Cache Need To
Know
You are
looking for a magnetic 35mm film cannister.
To
reach the waypoint of EW07 the safest and most scenic route is to
continue on this footpath across the meadow, and turn left onto the
lane, then left again at the end, ok your GPS will say it's not
direct but the buildings are rather lovely and the lane generally
quiet.
All the
other info about the walk in general is in EW01 Ewelme - Walk
Intro
Don't Need To
Know But Might Be Of Interest
In 1437
Ewelme turned into a building site when Alice and her husband
commissioned the construction of a school, almshouses and a major
renovation of the church (at the same time the manor underwent
extensive work and a dairy was built).
Alice
set up a charity its full name being The Two Chaplains and Thirteen
Poor Men of Ewelme in the County of Oxford, now known as The Ewelme
Trust.
All
three buildings are brick built and the church is possibly modelled
on Wingfield Church in East Anglia (the land of Williams heritage).
We have one Colonel Francis Martyn, a local chap, to thank for the
preservation of St Marys church during the Civil War, as a
commander of Cromwells army he is said to have stood in the church
doorway and threaten any soldier with ideas of looting and
desecrating it and is duly commemorated within.
The
buildings still stand as proud today as they did in Alices time and
all are still in the service they were designed for, although the
almshouses have been modernised to accept bathrooms and some
facilities for the school, the facades in the courtyard remain the
same. Upon modernisation alms places were lost and funding was used
to build Suffolk House, a short distance away, to make up for the
loss of spaces in the original Alms Houses. The school, originally
a grammar school, is now the local primary school and is said to be
the oldest school building still in use as a state school. All of
these buildings are well worth a look at, St Marys is often open
and contains a wealth of history, the school also occasionally
opens its doors to the public but even from outside it is an
imposing structure.
Incredibly almost 600 years on the
charity set up by Alice still continues to help the local community
in the spirit in which it was intended.