Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire Family History Guide
Shelsley Walsh is an Ancient Parish in the county of Worcestershire.
Alternative names: Little Shelsley
Parish church: St Andrew
Parish registers begin: 1729
Nonconformists include:
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Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870
Shelsley-Walsh, or Little S., a parish in Martley district, Worcester; on the river Teme, opposite S.-Beauchamp. Post-town, S.-Beauchamp, under Worcester. Acres, 468. Real property, £936. Pop., 57. Houses, 11. The property is all in one estate. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £111. Patron, Earl Dudley. The church was recently in bad condition.
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
Shelsley-Walsh, a parish in the upper division of the hund. of Doddingtree, county of Worcester; 9 miles south-west of Stourport. The town stands on the south-west bank of the Teme.
Living, a discharged rectory in the archd. and dio. of Worcester; rated at £3 8s. 9d., returned at £67 3s.; gross income £90. Patron, in 1841, Lord Foley.
On an average of 7 years, to 1835, hops have annually been cultivated in this parish to the extent of 34¾, acres; average amount of hops charged, 14,058 lbs.; of duty paid, £117 3s. Acres 420. Houses 10. A. P. £966. Pop., in 1801, 67; in 1831, 45.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
SHELSLEY-WALSH (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Martley, Upper division of the hundred of Doddingtree, Hundred-House and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, about 10 miles (N. W.) from Worcester; containing 49 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the right bank of the river Teme, and comprises 490 acres; the soil is very rich, and the scenery interspersed with hanging woods.
The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king’s books at £3. 8. 9.; net income, £90; patron, Lord Ward. The church was originally Norman, of which style there are remains: some of the old oak carving is particularly fine.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822
Shelsley-Walsh – a parish adjoining the above Shelsley Kings, on the other side of the river Teme, in Doddingtree hundred, upper division; containing 11 inhabited houses. It is a rectory; Rev. Richard Hughes, incumbent; instituted 1816; patron, Lord Foley. Population, 1801, 67 – 1811, 61 – 1821, 57.
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
Shelsley Walsh Littleburys Worcester Directory 1905
Distances – 6 ½ miles N of Knightwick, 10 NW of Worcester, and 10 SW of Stourport.
Population to 1901, 74. Acreage, 488.
Postal Information – Post and money order office; Mrs. Vaughan; Sub-Postmistress. Letters through Worcester arrive at 6.0 a.m. and 4.45 p.m.; despatched 10.50 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. week days only. Clifton-on-Teme is the nearest telegraph office, two miles distant.
The children attend the school at Shelsley Beauchamp.
Parish Church (St. Andrew) – Rev. James Francis Hastings, M.A., Rector, Charles Henry M. Taylor, Churchwarden; Henry Beaven, Parish Clerk.
Residents
Taylor C. H. Montague, J.P., Court house
Vaughan Mrs., farm bailiff to C. H. Montague Taylor, and Post office.
Source: Littlebury’s Directory of Worcester & District. Tenth Edition. Printed and Published by Littlebury & Company, The Worcester Press, Worcester. 1905
Shelsley Walsh Littleburys Directory 1879
Shelsley Walsh (from the Walshes, a distinguished family who once flourished here), or Little Shelsley, is a village and parish adjoining Shelsley Beauchamp, but on the west bank of the Teme; in the western division of the county and hundred of Upper Doddingtree; petty sessional division and polling district of the Hundred House; union and highway district of Martley; county court district of Worcester; annual rateable value, £863; area of parish, 468 acres; population in 1861, 57; in 1871, 39, with 11 inhabited houses.
Two farmhouses and some cottages contain all the inhabitants. The Right Hon. The Earl of Dudley is lord of the manor and sole landowner. The whole of the parish is in the occupation of Montagu Charles H. Taylor, Esq. The soil is clay; subsoil, loam and gravel; chief crops, barley, wheat, hops, and fruit.
Shelsley Walsh is in the diocese of Hereford, archdeaconry of Ludlow, and rural deanery of East Burford; living a rectory, value £100. with 13 acres of glebe; patron, the Earl of Dudley; rector, Rev. Theodore Nevin’s Flintoff, M.A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1864, and is also chaplain and manager of Woodbury Hill reformatory, Shelsley Beauchamp.
