The ruminations of much beloved charismatic crime-fighting priest, Father Brown have been captivating audiences since 1910 in the first series of books by GK Chesterton. Since then, this remarkably perceptive character has been portrayed by Alec Guinness in a feature length movie, ‘Father Brown The Detective’ in 1954 and brought to life in a TV series from 2013 which is still going strong to this day (yes, there is a 12th season coming to BritBox early in 2025)!
Father Brown film locations
In the early stories, Father Brown is said to preside as the Roman Catholic priest of a fictitious village called Cobhole in Essex, on the east coast of England, bordering Greater London, but then relocates to base himself in London whilst he travels abroad.
Later on, in the TV series, Father Brown is set in the Cotswolds, so it is only fitting that it should be filmed in our beautiful towns too.
Blockley, a Saxon village in Gloucestershire appears as Kembleford, with the Norman built church of St Peter and St Paul (c1180) becoming Father Brown’s St Mary Roman Catholic Church. Father Brown’s presbytery is set within the Church’s vicarage.
Are you familiar with Father Brown’s study and kitchen, where many a case is discussed over tea and a slice of cake? Would you believe those scenes are actually set within the former Moreton-in-Marsh hospital? Kembleford’s police station is also set here.
Do you remember the model village episode, ‘The Winds of Change’ in the 10th series? That was set in our very own model village of Bourton-on-the-Water, and in ‘The Tower of Lost Souls’ in series 8, you’re bound to recognise Broadway Tower!
Other Cotswolds locations in the Father Brown series include Guiting Power (home of BBC’s Countryfile presenter, Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park), Upper Slaughter (where you’ll find one of our recommended hotels, Lords of The Manor), Broughton Castle near Banbury, and of course Winchcombe Railway Station along the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway line.
Visiting Father Brown locations
We would be delighted to take you on a tailormade tour of the Father Brown locations in the Cotswolds. Whilst many of the locations feature in our North Cotswold Day Tour, we can finely tune this experience to make it all about Father Brown. We’ll even brush up on our episodes to keep the conversation going!
If you’d like to experience Father Brown in real life, please do get in touch so we can talk about what you’d like to see, and where you’d like to stay if choosing a two-day break – of course, we do recommend Lords of The Manor for this particular holiday.
Our email address is at the top of the page, or if you’d prefer you can now schedule a call with the Rosehill Team.
