Campden Celebrates: the Jubilee and 120 years of Ashbee’s Guild

Celebrating 120 years of C.R. Ashbee in Chipping Campden

This year marks the 120th anniversary of arrival of C.R. Ashbee in Campden.

At the turn of the 20th century Chipping Campden was changing and the population had fallen, in part due to the decline in agricultural work. When C.R. Ashbee arrived in 1902 and took visitors round Campden he would point to houses standing empty and divided up, the windows botched and doorways hanging loose. He would do his best to change that.

The revival of handicraft known as the Arts and Crafts movement brought to the town in 1902 continues to thrive today with a museum of craft and design, traditional silversmiths, a cooperative of local makers, a milliner and an art gallery.