Chipping Campden Church

The parish church of Chipping Campden is the venue for the Campden Festival Chorus performance of Brahms' Requiem this evening.

While I was waiting for the final rehearsal to start this afternoon I wandered around the church, which is noted as a fine example of a "wool" church - meaning that its size and grandeur reflect the prosperity that the wool trade brought to the Cotswolds in the C15th century, which was when it was rebuilt. It contains some interesting features and artefacts, not least monuments to various members of the Hicks family in the South Chapel.

Sir Baptist Hicks was a successful silk merchant and was responsible for some notable buildings around the town, including one which is famous for not existing any longer: the Hicks supported Charles I during the English Civil War and their house, Campden Manor, was destroyed by Parliamentarians - although the gate houses and banqueting hall remain and can be rented out.

This is the life-sized marble effigy of Sir Baptist Hicks, who lies with his wife Lady Elizabeth on an enormous marble plinth - so tall in fact that I had to stand on tiptoe to get this shot. I think we can all see that he could do with a dust - but I won't mention it if you don't.

I hope that he enjoys the Requiem this evening. He seemed rather unmoved during rehearsals...