which Drayton sings, or the
silver sheen which in springtime now glorifies the gardens, the face
of the country was, we are told, one vast thicket of brushwood and
forest trees. In Blakenhurst, meaning black forest, the name of the
hundred in which the town is situated, we have an indication of the
former character of this region. Only here and there was a clearing
with a few huts giving shelter to a scanty population of herdsmen and
hunters. In those shadowy times the river was broad and shallow,
unconfined to one course, here swift and clear, there sluggish and
thick, feeding creeks and marshes by the way, and overgrown with
rushes and water weeds; of no use probably as a water-way but prolific
in fish and fowl.

During historic times the vale has been hallowed by many events, and
is sacred to many memories: there is hardly an acre which does not
bear evidence of the doings of our forefathers through the long ages
of which we have knowledge. The site of the town was apparently
unoccupied by the Romans though their thoroughfares run not far
distant, and their camps are numerous on the neighbouring hills. Not
until Saxon times do we hear of this fertile peninsula being
inhabited, and then we are told by the chroniclers of a village called
Homme near this spot, the home of only a few peasants. Like many other
towns and cities, in England, Evesham is said to have had a monastic
origin, and for a long succession of years it is to the monastery
alone that she owes her existence and celebrity. The monastic
foundation dates from about A.D. 702, and from this time until the
Conquest we know little of the fortunes of the place. Access would
have been difficult in those days to so retired a spot protected on
three sides by a broad river, and though doubtless there was a ford
passable on horseback when the water was not in flood, yet until the
building of the bridge it must have been isolated indeed. More than
once we are told of ravages of the Danes. We know they penetrated far
into the country, and Evesham did not escape their vigilance.

Side by side with the growth of the abbey the little village sprang
up, and gradually increased in importance. No doubt in times of stress
it was accustomed to look to that wealthy institution for succour. On
the Church the inhabitants would be dependent for all sacred rites and
the fulfilment of their spiritual needs; but occasionally we find them
waxing independent, and even defying the a