Pavenham Village
The centre of the village is dominated by the long and winding main street. Many of the stone built cottages lining the street are snuggled under their cosy thatch, including the barn where John Bunyan once preached.
The medieval church, dedicated to St Peter, stands on a hill above the village. Inside, it was panelled during the mid 1800s with Jacobean woodwork taken from the old Bury mansion during its rebuilding. This panelling now provides an aesthetic background for the flower arrangements done by members of the Flower Guild. An annual Flower Festival is held, which often coincides with the observance of the ancient custom of strewing the floor of the church with the first hay cut from Sanfoin field on one of the working farms still centred on the village.
Church Lane itself was reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a Cavalier who had been waylaid by a group from the village - this was Roundhead territory. This unfortunate man was said to have tried to escape by jumping his horse over a gate at the top of the lane. His horse clipped the gate, throwing its rider who was then killed and his body dumped in a nearby well. 'To this day' the story goes, no gate can be expected to remain long before collapsing in that particular gateway.
Pavenham is unusual in that a large number of the small cottages have been owner occupied for many years. The opportunity to buy occurred when the Bury estate came on the market in 1910. However, the earlier influence of the 'big house' could still be seen. In spite of the three public houses once in the village - the Swan, the Cock and the George and Dragon - great efforts had been made by the teetotal squire to provide alternate warm and congenial evening accommodation. A tea and reading rooms were set up in a cottage previously used as the school rooms at the time a new village school was provided by the same benefactor. The school has now gone, and only the Cock survives from the three earlier hostelries. The reading room is now a home, as is the small village shop / post office. The present population is now nearing around 700, and so only marginally above what it was 100 years ago.
A Garden Open Day is held each summer, usually in July, and organised to help Cancer Research funds. Some dozen of the cottage gardens are thronged with visitors enjoying the well kept flower beds, lawns and vegetable gardens.
Although Pavenham has changed in many ways over the centuries much of it would still be recognisable to that ghostly Cavalier.
