|
|
 |
The area contains a number of 'hidden'
villages: places off the main trunk roads. Walcote and Morton Bagot come to mind but
Exhall is the best example. It has only its one road (from Wixford to Grafton), on either
side of which the houses lie. 'Dodging Exhall', as the well-known doggerel verse describes
it, may have arisen from not being directly approachable from Stratford or Alcester.
Exhall is mentioned in Domesday Book, 1086, but its ownership through the Middle Ages is
complicated: by the 16th century, however, the manor had become a part of the Throckmorton
manor of Oversley, with which it remained. The church of St.Giles dates from the 12th century but includes much 19th century rebuilding. |
| In the chancel are small brass effigies of John Walsingham (d.1566) and his wife. The Walsinghams were among the chief landowners and were of the same stock as Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's Secretary of State. Dr.William Thomas was rector here from 1698-1723: he is now known mainly as the continuator of Dugdale; most library copies are of his work. Some of the timber-framed cottages at Exhall are well worth a second look. | |
© G.E. Saville 1992