View source for Bibury

{{Short description|Village in Gloucestershire, England}}
{{for-multi|steamships named Bibury|SS Bibury|the Japanese animation studio|Bibury Animation Studios}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox UK place
|official_name= Bibury
|static_image_name= Arlington Row Bibury.jpg
|static_image_caption= Arlington Row: [[Cotswold stone]] cottages
|coordinates = {{coord|51.7582|-1.8324|display=inline,title}}
|os_grid_reference= SP115066
|population= 627
|population_ref= (2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11120667&c=GL7+5NF&d=16&e=62&g=6426874&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1426955657776&enc=1|title=Parish population 2011|access-date=21 March 2015|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402132354/https://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11120667&c=GL7+5NF&d=16&e=62&g=6426874&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1426955657776&enc=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|civil_parish= Bibury
|shire_district= [[Cotswold (district)|Cotswold]]
|shire_county= [[Gloucestershire]]
|region= South West England
|country= England
|post_town= CIRENCESTER
|postcode_district= GL7
|postcode_area= GL
|dial_code= 
|constituency_westminster= [[North Cotswolds (UK Parliament constituency)|North Cotswolds]]
|website= [https://www.biburyparishcouncil.gov.uk/ Bibury Parish Council]
}}
'''Bibury''' is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in [[Gloucestershire]], England. It is on the [[River Coln]], a [[River Thames|Thames]] tributary that rises in the [[Cotswolds]]. The village centre is {{convert|6|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} northeast of [[Cirencester]]. [[Arlington Row]] is a nationally notable [[traditional architecture|architectural]] [[conservation area]] depicted on the inside cover of some [[British passport]]s. It is a major destination for tourists visiting the traditional rural villages, [[tea houses]] and many [[Grade I listed buildings in Cotswold (district)|historic buildings]] of the [[Cotswold District]]; it is one of six places in the country featured in [[Mini-Europe]], [[Brussels]].

==History==
[[File:Bibury Church - geograph.org.uk - 1107679.jpg|thumb|left|upright|St Mary's Church, Bibury]]
In the ''[[Domesday Book]]'' (1086), a record of survey done under [[William the Conqueror]], the place is named ''Becheberie'', and it is recorded that the lands and church in Bibury were held by [[Worcester Cathedral|St Mary's Priory]] at [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], from whom it passed in 1130 to [[Osney Abbey]], near [[Oxford]]: the Abbey continued to hold it until its [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolution]] in 1540.<ref>{{cite book |last=Croome |first=W.I. |title=A Short History of St Mary's Bibury |year=1992 |location=Gloucester |publisher=The British Printing Company Ltd |oclc=78092632}}</ref>

The [[Church of England parish church|Church of England]] [[Church of St Mary, Bibury|Church of St Mary]] is very late [[Anglo-Saxon architecture|Anglo-Saxon]] with later additions and listed in the top of the three heritage/architecture categories, Grade I. Its main material is random ([[cobblestone]]) and [[ashlar|coursed]] rubble limestone with a slate roof. It is formed of a nave with north and south aisles, south porch, north west tower and chancel, tower, arched doorways.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1155770|desc=Bibury Church|grade=I|accessdate=27 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="Verey1970">{{cite book |last=Verey |first=David |title=[[The Buildings of England]]: Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds |year=1970 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=0-14-071040-X |pages=106–112}}</ref> The churchyard has been described as being "of special interest because of the remarkable survival of so many excellently carved table tombs with bale tops, and headstones with cherubs and symbolic figures of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries".<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Verey |title=Cotswold Churches |publisher=B. T. Batsford Ltd. |date=1976 |page=94 |isbn=978-1845880286}}</ref> There is an early [[canonical sundial]] on the south wall. From AD 1130 until the [[English Reformation]] during the 16th century, the church was a [[Royal Peculiar|peculier]] of [[Osney Abbey]] in [[Oxford]].<ref name="Verey1970"/>

