Broadway, Worcestershire

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Map sources for Broadway, Worcestershire at grid reference SP095375

Broadway is a small Cotswold village in Worcestershire, England. Often referred to as the 'Jewel of the Cotswolds', Broadway village lies beneath Fish Hill on the western Cotswold escarpment. The 'broad way' is the wide grass-fringed main street, centred around The Green, which is lined with red chestnut trees and honey-coloured Cotswold limestone buildings, many dating from the 16th century.

Originally a busy stagecoach stop on the route from Worcester to London, Broadway became home to artists and writers including Elgar, John Singer Sargent, J.M. Barrie, Vaughan Williams, William Morris and Mary Anderson. Broadway is thought to have been the model for Riseholme, the home of Lucia in the novels of E F Benson, before she moved to Tilling (Rye) in Sussex.

Today, Broadway is a centre for arts and antiques and serves as a natural base from which to explore the Cotswolds or see the horse-racing during the busy Cheltenham Gold Cup week. Tourism is important — the village is well-served with hotels, including the Lygon Arms, bed and breakfast lodges, old pubs including the Swan Pub, shops, art galleries, antique shops, restaurants and tea rooms.

Local attractions include the 55 foot high Broadway Tower on its hilltop site in the Broadway Country Park, Chipping Campden, Snowshill village, Snowshill Manor (owned by the National Trust), horse riding and, for the many ramblers, the Cotswold Way.

Broadway was once served by a railway line, a relative latecomer in British railway history, opened in the early 1900s by the Great Western Railway and running from Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham, part of a main line from Birmingham to the South West and South Wales. Broadway station along with almost all others on this section closed in 1960; through passenger services continued until 1968, and freight continued until 1976 when a derailment at Broadway damaged the line. It was decided not to bring the section back into use and by the early 1980s it had been dismantled. The stretch between Toddington and Cheltenham Racecourse has since been reconstructed and reopened as a heritage railway called the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. The line is now being extended northwards so that Broadway will become its northern terminus, though at present nothing remains of the original Broadway station.

Thus, although Broadway has a station site and a Station Road, it is no longer served by national rail services. The nearest stations are Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh, on the main line train service running between Hereford and London Paddington station and on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester.