Claines Worcestershire Littlebury’s Directory 1879

Claines, with Fearnall Heath, Bevere, Northwick, Astwood, Tolladine, &c.

Claines is a village about 2 ½ miles, N. of Worcester, but the parish is very extensive, its southern portion including the northern suburbs of the city, with the district churches of St. George and St. Stephen at Barbourne, the newly-formed Tything district church (St. Mary Magdalene’s) and the chapel of St. Oswald’s hospital. It is in the western division of the county, and is a polling place for that division; is in the Lower Oswaldslow hundred, Droitwich union, Worcester county court district and petty sessional division. The area of the entire parish is 4,813 acres; annual rateable value of the county part, £25,402, and the city part, £17, 828. The population in 1861 was 4,915; in 1871, 7,485; inhabited houses, 1,636; families or separate occupiers, 1,783. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor, and besides them Henry Walker, Esq., Thomas Gale Curtler, Esq., Henry Allsopp, Esq., M.P., Alfred C. Hooper, Esq., Josiah Stallard, Esq., Robert Berkeley, Esq., Thomas Barneby, Esq., and the Executors of the late Rev. W. E. Wall, are principal landowners. The land is fertile and well wooded; chief crops, wheat, barley, beans, and roots. There is a large nursery in the parish, belonging to Mr. W. B. Rowe. It has been proposed to improve the drainage and water-supply of this parish. Claines was formerly a chapelry to St. Helen’s, Worcester, being divided into several tythings, including the ancient manor of Northwick, but in 1218 it became a separate parish. It is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Worcester and rural deanery of East Worcester; living, a vicarage value £340, including residence; patron, the Bishop of Worcester; vicar, Rev. William John Smallwood, M.A., Hertford College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1870. The church of St. John the Baptist is chiefly Perpendicular or 15th-century work; it has chancel, nave, aisles, porch, and tower with five bells. The registers say the great bell “was cast in ye Church House, A.D. 1589, Novr. 7th.” There are many ancient monuments; also several modern marble tablets to the Wakeman family. The east window is partly of stained glass, bearing the royal and Episcopal arms. The organ was presented by the late Sir H. Wakeman, and is in the gallery at the west end. The earliest register is dated 1538. The charities include various small sums to be distributed to the poor and to apprentice poor children. The national school was erected by subscription and societies’ grants, &c. The Worcester cemetery is situate at Astwood in this parish. Fearnall Heath, Fernhill, or Vernal Heath, 1 mile N.E. and 3 from Worcester, is a hamlet with a railway station on the Great Western railway. The kennels of the Worcestershire Hunt are situate near the railway station. There are several handsome villa residences in this pleasant village. At Morton house, the residence of Thomas Barneby, Esq., F.R.A.S., is an observatory, at which many interesting celestial observations are made. The island of Bevere is in this parish, and is remarkable as having afforded refuge to the inhabitants of Worcester, first in 1041, from the fury of Hardicanute, on account of their refusing to pay the Danegelt, and again in 1637, from a pestilence then raging in the city. Northwick, Tolladine, and Astwood are hamlets. Tapenhall is near Fearnall Heath railway station. Hawford is a hamlet near the junction of the river Salwarpe and the Droitwich canal with the Severn. Whistones a tything, and Barbourne a hamlet, form the part of the city of Worcester, with which the names are given. The principal residences in the parish of Claines are – Perdiswell Hall, a handsome mansion with an extensive park, until recently the property of Sir Offley Wakeman, Bart., but now the seat of Henry Walker, Esq.; Bevere House (Thomas Gale Curtler, Esq., J.P., D.L.); The Blanquettes (Josiah Stallard, Esq., D.L.); Hawford House (Captain Charles Castle); Hawford Lodge (Frederick Ames, Esq., J.P., M.F.H.); The Grange (Alfred C. Hooper, Esq.); Oakfield (at present void); Severn Grange (E. W. Whinfield, Esq.); and Bevere bank (Major Heyworth).

POSTAL REGULATIONS. – Post and telegraph office, Fearnall heath; – , Sub-Postmaster. – Letters arrive by messenger form Worcester at 7.25 a.m.; despatched at 5.10 p.m. on week-days, and at 11.10 a.m. on Sundays. Postal telegrams may be sent from this office, and money orders are granted and paid, and post-office savings-bank business transacted. The letter-box at the entrance to the churchyard (parish church) is cleared at 4.10 p.m. on week-days and 11 a.m. on Sundays. Post town, Worcester.
Parish Church (St. John-the-Baptist). – Rev. Wm. John Smallwood, M.A., vicar; C. Castle and A. C. Hooper, Esqs., Churchwardens; Mr. Charles North, Organist; Moses P. Gregory, Parish Clerk; John Evans, Sexton.