Adjacent to the church is the village primary school that was built in the 1850s. In 2023 the school had 27 pupils in two classes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/21/146812 |title=Bibury Church of England Primary School:OFSTED Report 2023|access-date=25 March 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120224842/https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/21/146812 |archive-date=20 January 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> On the Arlington (west) side of the village is Arlington [[Baptist]] Church, where a congregation has been meeting since the 1740s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arlingtonbaptist.org.uk/index.html |title=Arlington Baptist Church Website |publisher=Arlington Baptist Church |access-date=7 August 2013 |archive-date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722220847/http://arlingtonbaptist.org.uk/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Late in the 19th century George Witts recounted the discovery of the Bibury [[Roman villa]]: "In the year 1880 a [[Roman villa]] was accidentally discovered in the parish of Bibury, about {{convert|6|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} northeast of [[Cirencester]]. Some Roman [[pottery]], [[coin]]s, remnants of [[Floor mosaic|tesselated pavements]], &c., were found, but as no examination has yet taken place, no description of the building can be given."—George Witts, 1883.<ref name="Witts1883">{{cite book|last=Witts|first=George|title=Archaeological Handbook of the County of Gloucester|year=1883|publisher=G. Norman|location=Cheltenham|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/England/Gloucestershire/_Texts/WITGLO*/Villas.html#1|access-date=6 November 2009|archive-date=2 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502173946/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/England/Gloucestershire/_Texts/WITGLO%2A/Villas.html#1|url-status=live}}</ref> The site fills a small low meander downstream of the bridge on the Arlington, Bibury side.<ref>[[Scheduled Ancient Monument]] official listing. {{NHLE|num=1003357|desc=Site of Roman Villa near Bibury Mill|accessdate=27 January 2015}}</ref> Bibury village [[nucleated village|proper]], on the east bank, consists of approximately 40 homes and businesses, of which two are prominent hotels.

==Visitor attractions==
[[File:Arlington Mill in Bibury - geograph.org.uk - 1440332.jpg|thumb|Arlington Mill in Bibury in 2009]]
The 19th-century [[Arts and Crafts movement|artist and craftsman]] [[William Morris]] called Bibury "the most beautiful village in England" when he visited it.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gibbs|first=J.A.|title=A Cotswold Village|year=1898|publisher=VCH Glos|page=23}}</ref><ref name=bbc/>

