Besford is a village, and was formerly a chapelry in the parish of St. Andrew, Pershore, but in 1865 it was united with Defford as one ecclesiastical district.
Parish church: St. Peter
Parish registers begin: FamilySearch states: 1539; Littlebury’s Directory 1879 states: 1750.
Besford church is unique in this county for being a timber-framed structure, probably erected during the Perpendicular period, as the western window presents a curious specimen of the style, its mullions and tracery being of wood.
Besford, a chapelry in St. Andrew-Pershore parish, Worcester; on the river Avon and on the Birmingham and Gloucester railway, 2 miles WSW of Pershore. Post Town, Pershore. Acres, 1,300. Real property, £2,025. Pop., 164. Houses, 34. Besford Court here is the seat of Sir T. G. S. Sebright, Bart. The living is a p. curacy, annexed to the vicarage of St. Andrew-Pershore, in the diocese of Worcester. The church is old, and has a tower.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Besford, a parochial chapelry in the upper division of the hund, and union of Pershore, county of Worcester; 2½ miles west by south of Pershore, near the Avon, and on the line of the Birmingham and Gloucester railway. Living, a curacy subordinate to the vicarage of St Andrew’s, Pershore. There is a daily school here. Pop., in 1801, 126; in 1831,146. Houses 31. Acres 1,300. A.P. £1,991. Poor rates, in 1837, £76.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
Besford, 2½ m. W. Pershore. P. 179 Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
Besford – a hamlet and chapelry in the parish and hundred of Pershore; 2 miles W.S.W from Pershore, and 104 from London; containing 29 inhabited houses. Population, 1801, 126 – 1811, 127 – 1821, 154.
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.