Trevor Harris, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Icomb
A grey stone hamlet on the slope of Icomb Hill south-east of Stow, above the Evenlode valley, with a thirteenth-century church holding Sir John Blaket's armoured effigy and the fifteenth-century manor house he probably built.
- Nearest station
- Kingham, about 4 miles (6km) by road, on GWR's line from London Paddington; then a taxi
- Parking
- No public car park. Park with care on the village lanes and never across a gateway
- Best time
- A bright day, for the effigy in the transept; spring and autumn for the walks
- When it's busy
- Never busy: a hamlet up a lane off the A424, with no pub, shop or car park
- Toilets
- None in the hamlet; the nearest public toilets are on Stow-on-the-Wold's Market Square, 50p
- Dogs
- Keep dogs on leads on the field paths of the Diamond Way and the Oxfordshire Way
About Icomb
Icomb is a hamlet of grey stone about 2 miles south-east of Stow-on-the-Wold, on the lower slopes of Icomb Hill, with the open wold behind it and the Evenlode valley opening to the east towards Bledington. The county history of 1913 saw a grey stone village in an orchard valley, backed by bare wold. Part of the parish belonged to Worcestershire until 1844. There is a church, a medieval manor house, a war memorial and a few farms, and no pub or shop.
What to see
St Mary's church, listed Grade I, is mainly thirteenth century, and its chancel, lit by three lancets in the east wall, has hardly changed since, says the Evenlode Vale benefice. The saddleback tower dates from about 1600. In the south transept, rebuilt in the fifteenth century as the Blaket family's chapel, Sir John Blaket lies in armour on a chest tomb under a carved arch, his head on a helm and a hound under his boots; seven canopied niches along the tomb hold figures of the Trinity and others. A modern brass gives his death as 1431, though the Victoria County History says he was killed in the French wars in 1430. Look too for the grey marble monument to William and Elizabeth Cope, who died in 1691 and 1669.
Icomb Place, the manor house Sir John probably built about 1420 on the site of an earlier moated house, is listed Grade I, with a two-storey porch and a great hall under an arch-braced roof; most of its south range came down in the twentieth century. It is a private house, and we have found nothing to say it ever opens. On Icomb Hill, about three quarters of a mile (1.2km) north-west, the Royal Commission recorded a probable hill-fort, now almost ploughed away.
An hour here, and the walks
Allow half an hour for the church and the effigy, then walk. The Diamond Way, the Ramblers' 60-mile circuit of the north Cotswolds, passes through the hamlet, and the Oxfordshire Way runs through the fields to the east, OpenStreetMap shows; both lead on towards Wyck Rissington, in the Rissingtons, and Bledington. None of our walks starts here yet.
Food and drink
Icomb has neither. The nearest pub we list is the King's Head Inn on the green at Bledington, about 2.5 miles by road, its bar open daily from 11am. The Fox at Lower Oddington, in the Oddingtons, is the other good choice, and Stow has the most.
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When to come
Any time of year; a bright day makes the carving in the transept easier to read. Icomb is quiet in every season; the crowds are in Stow and Bourton-on-the-Water, both within 6 miles.
Last verified 27 October 2026 by our editors
Part of
The North Cotswolds
The high wolds between Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-the-Water: the Fosse Way towns, the Windrush villages, the Slaughters and the escarpment at Broadway.
Things to do in Icomb
Antiques and vintage · Stow-on-the-Wold
Durham House Antiques
An antiques centre on Sheep Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, where about 30 dealers share four large showrooms of furniture, paintings, silver, glass, jewellery and books, open every day.
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Red Rag Gallery
Museums and galleries · Stow-on-the-Wold
A gallery of contemporary British painting, sculpture and prints on Church Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, with more than 200 original works on two floors and changing exhibitions, open every day.
Rainy days
Verified Oct 2026
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The Model Village, Bourton-on-the-Water
Family days out · Bourton-on-the-Water
A one-ninth scale model of Bourton-on-the-Water as it was in the 1930s, itself listed Grade II, in the garden of the Old New Inn.
Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Birdland Park and Gardens
Wildlife and nature · Bourton-on-the-Water
A bird park on the Windrush at Bourton-on-the-Water since 1957, with what it calls England's only breeding King Penguins, flamingos, pelicans and a nature reserve.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Car-free
Verified Oct 2026
Where to stay in Icomb
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The Feathered Nest Inn
Inn · Kingham
An inn with four rooms and a cottage at Nether Westcote near Kingham, in a building that began 350 years ago as a malt house.
Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
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The King's Head Inn, Bledington
Inn · Kingham
A 16th-century inn on the green at Bledington, near Kingham, with twelve rooms in the inn and a courtyard, and EV charging.
EV charging · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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The Sheiling
Glamping · Bledington
A shepherd's hut for two in the grounds of the owner's house in Bledington, a short walk from the village green and the King's Head, with a wood burner and room for one small dog.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Where to eat and drink in Icomb
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The Fox at Oddington
Inn · Kingham
A Daylesford pub with rooms at Lower Oddington, with the four-bedroom Coachman's House opposite for self-catering groups of up to eight.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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The Old Butchers
Restaurants · Stow-on-the-Wold
A restaurant in a former butcher's shop on Park Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, run by Pete and Louise Robinson since 2005 and listed by Michelin.
Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Walks in and around Icomb
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Stow and Lower Swell
Walk · Starts in Stow-on-the-Wold · 1 hr, 45 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly
A 3.6-mile (5.8km) moderate loop from Stow-on-the-Wold of about an hour and three quarters, down the fields by Nether Swell to the River Dikler at Hyde Mill, up Mill Lane to Lower Swell's Norman church and Lutyens war memorial, and back to Stow beside the B4068.
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Stow-on-the-Wold and Maugersbury
Walk · Starts in Stow-on-the-Wold · 2 hrs · Circular
A 3.75-mile (5.5km) circular walk without stiles from the Cross in Stow-on-the-Wold, easy with 130m of ups and downs and about two hours: past the Porch House and Maugersbury Manor to the Fosse Way, down to Hyde Mill and back up through white gates by Nether Swell.
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Kingham station and Bledington
Walk · Starts in Kingham · 3 hrs · Circular
A 3.5-mile (6km) car-free circular walk from Kingham station, easy and two to three hours with stiles and a boggy patch: along the River Evenlode into Gloucestershire, over the old railway and past a pond, then to Bledington's green and the King's Head, and back by the river.
Sights in and around Icomb
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St Laurence's Church, Wyck Rissington
Sight · Church · Bourton-on-the-Water
St Laurence's is the Grade I church of Wyck Rissington near Bourton-on-the-Water, consecrated in 1269, where the young Gustav Holst was organist in 1892 and 1893. It keeps a Norman corbel table, diamond-shaped lights and a mosaic of a rector's lost maze. Open daily in daylight.
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St Leonard's Church, Bledington
Sight · Church · Kingham
Bledington's Grade I church by the green, recorded in 1175 and rebuilt in the fifteenth century, with fifteenth-century painted glass, one panel dated 1470, a Norman tub font and a tower built inside the nave. Open daily.
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Market cross, Stow-on-the-Wold
Sight · Monument · Stow-on-the-Wold
Stow's market cross stands in the southern half of the Market Square: a medieval calvary and socket stone, probably of the fourteenth century, carrying a shaft and lantern head restored in 1878 and again in 1995, when its four carved panels were restored. Grade II and scheduled.
Getting to Icomb
- By car
- By a lane east off the A424 Stow to Burford road; about 3.5 miles by road from Stow-on-the-Wold.
- By bus
- No timetabled bus. The Robin, Gloucestershire's bookable minibus, stops by the war memorial on Icomb Hill; £3 a single (fares from January 2025).
- By train
- Kingham, on GWR's Cotswold Line from London Paddington, is about 4 miles (6km) by road; then a taxi or the Robin.
| Bledington | 2.5 mi |
|---|---|
| Wyck Rissington | 3.1 mi |
| Stow-on-the-Wold | 3.7 mi |
| Kingham station | 3.7 mi |
| Bourton-on-the-Water | 5.6 mi |
| Moreton-in-Marsh station | 8.1 mi |
Places near Icomb
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Stow-on-the-WoldA hilltop market town on the Fosse Way, more than 230m up, with a broad Square, a church that held 1,600 prisoners after the last battle of the Civil War, and a horse fair.
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BledingtonA Gloucestershire village on the county boundary with a wide green, a brook running through it, a Grade I church with glass of 1470, a 16th-century inn on the green, and Kingham station a short walk away across the Evenlode.
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Great, Little and Wyck RissingtonThree villages on the slope east of Bourton-on-the-Water: Wyck with its green, pond and the church where Holst was organist, Little with the RAF graves of a lost airfield, and Great with the Lamb Inn and the Souls brothers' memorial.
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Upper and Lower OddingtonTwo villages a quarter of a mile apart on the old Stow road, with a Grade I church in the woods whose Doom painting is among the largest in the country, a Daylesford pub with rooms, and the Evenlode walk to Adlestrop.