payable to the See of Worcester yearly at Tetbury. In Edward the Confessor's reign, the manor formed part of the estate of Brictric, Earl of Gloucester. King Edward IV camped here in 1471 before attacking the army of Margaret of Anjou at the Battle of Tewkesbury, which he won decisively. Church The Church of Saint John the Baptist is late Norman or Transitional, and is some 900 years old. It has two effigies of knights: one is late 14th century, carved in wood; and the other is dated to 1240, carved in stone, featuring a very large shield. These two are considered to have been lords of the local manor. The church is of late Norman period, and although it has been much enlarged and altered, much of the original work remains. In the nave there is an arcade of Normal columns, there are two Norman windows and the tower is also Norman. In the churchyard at Old Sodbury is a number of old bale-tombs; these were tombs for rich merchants. Some of the gravestones date back to the early 19th century. Just outside the churchyard on the hillside is a topograph (a large stone with an engraving), installed to commemorate the second millennium, that shows Old Sodbury in relation to its geographical surroundings. Other buildings There are two primary schools (Old Sodbury CofE Primary School, and the privately run Overndale School), two hotels, and two pubs, The Bell Hotel and The Dog Inn. The village has a petrol station, a football pitch and a playground, but no longer a post office since the round of closures in 2008. The village shop soldiered on in the same premises on the Badminton Road for another three years, but finally closed in 2011. The historic Cross Hands Hotel stands on the north-eastern corner of the A46 crossroads – heavy snow caused the Queen to take refuge in the Cross Hands in 1981, when she was being driven back to London and the roads were impassable. There is a farm shop (Cotswold Edge) opposite the hotel. There is a crenellated tower resembling a rook chess piece on the escarpment immediately above and to the east of the village, visible from the main road. It performs the function of a ventilation shaft (the first of six) for the Chipping Sodbury Tunnel on the main railway line from South Wales, via Bristol Parkway to London