Evesham Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822

Evesham – a borough and market town in the hundred of Blakenhurst, lower division, 15 miles S.E. from Worcester, and 96 from London; containing 543 inhabited houses. It comprises 2 parishes, All Saints and St. Lawrence, and is governed by a mayor, recorder, 7 aldermen, 12 common-councilmen, and 24 assistants. The mayor and 4 of the aldermen are justices of the peace, and have the privilege to hold a session of Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol-delivery; likewise the power to punish all crimes committed within their liberty, except high treason. This town is pleasantly situated on the river Avon, over which it has a stone bridge of 7 arches. It had formerly 2 churches, All Saints and St. Lawrence; the latter has fallen into decay, but was formerly an edifice of extreme elegance, of which the eastern window is an excellent specimen. Evesham is remarkable as having had a stately monastery, whose abbot sat in Parliament as a spiritual lord, and at one time possessed 22 towns, maintained 75 religious persons, and 65 servants. At the dissolution, its revenues amounted to £1200 sterling. The only fragment of the abbey now remaining, is an elliptical arch or gateway, 17 feet high. It is somewhat curious, that although each of the churches had towers, the bells hang in a magnificent gothic tower about 100 feet high, which is a great embellishment to the town, and will probably resist the assaults of time for many centuries.

A great proportion of the population of Evesham is employed in cultivating the extensive gardens that surround the town, the produce of which supply the markets of most of the large towns within 50 or 60 miles of the place. Oil-cake is manufactured here for the fattening of cattle, in considerable quantities. Mr. Foster has a mill upon a very curious principle, used for this purpose.

One of the most remarkable battles in the English annals was fought here on the 4th of Aug. 1265, between the Earl of Leicester and Prince Edward, in which the Earl and most of his adherents were slain. The Earl had previously taken the King prisoner, and had placed him in the van of his army, in armour, with similar heraldic bearings to his own, but soon after the attack had commenced, he was recognised by some of his own troops, on which the affectionate Edward rushed through the thickest of the battle, to the assistance of his parent thus disguised and endangered, and having provided for his safety, he returned to another part of the field, and continued the operations he had commenced with such determined bravery, as soon terminated in the total annihilation of his enemies.

At Great Hampton, a short distance from the town, a mineral Spa has lately been discovered; the waters have been analyzed by Mr. Hulme, and are proved equal, if not superior to those at Cheltenham. A committee of the principal inhabitants has been formed for the purpose pf erecting a Pump Room and suitable buildings upon the spot. Evesham has a market on Mondays, and 4 fairs, viz. 2nd Feb., Monday after Easter, Whit Monday, and Sept. 21. The living of All Saints is a vicarage united with St. Lawrence, in the patronage of the Crown; Rev. H. P. Cooper, incumbent; instituted 1808. Population, 1801, 2165 – 1811, 2353 – 1821, 2634.
Evesham Lodge, one mile to the North of the above town, the residence of Thomas Blaney, Esq.

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.