My grandfather lived in a small town in the county of Angus in
Scotland, and his passion was fishing. He knew every burn in the
Angus glens. When we stayed with him we would go fishing,
all my uncles and aunts together, and we would fish for brown trout.
In all those expeditions, tramping up and down miles of river bank, I never saw a trout. Caught them, yes, but never saw one. They were as wily as foxes and as timid as wildcats.
The fat trout in the River Coln at Bibury (above right) are like pigeons in a park. I didn't actually see any leap out of the water to grab peanuts out of childrens' fingers, but for all I know they were doing it when I wasn't looking. I imagine that if you climb into the river they will pose on your shoulders for photographs.
This probably has a lot to do with the adjacent trout farm, one of the largest and one of the oldest in the country, founded in 1902 and spawning up to 10 million Rainbow trout each year, mostly for restocking lakes and reservoirs. The River Coln flows through the farm, which has been laid out with garden and parkland for visitors, and the river is one of the most healthy looking stretches of water I have seen since my childhood days in the glens of Angus.
Bibury was described by William Morris as "the most beautiful village in England". It is actually two villages, Arlington on one side of the River Coln and Bibury on the other. It is one of the standard "must see" destinations in the Cotswolds, mostly because of Arlington Row.
Arlington Row is a picture-postcard group of weavers cottages
close to the River Coln, and while they are undeniably pretty,
there are many, very pretty places in the Cotswold which do not
see a tourist from one week to the next, so I found myself asking
"why these?".
The row was originally a timber framed hall used to store the Bishop of Worcester's wool (at a time when the village was part of an ecceslesiatical estate), but the hall was converted into a row of cottages in the 17 century.
There is something absurd about this sanctification of Arlington Row. Most of the tourists visiting Bibury inhabit the stretch of road along the River Coln between Arlington Row and Arlington Mill, and on a busy summer's day when the road was jammed solid with parked cars, I did not meet a single person in Bibury itself. The village and the church were deserted.
The church of St. Mary is a very fine church, one of the finest I have been in and I remember it with great affection. The original Saxon building would have been one of the largest in the area and it has been much added to, but there are many original Saxon features still visible. It is estimated to date from the 8th. century. "Later" features are still very old, dating from the 12th. and 13th. centuries. There is a small amount of 13th.C stained glass in the south side of the chancel and some attractive 20th. century glass by Karl Parsons (see below) on the north side. The north door has a fine Norman tympanum, the churchyard has well-preserved barrel and chest tombs, and all-in-all, this is one of the most peaceful and attractive churches I have visited.
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Arlington Row
One of the many guiless trout in the Colne. The water is so clean
and clear it is invisible.
Detail from the stained glass window in the north Chancel wall
of St. Mary's, Bibury. It was designed in 1927 by Karl Parsons
and was featured in the 1992 Christmas stamp set issued by the
Royal Mail.
This stone set in the north wall of St. Mary's is believed to
be a Viking tombstone.
Bibury village.
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Copyright Digital Brilliance 1995