Overbury, Worcestershire

Small but perfectly formed

Bus shelters. Most of us hardly notice them, and the people who need them are just as well protected from the elements by today’s glass and steel advertising boxes as by something more traditional. And yet these modest buildings can be as important an ingredient in the character of a place as a cottage or a pub.

I was made strikingly aware of this once when I went to a talk by Sue Clifford, co-author of the essential book England in Particular. She flashed up a series of slides of bus shelters from different parts of the country – cob and thatch from Devon, limestone from the Cotswolds, timber and shingles from the Chilterns, or whatever, to show how they could be both contributors to and barometers of local character. It was as clear, as swift, and as striking a lesson in the notion of local distinctiveness as one could have.

I’m reminded of all this when I pass through the village of Overbury, beneath Bredon Hill in south Worcestershire. Here the estate was owned by the banking Martin family in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and they employed both Richard Norman Shaw and Ernest Newton to make improvements. A school, village hall, several cottages, and many additions to other houses, were the result.

And this little gem. It’s said that Overbury’s bus shelter began life as a roadside fountain, designed by Newton in the 1870s before later being converted when the omnibus arrived to take villagers to Evesham or Tewkesbury. Local stone, stylish carpentry, and that lovely moss-covered half-hipped roof make this little building special. The seating arrangements and board for notices must be appreciated by users too. Overall, it’s a class act.