The village of Ewelme

By David Crowther 5 Comments
Ewelme, South Oxfordshire
One fine day my son Henry and I set off down the Chiltern scarp to the now out-of-the-way village of Ewelme, and did some video’ing. I blathered a lot, and Henry tried to stitch it together in a way that made sense.
We did this because we thought it would be fun, because Ewelme is beautiful, and we thought you might be interested. But also, because Ewelme is one of those places you come across that is now out of the way, but was once a major centre of power; and has left an echo of that former life.
I hope you enjoy it! It’s a little longer at 6 minutes than I would like, but hope you don’t get too bored

Methodists and Primitive Methodists

One thing I failed to squeeze in, was Methodism. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Methodism and Primitive Methodism were powerful forces in rural England. Primitive Methodism especially appealed to labouring and artisan families, and flourished after the religious revival of the 1800s and beyond. They were not popular with the Church of England; not only were they non conformist, they were also threatening to the social order, not dominated by the gentry classes. Anglicans called them r’ranters’, and in nearby Swyncombe threatened to exclude their children from the village school.

There are two chapels in Ewelme, both Methodist and Primitive Methodist, and there are many chapels across the rural; Chilterns. One of them is pictured here, across the Queen’s Pond, and is now a village shop, where cyclists and walkers can also get themselves a bite and a cup of tea,

David Crowther

5 thoughts on “The village of Ewelme”

  1. David you beautiful man, it is truly Wonderful watching this tour. The checker pattern on the facade (east I think) is most interesting along with the dark wooden ceiling contracted with bright white walls and the texture of the marble columns softening the space where the people will populate.
    One could imagine a whole suite of meaning from these, but the supreme carpentry and stonework would give any tradesmen much pride.

    Reply

    1. It’s incredible isn’t it? I mean not all village churches are this grand, but in so many you will find examples of stunning quality stone work or wood work and so on; in the middle of nowhere as it were. Church crawling is a lot of fun!

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  2. I loved this video! It’s not too long at all: everything was very interesting, and great to actually SEE and not just imagine. I love all of your videos, but this one hit two of my particular interests: church architecture and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Thanks to you and to Henry for sharing.

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  3. thank you David, Im just looking into a family line, they were born here, christened, married and buried here for centuries. Traced back to the 1400’s. I’m from Australia and will be here in late May. Hoping to find out more before we come. Excited to learn more now.

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    1. Hi Julie, and how amazing you’ve been able to discover that! Ewelme has such a rich history, and is in a very lovely spot. hop you have a brilliant trip over

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