Marshfield

The High Street

Walk it end to end. The church of St Mary the Virgin, listed Grade I, is twelfth century in origin and was rebuilt in the Perpendicular style about 1470 by the monks of Tewkesbury Abbey; its west tower still closes the view, and the choir now fills the space of an earlier central tower. C E Davis of Bath restored it in 1860. The Crispe almshouses on the north side of the street are a row of eight with a chapel in the middle, dated between 1612 and 1619 and built for the Crispe family: Latin stones in the end gables record that Thomas Crispe, son of Nicholas, laid one on 10 August 1612 and Nicholas Crispe, son of Ellis, the other on 30 July 1619. They are listed Grade II*, walls and archway included. The Tolzey Hall at number 41 is the parish council's office. The conservation area, designated in 1973 and extended in 1998 to take in the valley to the south, covers the High Street.

The Paper Boys on Boxing Day

Marshfield's mummers are the Paper Boys, so called for their costumes of paper strips, and they perform their play on Boxing Day at 11am. After carols with the Marshfield Band in the Market Place, they play it several times at stops along the High Street, where the fight, the death and the Doctor's cure are played out, with characters including Saucy Jack and Father Beelzebub. In 2025 the last stop was outside the Catherine Wheel at about 11.45am; in 2024 it was the almshouses. By custom the next performance falls on Saturday 26 December 2026, though the players had not announced it when we checked, so treat the date as to be confirmed. The play lapsed in the nineteenth century and was revived in the 1930s, though the sources disagree on the year and the reviver, as our piece on mummers' plays in the Cotswolds explains.

A morning here

Park on the street, start at the church and walk the High Street to the Market Place, reading the datestones as you go, with the almshouses halfway along. Have coffee at the tea room and lunch at the Catherine Wheel, which serves from noon Tuesday to Sunday. In the afternoon drive the 6 miles or so to Dyrham Park, where the park and garden open from 10am and the house from 11am in winter, and allow two to three hours there.

Dyrham Park and the walks

Dyrham Park, the National Trust's William and Mary house in a deer park, is the big sight within reach. William Blathwayt rebuilt it, beginning the west front in 1692, with William Talman's east front following about a decade later, and the house is listed Grade I. In late October 2026 the Trust opened the park and garden from 10am to 4pm and the house from 11am to 3pm, with last entry at 3pm until mid-February and longer hours in summer. An adult pays £25.30 with Gift Aid (£23 without) from 1 March 2026, and there is no need to book. Because it is a deer park, only assistance dogs are allowed anywhere on the site. The Cotswold Way follows Dyrham's park wall on its fourteenth section, Tormarton to Cold Ashton, 6.6 miles (10.6km), and climbs through Dyrham Woods. Our walk from Old Sodbury to its hill fort and church is the nearest of our own routes. The parish's own open spaces are Ringswell Common and the Weir Pool.

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Food and drink

The Catherine Wheel on the High Street is the pub with history: its front rooms and facade were built in 1680 onto a much older house, it was a coaching inn by about 1740, and it was the Star until the 1780s. It opens from 5pm on Monday and from noon the rest of the week, serves lunch Tuesday to Saturday and a Sunday roast until 7pm, with evening food Monday to Saturday, and has rooms. Dogs are welcome. The Pipley Bottom Boys play on the last Thursday of the month. The parish council counts two pubs and a tea room, and the village has a grocer, a newsagent and a post office. The other is the Lord Nelson, also on the High Street, which we have not tried, so check it is open.

When to come

Boxing Day is the day, and it is cold, so dress for standing about. The rest of the year Marshfield is a quiet place to walk a fine street and a base for Dyrham, Castle Combe, 6 miles east, and Bath. Spring and autumn suit Dyrham's park. Check the Trust's calendar for the house before you go. For the village itself there is no bad month and no busy one.