The villages of Middle and South Littleton have been little affected
by modern enterprise. They may be reached by way of Offenham or
Bengeworth, or from the village station. In South Littleton the long,
narrow church though much spoiled by restoration tells of the care of
the parent Abbey at least as far back as the thirteenth century.
Opposite the church is a striking brick house, dignified even in its
present degraded condition. With windows blocked, neglected garden,
and used only as a storehouse for the farm at the back, it suggests
the haunted mansion of the imagination. The building dates from about
the year 1700; and the beauty of the design, especially of the roof
with its chimneys and its dormers, is worthy of a better fate. A field
path at the end of the street soon brings us to Middle Littleton.
Among the ricks and outhouses we catch sight of the grey stone gables
of the manor house, with the perpendicular church tower so familiar in
the district, close beside it. The old cross is thrown into relief by
the dark and spreading yew, and a natural picture is completed by the
sombre walls and tower of the church.

To the lover of architecture, or mediæval history, the greatest
interest will attach to the large tythe barn which we come to on
emerging into the field from the further side of the churchyard. The
beautiful masonry and mouldings, the fine doorways and delicately
designed finials at once mark the work as belonging to the fourteenth
century, and in the chronicles of Evesham Abbey we read that it was
built in the time of John de Ombresley who held the abbacy from 1367
to 1379.

In addition to the churches already mentioned St. Egwin's Church at
Honeybourne was also in the "Deanery of the Vale," and under the
special charge and jurisdiction of the Abbey. It may be reached either