National School (boys and girls). – Mr. Walter Kibblewhite, Master; Mrs. Harriet Kibblewhite, Mistress.

Congregational Chapel (in connection with Angel-street chapel, Worcester). – Ministers various.

Assistant Overseer and Collector of Income Tax for the Parish of Claines. – Mr. Charles William Taylor, St. George’s square, Worcester.

Registrar of Births and Deaths and Relieving Officer for the Claines District of

Droitwich Union. – Mr. John Watton, North Barbourne.

Fearnall Heath Cricket Club. – Mr. John Daniels, Secretary. (The club is managed by a committee of seven members.)

Fearnall Heath Railway Station (Great Western Railway). – Charles Bennett, Station Master.

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.

Abell George Pearce, Esq., Northwick villa
Ames Frederick, Esq., J.P. (master of the Worcestershire hunt), Hawford lodge
Bailey Mr. John, Stephenson cottage, Fearnall heath
Barker David W., Esq., Mayfield house
Barneby Thomas, Esq., F.R.A.S., Morton house, Fearnall heath
Baylis Richard, Esq., Dilmore lodge, Fearnall heath
Bayliss Wm. Henry, Esq., Mount Elbury
Berkeley Major H. W., Lyppard grange
Bird George Adam, Esq., Glenthorn
Brook Mrs. S., Keephill cot., Fearnall hth
Brook Mr. William, Hill cottage, Bevere
Castle Captain Charles, Hawford house
Chamberlain Mr., Church house
Cook Mr. Jas. C., Dilmore cot., Fearnall hth.
Copple Mrs., Fearnall heath
Crump The Misses, Little Perdiswell
Curtler Thomas Gale, Esq., J.P., D.L., Bevere house
Curtler Rev. Thomas Gale, M.A. (patron and vicar of St. Stephen’s, Barbourne, and rural dean of East Worcester), Bevere Knoll
Dixon Thomas, Esq., Elbury house
Dobbs Mr. William, Fearnall heath
Eginton Miss E. Audley, Perdiswell cot.
Heyworth Major, Bevere bank
Holl Dr. Harvey Buchanan, F.G.S., Little Perdiswell
Hooper Alfred C., Esq., The Grange
Hughes Wm. P., Esq., Fearnall Heath ho.
Hughes William Samuel Price, Esq., Northwick hall
Jolley Mrs., Tapenhall cot., Fearnall hth.
King Mr. Thomas C., Firland lodge, Fearnall heath
Lavie Major Ernest, J.P., Bevere
Lilley Miss Jane, Fearnall heath
Mence Miss, Fearnall heath
Page Mr. Joseph, Fearnall heath
Penn James, Esq., Common hill
Rich Styles, Esq., Cedars, Fearnall hth.
Rowe Mr. Alfred, Fearnall heath
Smallwood Rev. William John, M.A. (vicar of Claines), The Vicarage
Smith Carington Richard, Esq., J.P. (for city of Worcester), Barbourne house
Stallard Josiah, Esq. D.L., The Blanquettes
Walker Henry, Esq., Perdiswell hall
Whinfield Edward Wray, Esq., Severn Grange, Northwick
Wilson John Pardoe, Esq., Bevere firs

AGRICULTURAL & COMMERCIAL.