The village is known for its honey-coloured 17th-century stone cottages with steeply pitched roofs, which once housed [[weaving|weavers]] who supplied cloth for [[fulling]] at nearby Arlington Mill. Until the 1980s, that building also housed the museum of Arlington Mill with a collection of period clothing, before it was shifted to Barnsley House.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web | title = Gloucestershire - History - Day Out: The South East Cotswolds | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2008/10/23/dayout_se_cotswolds_video_feature.shtml | publisher = BBC | date = Jan 2009 | access-date = 7 August 2013 | archive-date = 13 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121113090337/http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2008/10/23/dayout_se_cotswolds_video_feature.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref> The Mill is now a private residence.<ref>{{cite news|title=Top 15 unusual buildings for sale: 02|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9775390/Top-15-unusual-buildings-for-sale.html|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|access-date=4 April 2018|archive-date=18 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218183252/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9775390/Top-15-unusual-buildings-for-sale.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{multiple image
| align     =left
| direction = vertical
| image1    =Bibury Cottages.jpg
|caption1=Bibury cottages
|image2=Bibury Court.jpg
|caption2= Bibury Court, built in 1633
| width     =}}
The place where the wool was hung to dry after being washed in Arlington Row, was known as "Rack Isle". Today, this water meadow and marshy area, which is seasonally flooded and surrounded by [[water]] from three sides, is an important habitat for water-loving plants and birds including [[mallard]]s, [[Eurasian coot|coot]]s, and [[Common moorhen|moorhen]]s; it is also a National Trust Wildfowl Reserve.<ref name="nationaltrust"/><ref name="bbcd">{{cite web | title = Domesday Reloaded: Wildlife On Rack Isle, Bibury | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-408000-204000/page/5 | publisher = BBC | access-date = 7 August 2013 | archive-date = 25 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150925061233/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-408000-204000/page/5 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Bibury is particularly frequented by Japanese tourists; this is largely attributed to emperor [[Hirohito]] having stayed in the village on his European tour.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtkCnODXfH8C&q=emperor+hirohito+bibury&pg=PT637|title=Frommer's England and the Best of Wales|first1=Nick|last1=Dalton|publisher=Wiley|date=2012|isbn=9781118331378|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=2 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502173945/https://books.google.com/books?id=NtkCnODXfH8C&q=emperor+hirohito+bibury&pg=PT637|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="gloucestershireecho.co.uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Passport-picture-influx-tourists-according-Bibury/story-21747410-detail/story.html |title=Passport picture not behind influx of tourists according to Bibury residents &#124; Gloucestershire Echo |access-date=2014-08-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808042758/http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Passport-picture-influx-tourists-according-Bibury/story-21747410-detail/story.html |archive-date=8 August 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://biburyshop.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/japanese-and-english.html |title=Tales from Bibury Shop: Japanese and English |access-date=4 August 2014 |archive-date=18 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218193816/http://biburyshop.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/japanese-and-english.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The largest building in Bibury is [[Bibury Court]], built in 1633 in the [[Jacobean architecture|Jacobean]] style,<ref name="telegraphrw">{{cite news | author = Fiona Duncan | title = Bibury Court hotel, Cotswolds, Gloucestershire: review | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotel/79144/Bibury-Court-hotel-Cotswolds-Gloucestershire-review.html | newspaper = The Telegraph | access-date = 7 August 2013 | archive-date = 1 October 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151001072338/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotel/79144/Bibury-Court-hotel-Cotswolds-Gloucestershire-review.html | url-status = live }}</ref> and lived in by [[James Dutton, 3rd Baron Sherborne|Lord Sherborne]] during the nineteenth century. It is now a Grade I [[listed building]], and was a [[hotel]] from 1968 to 2014, when it closed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Archer |first1=Megan |title=Bibury Court Hotel to be transformed into large country house due to business decline |url=https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/11673370.bibury-court-hotel-to-be-transformed-into-large-country-house-due-to-business-decline/ |access-date=2 May 2021 |work=Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard |date=18 December 2014 |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303174208/https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/11673370.bibury-court-hotel-to-be-transformed-into-large-country-house-due-to-business-decline/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It was then purchased by the designer [[Marc Newson]] to be his family home.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 June 2022|title=Designer Marc Newson's offshore inspiration |url=https://www.afr.com/rear-window/designer-marc-newson-s-offshore-inspiration-20220607-p5arp0 |access-date=25 March 2025 |website=Australian Financial Review}}</ref>

===Arlington Row===
The picturesque [[Arlington Row]] cottages were built in 1380 as a monastic wool store. This was converted into a row of cottages for weavers in the 17th century.<ref name="nationaltrust">{{cite web | title = Bibury | url = http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bibury/ | publisher = National Trust | access-date = 7 August 2013 | archive-date = 3 August 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130803234657/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bibury/ | url-status = live }}</ref> The cloth produced there was sent to Arlington Mill. Arlington Row is a popular visitor attraction,<ref name=bbc/> probably one of the most photographed Cotswold scenes,{{according to whom?|date=March 2025}} and was preserved by the [[Royal College of Arts]]. It has been used as a film and television location, most notably for the film ''[[Stardust (2007 film)|Stardust]]''. Claims that ''[[Bridget Jones's Diary (film)|Bridget Jones's Diary]]'' was also filmed at Arlington Row seem incorrect.<ref name="bibury.com">{{cite web | title = Arlington Row on the Bibury Website | url = https://www.bibury.com/arlington-row/ }}</ref><ref name="gloucestershireecho.co.uk"/><ref>IMDB Website</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Beauty-spots-appear-new-passports/story-11931593-detail/story.html |title=Travellers who admire the stamps in their passports while waiting in line at airports will soon have views from the West to look at. &#124; Gloucester Citizen |access-date=2014-08-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924022813/http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Beauty-spots-appear-new-passports/story-11931593-detail/story.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In 2017 the BBC reported that an "ugly" car parked by an elderly resident had been vandalised, possibly by visitors who had repeatedly complained that it spoilt photographs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-38867290|title=Notorious yellow car vandalised in Bibury|work=BBC Gloucester|date=4 February 2017|access-date=4 February 2017|archive-date=4 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204111506/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-38867290|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Geography==
[[File:Swan Hotel Bibury.jpg|thumb|Grade II listed buildings in Bibury along the River Coln]]
The [[River Coln|Coln]], a tributary of the Thames, flows in a very steep valley (in [[Thames Basin]] terms) southeastwards.  It flows alongside the midsection of Bibury with Arlington's main street which [[wikt:dogleg|dogleg]]s to achieve this.  Each side has a similar concentration and scale of development; each bank's development falls mainly in the Bibury [[conservation area]] which has an insightful district surveyor's statement for building owners and visitors.<ref>[http://www.cotswold.gov.uk/residents/planning-building/historic-buildings-conservation-areas/conservation-areas/ Documents related to Bibury Conservation Area] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513010041/http://www.cotswold.gov.uk/residents/planning-building/historic-buildings-conservation-areas/conservation-areas/ |date=13 May 2017 }} Retrieved 27 January 2015</ref>

