Travel

Stow-on-the-Wold, Cotswolds, UK

travel videos & photos at: https://townsofeurope.com/ with text, maps & links. Stow-on-the-Wold is one of the larger and more famous of the towns of the Cotswolds, with lots of restaurants and shops and several main streets. it makes a very good place to visit, walk around, do a little shopping and have lunch. The large market square and busy streets testify to the town's former importance and to its current popularity. The market square is surrounded by town houses, independent shops, antique centers, cosy cafes and inns all built in the mellow local stone, and it has been the focus of town life over many centuries, with the medieval market stocks at one end, the ancient market cross at the other. Stow is an important shopping center with antique and art galleries, gift shops, craft stores and variety of restaurants in all prices. At nearly 800 feet elevation, Stow is the highest of the Cotswold towns, located on the old Roman Fosse Way at the point where several roads meet, hence an important trading center. One of the town’s major attractions is St. Edwards, a medieval church with cut stone and stained-glass and most famous for its very attractive doorway surrounded by yew trees, right out of Lord of the Rings. The garden and old graveyard out back provide a tranquil oasis to relax and play. The Norman Church had later additions with the tower completed in 1476. St Edward’s Church, was used as a prison during the English Civil War, as it was the only lockable building in the town. In 1646, the English Civil War ended near here after a battle at nearby Donnington, saw Royalist troops defeated, which put an end to Charles I’s hopes of retaining the English crown. Stow is built on layers of much earlier history, dating back to the Neolithic, which left behind stone axes and arrow heads, and a later Iron Age fort.