Wichenford Worcestershire Family history Guide
Wichenford is an Ancient Parish in the county of Worcestershire.
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1690
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1599
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Martley
- Holt
- Hallow
- Grimley
- Little Witley
- Broadwas
- Cotheridge
- Kenswick
- Worcester St John the Baptist, Bedwardine
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
WICHENFORD, a parish in Martley district, Worcestershire; 6 miles NW of Worcester r. station. Post town, Worcester. Acres, 2,669. Real property, £4,097. Pop., 366. Houses, 81. The manor belongs to F. Williams, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £420. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of W. The church was restored in 1863.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851
Wichenford, a parish in the lower division of the hund. of Oswaldslow, union of Martley, county of Worcester; 6 miles north-west by north of Worcester.
Living, a vicarage in the archd. and dio. of Worcester; rated at £9 10s.; gross income £393. Patrons, the dean and chapter of Worcester.
In 1833 there was 1 daily school in this parish. Charities, in 1830, £3 10s. 6d. per annum. Poor rates, in 1838, £159 17s. Acres 3,270. Houses 59. A. P. £3,117. Pop., in 1801, 357; in 1831, 355.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822
Wichenford – a parish in the hundred of Oswaldslow, lower division, 7 miles N.W. from Worcester, and 117 from London; containing 48 inhabited houses. It is a vicarage, Rev. J. Plumptre, D.D., incumbent; instituted 1790; in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. Population, 1801, 357 – 1811, 398 – 1821, 359.
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 Records
FamilySearch
Directories
Online Directories
Bentley’s Directory of Wichenford 1840 – Archive.org
Directory Transcriptions
Wichenford Worcestershire Littleburys Directory 1905
Distance – 6 miles NW of Worcester.
Population – In 1901, 323. Acreage, 2669.
Postal Information – Post and Telegraph Office, Castle Hill; Joseph Spilsbury. Sub-Postmaster. Letters and Parcels arrive by mail-cart from Worcester at 5. 30 a.m. and 3.45 p.m.; the delivery commences at 6 a.m.; despatched at 11.50 a.m. and Fpm. On week-days and Sundays. There is no delivery on Sundays, except to callers. Telegraph business is transacted from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. on week-days, and from 8 a.m. till 10 a.m. on Sundays. Martley is the nearest money order office. Post town, Worcester.
The Wall Letter-box in the School wall is cleared at 6.30 p.m. on week-days only.
Parish Church (St. Michael’s) – Rev. James Davenport, M.A. (Christ’s Coll., Cambridge), Vicar (instituted 1890); Thomas John Jones-Williams and Henry Perrott,
Churchwardens; Reuben Rowley, Parish Clerk.
Elementary School (boys, girls, and infants) – Mrs. Henry Perrott, Mistress.
Assistant Overseer – George Alfred Fidoe
Residents
Betteridge James, farmer, kedge’s farm
Brook T. J. & J. W., farmers, Lingens
Bryan Albert, farmer, Wichenford court
Bullock Miss M.A., Wichenford court
Davenport Mer. James, M.A. (vicar), The Vicarage
Evans Reuben, farmer, Greenways; res., Hylton road, Worcester
Farquharson A., Arundels
Fidoe George Alfred, farm bailiff to T. J. Jones-Williams, Cobhouse, and assistant overseer
Gill Richard, gardener, Coronation cottage
Hemus Humphrey, farmer, The Wood house
Hill George, farmer, Clarke’s ground
Hill John, farmer, Buryend town
Jackson Henry, frmr., Ridgend and Colketts
Johnson John, blacksmith, Coldbrook
Jones-Williams Thos. John, J.P., Laughern Hill house
Orgee William, cottage former, New house, King’s green
Perrott Henry, farmer, Buryend bush
Pugh Mrs., former, Little Buryend
Pugh Mark, farmer, Poplar road
Pullon A. J., Masons’ Arms Inn
Roberts John, blacksmith
Sheppy John, farmer, Rimmer’s farm
Smith David Harvey, farmer, Peg house
Smith Harvey, farmer, Little Ridgend; res., Worcester
Spilsbury Joseph, shopkeeper, carpenter, and sub-postmaster, Parts office, Castle hill
Wainwright Samuel, Woodbine cottage
Willis John, farm bailiff, Little Ridged
Windus William, farmer, Cockshott farm
Source: Littlebury’s Directory of Worcester & District. Tenth Edition. Printed and Published by Littlebury & Company, The Worcester Press, Worcester. 1905.
Wichenford Worcestershire Littleburys Directory 1879
Wichenford is a parish and village 6 ½ miles N.W. of Worcester and 2 E. of Martley, in the western division of the county, and hundred of Lower Oswaldslow; poor-law union, highway district, and polling district of Martley; petty sessional division and county court district of Worcester; annual rateable value, £3,180; area of parish, 2,669 acres; population in 1861, 366; in 1871, 391, with 83 inhabited houses and 88 families or separate occupiers.
