From Wool to Silver: A Chipping Campden Walking Tour

Chipping Campden is a well-preserved Cotswold market town with a history that spans everything from medieval wool wealth to artistic renaissance. On this walking tour, you’ll explore its stunning High Street – often called the most beautiful in England – while hearing stories about the wealthy merchants and visionary artists who shaped this remarkable place.

The tour starts at the Old Silk Mill, where the Arts and Crafts movement found a home when C.R. Ashbee relocated his Guild of Handicraft from London in the early 1900s. As you stroll through the village, you’ll pass centuries-old buildings where wool merchants once amassed fortunes that rivalled those of medieval kings.

Along the way, you’ll find out how this charming village has maintained its character from its medieval prosperity to its rebirth as an artistic community. The tour ends at Woolstaplers Hall, once the home of a wealthy wool merchant and later the residence of C.R. Ashbee himself.

Along the way, you’ll have a chance to:

• Examine the magnificent Grevel House, home to the merchant described as “the flower of wool merchants of all England“ who inspired a character in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
• Learn about the mysterious “Campden Wonder,“ a bizarre 17th-century tale of disappearance, false confession, and unexpected return
• Hear the story behind the pink-tinged stones that remain after a grand mansion was deliberately burned after the English Civil War
• Visit the 1627 Market Hall, which locals saved from being purchased and transported to America in the 1940s
• Uncover the literary story behind the village’s red telephone box, where novelist Graham Greene once frantically dictated changes to avoid a lawsuit
• Explore the history of Dover’s Hill Games, including the peculiar sport of “shin-kicking“ that continues today in the Cotswold Olimpicks
• Find out how Ernest Wilson, born in the village, introduced the kiwi fruit to the Western world
• See the lasting influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement through exquisite silver, furniture, and buildings throughout the village

By the end of this fascinating 45-minute walk, you’ll have a sense of how this village and its innovative craftspeople have a uniquely rich heritage that continues to thrive today.