Benedictine abbey which was built by the Bishop of Worcester in the reign
of Ethelred. The Bishop, it seems, had a swineherd named Eoves, who one
day, while wandering in the Forest of Arden ("In which the scene of 'As You
Like It' is laid, Hester, and which used to cover all the ground where
Evesham now stands"), was visited in a vision by three radiant damsels. He
returned at once and told the Bishop, who, on being led to the same spot,
after a preparation of fasting and prayer, had the same vision, and at once
recognized the damsels as the Virgin Mary and two Angels.

At that time the meaning of such heavenly visitations was plain, and the
Bishop at once set about building an abbey on the spot. He appointed
himself the first abbot and named it after his swineherd Eoves--Eoves'ham.

The abbey was large and prosperous, but the Danes destroyed it in one of
their raids, and it had to be rebuilt on a more splendid scale. Then came
Henry VIII. and his quarrel with the Church of Rome, and the abbey was
confiscated and given as a grant to Sir Philip Hoby, one of his friends,
who at
once (being a man of the type of the Rev. Francis Gastrell) raised what
money he could on it by turning it into a quarry for stones. And that is
why so many old houses in this neighbourhood have carved stones in their
walls.

The party then returned to the marketplace and walked down to the bridge,
where they joined Kink and set out for their goal.

Elmley Castle is one street, with a ruined cross at one end and the church
at the other, and the great hill over all. The cottages are as white as
snowdrops, and they have heavy thatch roofs. The women wear large blue
Worcestershire sunbonnets. The only shop is a post-office too, so that