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I would like to put down all the info we can of our Gough family from Tableview in Cape Town, South Africa, settled here in Pershore in England. There will be family news and some pictures for those visitors to Gough info who might possibly be family or friends of ours and interested in the development of our family over here in England. Pershore is a small town in Worcestershire which is in the west midlands here in England and is now our new home. We will always be interested in any info we can gather on our ancestry, so this page will of course tie in with the Gough genealogy page. The other part of our family, my eldest daughter, lives over in Paarl near Cape Town with her husband, Marius Nel and their two sons. This page will always change over time. |
My name is Brian Gough and my wife is Barbara (born Tarr). About 4 years ago we came across from a small town named Tableview near Cape Town in South Africa to settle here in England. We had wanted to come across for many years and finally the time was right as our children had grown up and had finished their schooling. The Gough family pages is in 2 parts.
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This is a short article, which I hope you find interesting, telling you something about Pershore which is our home town here in England. Pershore's crowning glory is it's Abbey, an architectural gem.
In the eighteenth century the town developed as a staging post, market centre and crossing point of the river Avon. Thus the overall impression in the main thoroughfares, especially Market Place and Bridge Street, is of a Georgian town. The Angel Inn and Posting House is typical of the coaching era with two bow windows and an arched entrance to the yard behind. Nearby are a number of buildings with attractive cast-iron first-floor balconies. From here Bridge Street leads to the largely medieval bridge across the Avon. Notable buildings include Barclays Bank (late eighteenth-century) with an elaborate doorway, Bedford House (Regency period) with a cast-iron balcony, and Perrott House (about 1760). There are very pleasant riverside walks from the town centre car park and from the old bridge, which has been developed as a picnic site. Beyond the bridge are the village of Wick and the gardens of the College of Horticulture. An extensive parkland area lies west of the abbey. It's always a good time for Pershore. Whenever you long for a complete break, you'll find what you're looking for in Pershore. Pershore is not a holiday resort but a genuine old English market town with a life and a charm of its own - beautifully preserved Georgian architecture, fine old coaching inns, a magnificent Abbey. You'll find this old staging post for travellers on the banks of the beautiful River Avon in the Vale of Evesham famous for its fruits and vegetables, its blossom, its scenery and its unspoilt villages.
You'll find misty clouds of bluebells in Tiddesley Wood, clouds of white lambs, green fields, and when you follow the Blossom Trail you'll move through a dazzling display of pinks, from cherry, pear and apple, varied by the white of plum. This is Pershore at its most pleasing to the eye. By May there's a very special pleasure for the taste, as well as for the eyes, with the celebrated asparagus harvest being gathered. Pershore completes the season on Spring Bank Holiday Monday with its Carnival Parade through the town lead into Abbey Park. For pick-your-own enthusiasts there's no time like high summer in Pershore, when English strawberries and raspberries come to their best - and come into local shops, markets, hotels and restaurants too. Garden lovers delight in the Pershore Flower and Craft Show, not just for blossoms but for displays of first-class craftsmanship - and the more enthusiastic know that the Royal Horticultural Society's Centre for the West Midlands is at the nearby Pershore College and is a source of advice and expertise. The blossom of spring has turned into the fruits of summer, lead by luscious plums like Victoria's, Pershore Purples and Pershore Eggs and by tasty Cox and Bramley apples - the Pershore Plum Fayre and farmers market is well worth a visit. This is a particularly good time for walking as hedgerows turn to red and gold. Even in the depths of winter Pershore's charm shines through. Out in the countryside, and high on the summit of Bredon Hill nearby, great vistas open up now that the foliage is gone. The streets of Pershore itself are a blaze of light when darkness falls because Pershore's Christmas tree, nativity crib and lights have become famous for many miles around. The old inns are warm and welcoming, and the Christmas message rings out from the great bells of the Abbey. Pershore is not a large town, that is one of its attractions, but within its small confines it holds the essence of England. Its Abbey was founded by King Oswald in 689AD, over 1,300 years ago. Later King Edgar granted a charter in 972, before the Normans had invaded. The Abbey which they in turn gave to Pershore must have been bigger than today and only the choir now remains standing. It is an impressive building and a treasury of architecture, mostly from the 13th Century, with a tall, pinnacled tower. Nearby is the legacy left to Pershore by its well-to-do merchants, traders, inn-keepers and gentry of the past, a delightful Georgian townscape, with a variety of facades, elegant, interesting, often imposing, broken by different roof-levels, archways, shopping arcades, glimpses of courtyards and of the river. You will be particularly struck by The Royal Three Tuns Arcade, the buildings of Barclays and the Midland Banks, Perrott House, Western House, The Angel Inn & Posting House and the covered retail market with its local produce. 460 men from Pershore went to the Great War - one fifth of the total adult population at that time - and 101 of them never returned.
Just outside the main centre are the river meadows, merging Pershore with the countryside of which it is a part. Their rough meadow and wetland borders the Avon, with bankside moorings and a path down to the lock and weir. Village Visits All around Pershore are villages worth visiting. Wick is within walking distance of the town, by a footpath beyond Pershore's ancient packhorse bridge. Cropthorne and Charlton are distinguished by black-and-white timber-framed houses. Fladbury has its picturesque 16th century mill and there are magical places on the lower slopes of Bredon - Little and Great Comberton, Eckington, Overbury, Kemerton and Elmley Castle. These villages have matured and weathered over centuries so, like Pershore itself, they are places for all seasons.
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