Ross Reyburn visits the Worcestershire village of Abberley.

In an era when English villages usually mourn their losses, the picturesque Worcestershire village of Abberley has acquired a new village green. The green, a four-acre field flanked by a wood with a stream, is ideally located on a sloping site dropping from the Victorian Parish Church of St. Mary to the old part of the village. It was bought at auction in July last year from farmer Vic Whiteman, Altogether the project has cost more than £9,000 and the auction money was raised after four villagers, farmer Trevor Nott. parish council chairman Mrs Rosemary Norwood, local rector the Rev David Gutteridge and Dr David Jersey acted as guarantors.
So far villagers have raised some £7,000 to meet the cost of the field ‘It’s marvelous,’ says Trevor Nott, chairman of the Village Green Management. Committee. “It links the church to the pub and the rest of the old village. There is a footpath running through the field they say was used to take the coffins from the old church to the new church. We want to improve the stream, making an area where the children can play. We also want to level an area where we could put a marquee. But basically we want the field kept as it is.“
The village green has charitable status and a village meeting is needed to approve any major changes “Before the sale there were rumours about what was going to happen to the land,” added Mr.Nott whose wife Muriel is a member of an old village family, the Norwoods.
“Now it cannot be sold without the permission of the villagers.’

The village green is another major plus for a village already well blessed with facilities. ln the newer part, spread rather untidily around a road called The Common. there is the successful. village school, an isolated new stale-of-the-art £220,000 village hall opened in January I975 a post office, a garage, a shop, a cricket field plus several new housing developments. A short walk away is the superb old village with its winding lanes on an undulating landscape, all offering views of the Abberley Hills. Electricity pylons are the only high technology feature on an otherwise idyllic English rural landscape.

Abberley has the luxury of two Anglican churches. ln the heart of the old village can be found one of the most charming places of worship in the Midlands, the stone Norman church of St Michael with its chancel surviving intact among the ruins. Alongside is the rectory, while opposite the Church is Jaylands, a striking late 17th century brick house with three bays. Facing the rectory is the the Manor Arms, the village local sadly transformed internally by a misconceived brewery revamp. Villagers staged their own Sunday lunchtime drinking protest outside the pub last year but the changes had already been made. The Manor Arms has a smart restaurant, a plush interior and 11 rooms for guests, plus a garden with a superb outlook. But its village pub atmosphere has gone — you won’t find any old pipe-smoking farmhand with a Sheepdog at his feet propping up the corner of the bar and staring at strangers there. The changes have continued. A takeover has seen Enterprise Inns become the new owners and in March new licensee Simon Andrews arrived,

“The boycotters have been in since then.” says Andrews, “There is not a lot we can do structurally but we have tried to tone it down, there were 60-watt bulbs when we arrived.’

The recurring nightmare facing the village is the Hills might be changed forever by quarrying. It is it no surprise to find the parish council backing the Abberley Hills Preservation Society’s current attempt to get the hills listed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; “On the Astley side, you have a sheer drop at the Shavers Hill quarry,’ says Rosemary Norwood, “lf you are up in an aeroplane coming from holidays you can see it quite clearly. It is quite a scar, “Quarrying on the Abberley Hills is on standby at the moment. From what I understand to get the quality of stone that they need, they need to take several metres off the top of the hill to come through the end of the hill this side …. “If they did this, I think it would possibly affect the weather. lf the climate changes and it gets colder here, the time or ripening of crops could be a little later. ‘The hill protects us from the wind. I definitely feel we would get a lot more bad weather.’

FACT FILE

Abberley can lay claim to one of the best-known Midland restaurants at The Elms Hotel. An imposing Queen Anne mansion near the village. It was designed by Gilbert White, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. Sir Richard Brooke, who ran the Abberley Stud, bought The Elms in 1927 when the Abberley Hall estate was sold off. It became a country house hotel in 1927 and hoteliers Marcel and Corinna Frichot became the new owners last year.

Abberley Hall, today a preparatory school, was built around 1846_ Overlooking Great Witley, the mansion cannot be seen from Abberley. But the landmark Clock Tower (Jones’s Folly), built in 1883 by John Joseph Jones in memory of his father who built the hall, can be seen from the village.

Only the chancel of St Michael’s Church survives intact. After it fell into decay, the Victorians built St Mary’s Church. The picturesque ruin was rescued in 1963 by the Rev Richard Bevan and a group of volunteers. During the work, five 14th century silver spoons, now in the British Museum, were found buried in the walls.