The Averill family were known to have lived in Broadway, a pretty Cotswold village, since the sixteenth century at least. Alfred Averill, born in 1840, became a surgeon and doctor to the Wedgwood Factory. I believe it is his wife, Maria Ann, who wrote the cook book I own.
In summer the meadows around the village were filled with lime green spurge, daisies with centres gold as duck egg yolks, pink jewelled clover and golden buttercups. On the hills, long woolled sheep, known as Cotswold lions, grazed, bringing prosperity to the area.
By the end of the fourteenth century the woollen industry had become England's most important trade.
Wealthy merchants invested their riches in large manor houses, which still delight today.
Sir Thomas Phillips, the antiquarian, lived in Middle Hill Park Lodge.
Born in 1792, he developed an obsession for books. By his mid thirties he had collected over fifteen thousand books and eleven thousand manuscripts.
'I am buying printed books because I wish to have one copy of every book in the World!!!', he declared.
His passion, or mania, for books drove both his wives to distraction. One became alcoholic and the other left him.
The house was stuffed to the gills with books, making it a comfortless place. Only at meal times was it possible to enter the dining room and one of Sir Thomas's wives complained she could not get near her dressing table.
Eventually, he agreed to move to a larger house to allow the family more space, but the inevitable happened. More books were bought to fill the extra space available.
Sir Thomas set up a printing press on Broadway Tower, putting his daughter in charge of subscribing the manuscripts. So irksome did she find the task that she left her post, to the approval of the whole village, who sympathised with her.
Generous in sharing his books, Sir Thomas attracted many intellectuals to his home.
Though he died in 1872 his books were still being sold at auction in London in the 1970's.
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