Stow-on-the-Wold is the quintessential Cotswold town – historic 17th/18th century cream coloured stone buildings huddle around a busy market square. Coaching-inns; tea-rooms; antique shops and galleries are very much the order of the day. It was the perfect place to stop and take a break from our long drive down to Oxford – we had a spot of lunch and a lovely leg-stretching stroll.

A little known fact is that Stow-on-the-Wold was the site of the last battle of the English Civil War. On 21st March 1646 Royalist forces under Sir Jacob Astley, retreating from the main battlefield about 1 mile north of the town, were pushed back in to the market square and eventually surrendered to the victorious Parliamentarian army commanded by Colonel Thomas Morgan. The cross in the market place supposedly marks the spot of the surrender.

Stow also has the distinction of being the highest town in the Cotswolds, at approx 700 feet above sea level.

The observant amongst you will have guessed from the title of this post, that this will be the first in a series concerning our recent trip to Oxford…..watch out for the others over the next few days and weeks.

Copyright: © The Photography of Mark Simms (2012). All rights reserved.