
put his feet into them, caused them to
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. a miracle. His at
PENDANTS had gone down to the Tiber to
catch fish for supper. Scarcely was
the line cast when fine salmon took it
and leapcd 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 an
pointing him tutor to his own sons.
Among other marks of friendship the
king gave Egwin Il large tract of land.
1t was savage, inhospitable horrid with
thickets and forest trees. Yet Egwin
liked it; for he kept pigs, which found
abundance of food there So dividing
the wilderness into four quarters. he
appointed a Swinc-hcrd 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 straved off
into the thiclIest of the woods. Eoves
spent weeks in searching after her. and
at length wandered so far that he too
lost his way. He shouted for succor,
but none came. Growing appalled,. he
began to run headlong through the I'M
dergrowth, when suddenly he STUN
bled on the lost sow, having three
young ones with her. She came
gladly to his call, grunting and
muzzling at his legs: then turned, and
began to hurry into the deeper forest,
the young pigs trotting beside her.
Eoves followed, and soon. to his Won
der, reached glade, open and some
what steep, where was a virgin stand
ing, lovelier than the MONDAY. and two
others beside her, celestially robed.
having psalteries in their hands and
singing holy songs The swine-herd
understood nothing of the vision: but
hurrying back was lucky enough to find
an egress from the woods. and returned
to his home.
This matter was reported to Egwin:
and he, being eager to see the place
with his own eyes, was led thither by
EoveS. There it was vouchsafed to him
to see the same vision, and. as it faded,
to hear a voice from the chief virgin.
saying, This place have | chosen"
Whereupon he understood that he, like
-Eneas, had been guided by SOW to
the spot where he must build and soon
the Abbey Of Evesham. or Eovesham.
began to rise where the virgin had
stood. This was in 703 and the build
ing was finished in six years.
Such is the legend. A town sprang
up around the monastery; the thickets
were cleared and became pasture-lands
and orchards; the country smiled and
the abbey waXcd rich. 1t housed sixty
seven monks, five matrons, three poor
brothers, three clerks, and siXty-five
servants to work in brew-house, bake
house, kitchen, cellar infrmary: to
make clothes and boots: to open
the great gate; to till the gardens,
vineyards and orchards; and to fish
for cells in the Avon below. When
William de Beauchamp, whose castle
stood at Bengeworth, on the opposite
bank. broke into the abbey church and
plundered it, about 1850 A. D.. the alb
bot accommodated him and his re-
tanners, RACED his castle, and made
burial ground of the site. In
1880, under the rule of Clement
Lichfeld, the Abbey possessed fifteen
manors in the county of Wooster alone,
in Worcestershire six, in Warwickshire
three, il Northamptonshire two. with
lands, rents, and advowsons far and
wide. Out of Oxford and Cambridge
there was no such aSSemblage of relip-