Broadway, St Eadburgha

Broadway Parish Church, St Eadburgha [1, 2], is built of the local cotswold stone and is situated about a mile South of what is now the main part of the village on the West side of Snowshill Road. Parking is on the side of the road. With the exception of St Peter's Church in Wootton Wawen this must be the oldest Church that I have rung at. There is a plaque on the West wall of the South aisle stating that the oldest part of the Church dates back to 972.

St Eadburgha is not the only Church in Broadway, there is also St Michael & All Angels built in Victorian times in what is now the main part of the village.

I visited for the first time on Saturday 13^th June 2009 to join the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers for their practice session. The tower is in the middle of the Church with the nave to the West and the Chancel to the East and trancepts North and South. Ringing is from the ground floor so you are right in the middle of things. The ropes are consequently long, the rope guides must be 25' room high and perhaps 40' before they go through the ceiling. This is a heavy set of 6 bells and I rang up bell #4 which took quite a while. My first ring was a touch on Bob Minor on bell #2, I am still trying to learn Bob Minor and these are not the easiest bells to practice on but I managed to get to the end. The rope was a little long for me and I now noticed that the ropes were a little springy all of which added to my challenge. I ended the evening with a touch of Grandsire Doubles. I abandoned learning Grandsire to concentrate on Bob Minor so asked someone to to keep an eye on me and to my surprise I got through a long touch with just a few prompts from my guide. The bells were quite hard work but I really enjoyed the experience.

The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 18-1-16 in E. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Eadburgha.

There is some additional information provided by Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association.