Absolute Touring

Upper Slaughter

Lower Slaughter

• 'Twins' a mile apart, with the River Eye running through and between them
• The grim-sounding name actually comes from the Anglo-Saxon word slohtre, meaning muddy place
• Clusters of honey-coloured Cotswold stone buildings blend into the rolling Gloucestershire countryside
• Lower Slaughter's 19th-century corn mill operated until the 1960s, and retains its water wheel; it has practically the only brickwork to be seen in the village, and is now a shop and cafe
• No houses have been built in Upper Slaughter since 1904 – though some cottages in the square were remodelled by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1906
• Lower Slaughter, as the centre of a 'hundred' – an ancient unit of local government – was the seat of a court which sat every three weeks from the Middle Ages to the 17th century. The village prison was in use until 1630
• The 'Lords of the Manor Hotel' was formerly the home of Francis Witts, Upper Slaughter's rector from 1808 to 1854

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Approx 1 hour west of Oxford