The parish is approximately rectangular and stretches far to the rolling, elevated, north. It includes on outlying settlement, [[Ablington, Gloucestershire|Ablington]], in the upper valley. Bibury Farm is {{convert|300|m|yd}} from the village, {{convert|151|m}} above [[Ordnance Datum]] (AOD), which is a similar elevation to much of the north. The south rises to a maximum of {{convert|141|m}} on its periphery along [[Akeman Street]], a Roman road, before ascending further in other more distant lands. The valley floor within the Bibury boundary, northwest and southeast, ranges from {{convert|108|to|98|m}} AOD.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

The Coln, along with the Bibury Spring, supplies Bibury [[Trout]] farm, founded in 1902 by the naturalist Arthur Severn, to stock the local rivers and streams with the native [[brown trout]]. The hatchery spawns up to six million trout ova every year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biburytroutfarm.co.uk/ |title=Bibury Trout Farm Website |publisher=Biburytroutfarm.co.uk |access-date=7 August 2013 |archive-date=6 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806102845/http://www.biburytroutfarm.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Three medieval [[dispersed village|clusters]] are all interspersed by substantial grass, making for a dense developed area compared to suburbs but not in terms of roads; a footbridge connects both sides (Arlington and Bibury) as well as various footpaths in all directions. Elevations vary widely even throughout the village parts, with the gentlest slope in the eastern escarpment of the [[Cotswold Hills]] for {{convert|1|mi|km|round=0.5|abbr=off}} or more in each direction taken by the main village road.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

==Culture==
The world's first [[horse racing]] club, The Bibury Club, was formed in 1681 and held race meetings on Macaroni Downs above the village until the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thecotswoldgateway.co.uk/horseracing.htm |title=The CotsWolds:Horse Racing |publisher=Thecotswoldgateway.co.uk |access-date=7 August 2013 |archive-date=24 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324141249/http://thecotswoldgateway.co.uk/horseracing.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==In popular media==
Bibury is prominently featured as a character's hometown in the [[manga]] series ''[[Kin-iro Mosaic]]''. The director of its animated adaptation, Motoki "Tensho" Tanaka, later founded [[Bibury Animation Studios]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bibury-st.com/|title=company|website=bibury-st.com|language=ja|date=February 17, 2020}}</ref>

==Notable inhabitants==
In 2000, [[Daniel Brennan]] KC, barrister, was made [[Baron Brennan|Lord Brennan]] and Bibury is his [[territorial designation]] as his home village.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=55839 |date=5 May 2000|page=4980 }}</ref> 

The merchant and writer [[Thomas Tryon]] was a native of Bibury.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stuart |first=Tristram |title=[[The Bloodless Revolution (book)|The Bloodless Revolution: Radical Vegetarianism and the Discovery of India ]] |publisher=Harper Collins |location=London |date=2006 |page=60 |isbn=978-0-00-712892-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Spencer |first=Colin |title=The Heretic's Feast. A History of Vegetarianism |publisher=Fourth Estate |location=London |date=1993 |page=206 |isbn=1857020782}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire]]
* [[List of Roman villas in England#Gloucestershire|List of Roman villas in Gloucestershire]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=Bibury Seasons|author=Ray Lipscombe (photographs)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8LF5tFu5xUC|year=2011|publisher=Memoirs Publishing|isbn=978-0-9565102-1-1}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bibury}}
*[http://www.bibury.com Bibury village website]
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2956156 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Bibury and surrounding area]

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Cotswold District]]
[[Category:Villages in Gloucestershire]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Gloucestershire]]