Offenham Worcestershire Family History Guide
Offenham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Worcestershire.
Parish church:
Parish registers begin: 1538
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Evesham
- North and Middle Littleton
- Badsey
- Bretforton
- South Littleton
- Norton and Lenchwick
- Harvington
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
OFFENHAM, a village and a parish in Evesham district, Worcester. The village stands on the river Avon, 1¼ mile S of the boundary with Warwick, and 2 NNE of Evesham r. station: took its name from King Offa, who had a house at it; and is a very retired place, untraversed by any carriage-road.
The parish comprises 1,215 acres. Post-town, Evesham. Real property, £3,380; of which £12 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 400; in 1861, 461. Houses, 95. The increase of pop. arose from the temporary presence of workmen employed in rebuilding the church. The property is much sub-divided. The manor belonged anciently to the abbots of Evesham; and fragments and extensive foundations of a mansion of the abbots were discovered, a few years ago, in diggings near the present manor farm-house.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £130. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church was rebuilt in 1861, at a cost of about £1,800; is in the early decorated English style; comprises nave, N aisle, and chancel, with a vestry; and retains the tower of the previous edifice, of late perpendicular date and embattled. There are an endowed school with £12 a year, and charities £7.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822
Offenham – a parish in the hundred of Blakenhurst, upper division, 2 miles N.N.E. from Evesham, and 99 from London; containing 81 inhabited houses. It is pleasantly situated on the river Avon, over which was formerly a bridge in a line with the Worcester road, but was destroyed for the purpose of cutting off the retreat of the Earl of Leicester, at the battle of Evesham, in the year 1285. It is a curacy, united with North Littleton. Population, 1801, 264 – 1811, 298 – 1821, 343.
Source: Worcestershire Delineated: Being a Topographical Description of Each Parish, Chapelry, Hamlet, &c. In the County; with the distances and bearings from their respective market towns, &c. By C. and J. Greenwood. Printed by T. Bensley, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, 1822.
Parish Registers
Marriages at Offenham 1543 to 1812
Worcestershire Parish Registers. Marriages. Edited by W. P. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L., and W. F. Carter, B.A.
Vol I. Issued to the Subscribers by Phillimore & Co., 124, Chancery Lane, London. 1900.
Author: Phillimore, W. P. W. (William Phillimore Watts), 1853-1913, ed; Carter, W. F. (William Fowler), b. 1856 joint ed.
Note. – The earliest register is of paper (water-mark a flagon) bound in a cover of flexible parchment. The leaves number 76, and measure 15 by 11 inches. They are in very bad condition, and many of them loose. The heading runs :-
“Hereafter followe the names of suche p’sonnes that have bene christened within the parishe of Offenham since the ixth day of Novembre for the xxxth yere of the reigns of our Soveraigne Lord King Henrye the VIIIth, at which tyme his graces iniunctions were directed unto us. A’o D’m. 1538.”
The parchment copy of the above also exists, and consists of 59 leaves, measuring 15 by 6 inches. The contents include all entries between 1538-1720.
The third Volume is like the first, of paper, and contains 46 leaves, which measure 15 by 11 inches. The contents include the Burials and Baptisms, 1724-1812, and Marriages to 1753.
The fourth Volume contains Marriages only from 1754-1777, and the fifth Volume the remaining Marriages to 1812.
These extracts were made with the consent of the Vicar, the Rev. C. W. A. Preston, and are now printed under the supervision of the transcriber, the Rev. J. H. Bloom, after collation with the originals.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Worcestershire Historical Directories
Directory Transcriptions
Offenham Billings Directory 1855
Offenham is a small, quiet, and retired parish, about 2 miles N.E.N. from Evesham. It contained in 1851 a population of 400 inhabitants.
Offenham took its name from the Saxon King Offa, who had a palace here; it afterwards became the residence of the Abbots of Evesham, and it is said that the present manor-farm stands upon the site of the ancient mansion. There is a broad fosse in this neighbourhood, called “The Deer’s Leap,” which is supposed to be a portion of the boundary of the deer park.
The Church is an old building, in the early English style of architecture, with square turreted tower, and pinnacles at each corner; the tower contains a peal of five bells. Rev. Robert Lawson, Perpetual Curate; Mr. John Porter, Clerk. Service – 10 30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
DIRECTORY
Gibbs Mrs. Mary
Lawson Rev. Robert, Perpetual Curate
Sheaf Mr. William
Thorpe Mr. Jonathan
Gibbs John, farmer
Hopkins John, Court Farm
Moore Henry, blacksmith
Sheaf Thomas, farmer
Smith Mrs., miller
Stephens William, shopkeeper
Tomes Thomas Bennett, farmer, Marvill
Source: Billings Directory of Worcestershire 1855
Offenham Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820
Brookes Francis, farmer
Danter W. horse dealer
Digby Rev. William
Gibbs John, farmer
Gibbs John, jun. farmer
Harris Wm. maltster
Harris Michael, baker
Jeffreys, William, farmer
Knight John carpenter
Knight Robert, victualler
Lidsey Richard, farmer
Phillips William, farmer
Preedy W.F. esq.
Rock Phillip, farmer
Sheaf Thomas, farmer
Source: S Lewis Worcestershire General and Commercial Directory for 1820.
Administration
- County: Worcestershire
- Civil Registration District: Evesham
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Worcester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Worcester
- Rural Deanery: Evesham
- Poor Law Union: Evesham
- Hundred: Blackenhurst
- Province: Canterbury