Adams Francis & Thos., frms., Ladywood
Atkins William, boot and shoe maker, Northwick
Barker David Wilson, brick manufacturer, Worcester patent brick works
Barnes David, machinist, Fearnall heath
Beard Stephen, fruiterer, &c.
Beedom James & Henry, millers, Porter’s mill; and 29 Tything, Worcester
Belwood Henry, coal merchant, Hawford wharf, and miller, Hawford mill
Bennett Charles, station master, Fearnall Heath railway station
Bill Henry, miller, Mildenham mill
Boaz George, miller, Gregory’s mill
Brook Wm., farmer, Hill cottage, Bevere
Butler James, surveyor, Bevere green
Calder Alfred, farmer, Upper Astwood
Carruthers Thos., New Inn, Ombersley rd.
Chambers William, farmer, Astwood, and at Spring Bank farm
Cole George, carpenter, Fearnall heath
Colley Edward, fruit dealer, Fearnall hth.
Collins James, Raven Inn, Red hill
Coombs Mrs. S., laundress, Bilford lane
Cox Miss J., shopkeeper, Fearnall hth.
Davey Joseph, master of Hindlip national school, Fearnall heath
Davies John, wheelwright, Fearnall hth.
Dawson Tom, huntsman, Fearnall heath
Day William, farmer, Little Tolladine (and in Warndon parish)
Denovan James, farmer, Holy Claines farm
Ely John, boot maker, Fearnall heath
Emuss John, butcher, Fearnall heath
Evans Ambrose, shoemkr., Fearnall heath
Evans Arth., bricklayer, Churchyard cot.
Evans George, baker, Fearnall heath
Evans Frank, Mug House, near Church
Evans J., parish sexton, Churchyard cot.
Evans Wm., shopkeeper, Fearnall heath
Haines Thomas, rlwy. Clerk, Fearnall hth.
Harris Wm., mkt. gardener, Corn meadow
Hartwright James Ford, farmer, Linacres
Hayler C., farmer and fruiterer, Lower Town farm
Herbert Charles, farmer, Tapenhall farm
Higgins John, farmer, Great Tolladine
Hughes Edwin, poulterer, Dilmore lane
Hughes Jos., Virgin Tavern, Tolladine
Jackson John R. G., farmer, Corn Meadow Green farm, and Green farm, Bevere
Jackson Rd. T., farmer, Upper Tapenhall
Jelley Mary A., shopkeeper, Fearnall hth.
Jones Mrs. E., laundress, Fearnall hth.
Jones Heming, mkt. gardener, Northwick
Key Erasmus, bull Inn, Fearnall heath
Kibblewhite Walter, master of Claines national school, School house
Knott Charles, shopkeeper, Northwick
Layland Arthur, practical tailor, ladies’ riding habit and jacket maker, &c., Fearnall heath (see Worcester advts. Page 94)
Martin John, poultry dealer, Church cot.
Mayhouse Thos. C., farmer, Tapenhall
Miles Mrs. Elizth., farmer, Astwood fm.
Mills Jn., builder, Elm cot., Fearnall hth.
Moss George, farmer, Brick House farm
Munslow Jas., coml.. clerk, Fearnall hth.
Munslow Miss Elizabeth, Half-Way House, Fearnall heath
North Charles, organist of Claines church and pianoforte tuner (attends as pianist at evening parties, balls, &c.), Laburnam villa, Fearnall heath
Pollard George, farmer, Brickfields
Powell Wm., coal agent, Fearnall heath
Preece Charles, butler for Henry Allsopp, Esq., M.P., The Laurels, Fearnall heath
Read George, head gardener for Frederick Ames, Esq., J.P., Hawford
Robinson Joseph, farm bailiff for Richard Price Hill, Esq., Brickfields farm
Rowe William Broad, nurseryman, seedsman, and florist, Barbourne nurseries (see advt. opposite “Nurserymen” in “Worcester Classified Directory)
Sansome Isaac John, farmer, Oak farm, Ombersley road
Smith Alfred, farer and hay dealer, Moat farm, Astwood
Smith Henry, builder, bricklayer, &c., Fearnall heath
Smith Wm., shopkeeper, Fearnall heath
Smith Wm., farm bailiff, Northwick
South Wales and Cannock Chase Coal and Coke Co., Lim., depot at Fearnall hth. Station; William Powell, Agent
Tandy Edward, White Hart, Fearnall hth.
Taylor Mrs. laundress, Corn Meadow grn.
Taylor Daniel, farmer, Danes green
Taylor James, farmer, Northwick
Thomas, Mary A., laundress, Fearnall hth.
Tolley Elijah, carpenter, Fearnall heath
Tupper Mr., railway clerk, Bevere green
Turner Ephraim, farmer, Daniel’s farm
Wall William, farmer, Ladywood (and in Martin Hussingtree parish)
Warner William, miller, Hawford mill
Webb Frederick Pace, brick manufacturer, Fearnall heath; and at 86 High street, Evesham
White Benjn., farmer, Portfield farm
White Henry, blacksmith, Fearnall hth.
Williams Mrs., blacksmith, Blackpool gr.
Wood John Tracey, farmer and landowner, Tutnall hall
Woodward Edward, beer retailer (Live and Let Live), Fearnall heath
Woodyatt Charles, farmer, Spellis farm
Wyatt William, coachman, Fearnall hth.
Footnote: The principal portion of the parish of Claines is comprised within the limits of the City of Worcester, under which heading it will be found.

Source: Littlebury, Littlebury’s Directory and Gazetteer of Worcester & District, Third Edition. Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1879.