Pebworth is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the county of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, lying about 5 miles north-north-west of the town of

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Until 1931, the parish – which includes the hamlet of Broad Marston – was itself also in Gloucestershire, as part of Pebworth Rural District. Pebworth is bordered to the north and north-east by the parishes of Dorsington and Long Marston, which are today in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

. The Priory of Pebworth is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History

Pebworth is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

"
Hugh de Grandmesnil Hugh de Grandmesnil (1032 – 22 February 1098), (known in French as ''Hugues'' and Latinised as ''Hugo de Grentmesnil'', aliter ''Grentemesnil'', etc.), is one of the proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle ...
holds Pebworth. There are two hides and one virgate. Two thegns held it as two manors. There are three ploughs and one villan and one bordar and seven slaves. The same Hugh holds Broad Marston. There are two hides."''Domesday Book: A Complete Transliteration''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.?

Pebworth is known as one of the Shakespeare villages.

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

is said to have joined a party of Stratford folk which set itself to outdrink a drinking club at

Bidford-on-Avon Bidford-on-Avon is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire, very close to the border with Worcestershire. In the 2001 census it had a population of 4,830, increasing to 5,350 at the 2011 census. History Rykn ...

, and as a result of his labours in that regard to have fallen asleep under the crab tree of which a descendant is still called Shakespeare's Tree. When morning dawned his friends wished to renew the encounter but he wisely said "No I have drunk with “Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marston, Haunted Hillboro’, Hungry Grafton, Dodging

Exhall Exhall is a suburban settlement and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Bedworth, in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : History Historically, the ...

, Papist

Wixford Wixford is a hamlet and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England, situated south of Alcester. The population at the 2011 census was 155. The area is largely agricultural with no large employers in the area, most ...

, Beggarly Broom and Drunken Bidford” and so, presumably, I will drink no more. The story is said to date from the 17th century but of its truth or of any connection of the story or the verse to Shakespeare there is no evidence.Highways and Byways in Shakspeares Country, Hutton 1914

Pebworth bells

St Peter's Church has large ring of ten bells which is unusual for a small rural church. A closed-circuit television camera in the belfry, enables the movement of the bells to be seen in real time view on a monitor in the ringing chamber.

Morris dancing

An active

Morris dancing Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...

side has existed in Pebworth since early 1979. The side first performed in public on 16 June 1979 to mark the 25th anniversary of Pebworth Village Hall. The side was taught basic Cotswold Morris dance by the Traditional Ilmington Morris Men.Pebworth Morris Men
Retrieved 22 June 2009

References

External links

Pebworth Parish Council web site
* Pebworth Villag
website
{{authority control Villages in Worcestershire