The church of St. Andrew has a chancel, nave and tower, and is remarkable for Norman and Early English work; rood-beam and screen; the screen being returned into the nave so as to enclose a small chantry, there being but one other example of such an arrangement in England; an incised monumental slab and wooden alter tomb, dated 1596, made of heart of oak, and having on its rim the inscription “Sir John Walsh, Radnorshire, Lord Lieutenant and Member of Parliament, caused this to be restored.” There are also old encaustic tiles, a tile cross, &c.
The church was restored in 1859. The east window was presented by Rev. D. Melville, and a memorial window on the south side is the gift of Mr. Joseph Smith. The register begins with the year 1813.
The Court House, the residence of Montagu Charles H. Taylor, Esq. is a 17th-century timber structure, in which many antiques are to be seen. It was formerly surrounded by a moat. Sir Richard Walsh, who, as high sheriff of the county, took an active part in the apprehension of the Gunpowder-plot conspirators, resided here.
POSTAL REGULATIONS. – Letters are received through Worcester. Clifton-On-Teme is the nearest money-order office. Post town, Worcester.
Parish Church (St. Andrew’s). – Rev. Theodore N. Flintoff, M.A., Rector; Montagu Charles H. Taylor, Esq., Churchwarden; John Herdman, Parish Clerk.
RESIDENT.
Taylor Montagu Charles H., Esq., farmer and hop grower, Court house
Source: Littlebury, Littlebury’s Directory and Gazetteer of Worcester & District, Third Edition. Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1879
Shelsley Walsh Billings Directory 1855
Shelsley Walsh, or Little Shelsley, is pleasantly situated on the banks of the Teme. It contained in 1851 a population of 53 inhabitants, and, according to the Census Tables, only ten houses.
The view over the valley of the Teme, as the traveller ascends the hill from Stanford towards the Hundred House, is perhaps unequalled in the county as a specimen of inland rural scenery. The valley is narrow, but rich from cultivation, and fragrant and blooming.
The principal house in this parish is the Court-house, now in the occupation of Mr. Joseph Smith. Sire Richard Walsh, who, as High Sheriff of the county, took an active part in the apprehension of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, resided here. Many traces of the antiquity of the house remain. Some of the windows are curiously glazed and ornamented with the arms of those who have resided here. It was formerly surrounded by a moat, and had a drawbridge; but the late Mr. Smith filled up that part of the moat, and took away the bridge.
There is no school or public building in the parish, but Mrs. Smith has formed a Sunday School in her own house, and her kindness is so highly appreciated by the rising generation that her school is exceedingly well attended.
The Church, a small interesting specimen of a mediaeval church, containing nave and chancel, is situated in a small enclosure, not very closely studded with graves. It has a modest little substitute for a tower, with a perpendicular western window beneath. In the chancel is a large oak bier, dated 1710. There are also a variety of tiles, of scarce patterns, a remarkable incised slab, with a rude cross of two gradations, and a curious wooden altar-tomb, dated 1596, made of heart of oak, and having on its rim the inscription, “Sir John Walsh, Radnorshire, Lord Lieutenant, and Member of Parliament, caused this to be restored.”
The living is a Rectory, annexed to Shelsley Beauchamp, in the patronage of Lord Ward. Rev. Daniel Melville, M.A., Rector; Mr. Joseph Thomas, Clerk. Service – 3 p.m.; first Sunday in the month, 11 a.m.
DIRECTORY
Court Mr. Richard, Court House
Bray Robert, miller and farmer, Forge Mill
Smith Joseph, farmer, Court House
Source: Billings Directory of Worcestershire 1855
Shelsley Walsh Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820
Shelsley Walsh, a third Parish on the opposite side of the Teme, containing 32 houses, and 167 inhabitants.
Gardner Thomas, miller
Smith Edward, farmer
Source: S Lewis Worcestershire General and Commercial Directory for 1820
Administration
- County: Worcestershire
- Civil Registration District: Martley
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Hereford
- Rural Deanery: Burford
- Poor Law Union: Martley
- Hundred: Doddingtree
- Province: Canterbury