Thomas John Jones-Williams, Esq. (the lord of the manor), the Earl of Dudley, Daniel Britten, Esq., Lieut.-Colonel Norbury, and John Bury, Esq., are the principal landowners. The soil is strong clay and marl; chief crops, wheat, barley, beans, oats, hops, and fruit.
Wichenford is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Worcester and rural deanery of Worcester West; living, a vicarage, value £422 tithe rent charge, with residence and 8 acres of glebe; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Worcester; vicar, Rev. Maurice Day, M.A., Exeter and University Colleges, Oxford, who was instituted in 1879.
The church of St. Lawrence has a chancel, nave, porch, western tower, and spire; was erected in 1262, and restored in 1863 at a cost of about £1,300. Memorial windows have been given by D. Britten, Esq., of Kenswick, and there are monuments of the Washbournes, and ancient family whose residence at Wichenford court, then one of the largest mansions in the county, with moat, drawbridge, &c., and still and object of great interest to antiquarians. The church was subordinate to St. Helen’s in Worcester, and at the settling of the dispute between the Bishop and the Convent of Worcester, was allotted to the monks as it lay on the west side of the Severn. In the year 1650, Wichenford was sold by the powers that then governed to Richard Turner and Thomas Davis, for £574 12s. 7 ½ d.; but at the Restoration it was again attached to the see [sic]. The parish register begins with the year 1690.
Here is a national school for boys and girls, erected by the late rector (Rev. H. Shuker) in 1848. It was enlarged in 1875 at a cost of £150. There are a few small charities belonging to the parish.
Kenswick was formerly an extra-parochial chapelry, but the ruined old chapel was taken down a few years ago, and under a recent Act of Parliament Kenswick has become a parish of itself, and is joined to Martley union. The place now consists of Kenswick House, the residence of Daniel Britten, Esq., and a farm called the Kedges. (See Kenswick, page 618.)
POSTAL REGULATIONS. – Letters are received through Worcester, which is the nearest money-order and telegraph office and post town.
Parish Church (St. Lawrence’s). – Rev. Maurice Day, M.A., Vicar; Messrs. John Hemus and Daniel R. C. Gill, Churchwardens; John Eaton, Parish Clerk.
National School (boys and girls). – Miss Amelia Allen, Mistress.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
Britten Daniel, Esq., J.P., Kenswick; and 7 Hanover terrace, Regent’s park, London, N.W.
Day Rev. Maurice, M.A. (vicar), The Vicarage
Jones-Williams Thomas John, Esq., Laugherne Hill house
AGRICULTURAL & COMMERCIAL.
Allen A., farmer, The Birchend
Allen Miss Amelia, schoolmistress
Box George, shoemaker
Bullock Philip, blacksmith
Cartridge Mark, farmer, Colketts farm
Chance Thomas, farmer, Peg house
Clark Edward, cot. Farmer, Buryend town
Clark Joseph, blacksmith, Coldbrook
Eaton John, farmer, Rimmer’s farm
Fidoe John, farmer, Little Cobhouse
Fox Thomas, farmer, Lingens
Gill Daniel R. C., farmer, Ridgend farm
Heach Henry, farmer and hop grower, The Kedges, Kenswick
Hemus Humphrey, farmer, Buryend bush
Hemus John, farmer, Woodhouse farm; also farmer in Grimley parish
Hicken Mrs. Helen, Mason’s Arms Inn
Hill George, farmer and hop grower, Wichenford court
Hill Thomas, wheelwright and carpenter
Hodges Jn., frm. Bailiff for D. Britten, Esq.
Moseley Thomas, farmer, Clarke’s grounds; and Laugherne House farm, Martley
Munn John, farmer and landowner, The Elms; res., The Elms, Grimley
Powick James, farmer, Woodend
Pugh John, farmer, Hucks farm
Pugh John, shopkeeper
Pugh William, farmer and tax collector, Ruggs farm
Smith Silvester Orlando, farmer, Voyce and King’s Green farms
Surman Thomas, farmer, Cockshott farm
Source: Littlebury, Littlebury’s Directory and Gazetteer of Worcester & District, Third Edition. Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1879.
Wichenford Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820
Wichenford, 5 miles from Worcester, containing 53 houses, and 375 inhabitants.
Allport William, tailor
Ambrose fames, farmer
Amphlett Wm. farmer
Badger Edward, farmer
Blissett James, farmer
Blissett William, vict.
Bury John, farmer
Clarke William, farmer
Dance Jane, farmer
Drinkwater Jos. farmer
Gittins John, farmer
Hodges Unett, farmer
Holden Joseph, former
Hill Robert, farmer
Insoll Thomas, farmer
Jones Shadrach, farmer
Langstone Sam. farmer
Lea Francis, farmer
Lilly John, farmer
Munn Edward, farmer
Munn William, farmer
Sprague Edward, farmer
Stephens Francis, farmer
Surman John, farmer
Williams Francis, esq.
Source: S Lewis Worcestershire General and Commercial Directory for 1820
Administration
- County: Worcestershire
- Civil Registration District: Martley
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Worcester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Worcester
- Rural Deanery: Worcester
- Poor Law Union: Martley
- Hundred: Oswaldslow
- Province: Canterbury