A traditional English village 英式傳統小村莊 Castle Combe

Castle Combe is a quintessential English village in the west of England, about 165 km away from London and 20 km away from Bath, the famous Roman bath town.

Castle Combe 是英國西部的美麗小村莊，離倫敦165公里。英國著名古羅馬溫泉鎮巴斯也只是20公里遠。This is a little hidden gem, not known by many until it became the filming location for Stephen Spielberg’s 2011 movie War Horse. Although it has grown in popularity since, luckily it still hasn’t become as touristy as other famous English villages such as Bourton on the Water and Mickleton in the Cotswold area, Oxford.

從前這小村莊不是太多人知道，直到 2011史蒂芬·斯皮爾伯格執導的戰馬在這取景 ，就開始有更多人認識。雖然這樣，她似乎還沒像其他牛津著名小村莊如Bourton on the Water 和 Mickleton般熱門。還好。

Castle Combe village is very small, and has a population of under 400 people. It was built around the 14th century, and the main focal point of the village is the Market Cross. Historically, a village erects a market cross when they are granted the right to hold a weekly market by the monarch. This market cross has been here since the 14th century.

Castle Combe很小，人口不足400，自14世紀已有歷史記載。 小村莊的中央有一個市集十字架，古時代如果一條村莊被官方允許可以舉辦市集，他們便會在村中央建立一個十字架。而這個十字架從14世紀就立足於此。

Another indication of Castle Combe being a historical market village is the buttercross which sits right in the middle of the road. In the old days, people from neighboring villages would gather here to buy fresh butter, eggs and milk, hence the name. I guess in the old days all this area was a market square and there were no roads so the location of the buttercross didn’t look odd.

在路中央這塊大石頭是另一個證明這個小村莊當年已有市集。這塊石叫奶油十字架，當時附近其他村莊的居民都會來到這裏買賣新鮮自製的奶油、雞蛋及牛奶，因而得名。我想當年根本沒有馬路這個概念，所以奶油十字架建於路中央也不覺得很礙眼。

Although it was a Sunday afternoon, there was only a handful of tourist around. I don’t know if it gets much busier in the summer, but I would imagine it would as it is just so quaint here. The village has three small roads which converge at the market cross. The main one is lined with picturesque limestone cottages on both sides and leads down to the Bybrook River.

縱使小村莊很美，但在星期天下午遊客並不多。不知夏天時會否更熱鬧一些? 我覺得可能會，因為這裡實在很美。 小村莊有三條馬路，匯合處就在市集十字架。主要的馬路兩旁建滿石灰石小屋，沿著馬路往前走是 Bybrook 小河流。

Next to the market cross is St Andrews Church which is believed to date back to the 12th century. Inside the church is a faceless clock from the 15th century, and is one of England’s oldest working clock. Now it still strikes on the hour. It used to hang at the top of the church tower, and was bought down in 1984 and put on display. The moving parts were painted orange and some parts have been modernised.

市集十字架旁邊是聖安德烈教堂，聽說在12世紀已建成。裏面有一座在15世紀已有的時鐘，是全英國其中一座仍然運作而最古舊的鐘。 這個鐘並沒有鐘面，但每整點會響。大鐘原本在教堂的塔上，在1984年搬到教堂裡面，機械部份油上鮮橙色，而一些機械配件已被現代化了。

Like all churches in England, there is a graveyard outside. These box like graves are typically from the old days, and are made of slab of stones. Some are starting to crumble, but most are still in pretty good condition given its age. I tried to read the graving on the side and some dates back to the 17th century! I wonder if their descendants still live in the village?

跟其他英國教堂一樣，外面是墳場，當年這些像盒子般在地面上的墳墓很普遍。它們用石頭建造，有些已開始破爛，但大部分雖然經過多年的風吹雨打還很完整。我嘗試閱讀墓埤上的彫刻，原來有些墳墓的主人在17世紀離世。不知道他們的後人是否仍然在小村莊住呢？Next time I’m going to walk you through the village road to the Bybrook River, and we’ll also go for a traditional English high tea in the Castle Combe Manor. If you haven’t yet, I guarantee you will add this to your list of places to visit in England when you see my next post.

下次我將會帶大家在小村莊探索， 從市集十字架走的小河流。來到那麼美的英式小村莊，當然要去享受正統英式下午茶。如果你還未決定下次到英國時，會否來探訪這個小村莊，相信你看完我下一篇文章後一定會來一趟喔。