Dormston Worcestershire Family History Guide
Dormston is an Ancient Parish in the county of Worcestershire.
Alternative names: Dormstone
Parish Church: St. Nicholas
Burials from this parish are at Kington Worcestershire
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales 1870
Dormston, a parish in Pershore Registration District, Worcester; 5 ½ miles NE by E of Spetchley r. station, and 7 ½ SE of Droitwich. Post-town, Inkberrow, under Bromsgrove. Acres, 830. Real property, £844. Pop., 97. Houses, 21. The property is divided among a few. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £53. Patron, W. Laslett, Esq. The church is plain but good, and has a tower.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
Dormston, a parish, in the union, and Upper division of the hundred, of Pershore, locally in the Middle division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 7 miles (W. by N.) from Alcester; containing 115 inhabitants. It comprises 765 acres: the soil is chiefly a stiff blue and yellow clay, of inferior quality, with some portions of greater fertility; the surface is interspersed with hills. The living is a perpetual curacy exonerated; net income, £53; patron, Thomas Bowater Vernon, Esq. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1790. The church is an ancient stone edifice, capable of seating 60 persons.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822
Dormston – a chapelry to the parish of Kington, hundred of Pershore, upper division, 7 miles E.S.E. from Droitwich, and 112 from London; containing 21 inhabited houses. Population 1801, 85 – 1811, 87 – 1821, 113.
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.
History
The history of Dormston from Wikipedia
Dormston’s toponym has evolved from Deormodesealdtune in the 10th century via Dormestun in the 11th Century and Dormyston in the 15th century before reaching its present form.
Dormston existed in the 10th century, when King Edgar confirmed a grant of property including five manses at Dormston to Pershore Abbey of St.Mary. This was then given, with part of the manor of Pershore, to Westminster Abbey by Edward the Confessor, and Dormston was included in 1086 among the lands of St. Peter of Westminster. William Fitz Corbucion, whose principal seat was at Studley in Warwickshire, is said by Dugdale to have been succeeded by a Robert, who had been followed before 1166 by Peter Corbucion of Studley, who was then holding a knight’s fee in Worcestershire (evidently Dormston) of the Abbot of Westminster. By 1320 the fee of Dormston had by that date become annexed to the manor of nearby Inkberrow until 1633.
The manor subsequently changed hands several times. In 1388 the feudal superiority was in the hands of John Russell of Strensham. In 1582 the tenant in chief was Sir John Russell of Strensham, who, for a time, was married to Elizabeth Sheldon, first cousin to William Savage of Elmley Castle (d.1616). (The Sheldons had also acquired the monastery lands at Studley). It appears to have been his son, another John Russell, who received a licence (presumably for the Savages) to crenellate his mansion-house at Dormston. This superiority appears to have followed the descent of Strensham House until 1659, and it is possible that it still remained in the possession of the Russells and was sold after the death of the last male representative of the family, Sir Francis Russell, in 1705. What is clear is that Dormston was no longer a residential seat of the Russells. By 1603 Dormston Manor was held in feu by Thomas Savage (d.1603) of Norbury Manor at Inkberrow, who had settled it upon John Savage of Dormston for whom he was guardian(d. Jan 1616 and buried in St.Peter’s Church, Inkberrow). The principal parts of the manorial demense were Courts Close and Bag End farm.[6] Russell himself was already related to the Savages as his mother, Margaret Lygon, was a first cousin to Francis Savage of Elmley Castle (d.1558), from whom the Inkberrow Savages descend. Dormston remained with this family until Robert Savage (1672-1749), who was married to Dorothy (d.1715), daughter of John Stanford of Salford Hall in Abbots Salford (d.1712). In 1701 he was one of local commissioners appointed in Worcestershire for collecting aid to meet the expenses of Her Majesty’s navy guards and garrisons, and was again a local commissioner for the collection of a land tax in both 1710 and 1713. In 1730 Robert Savage was being sued in connection with the proposed sale of lands he held in Dormston, Kington & Inkberrow, and by indenture dated 1733 he sold the Bag End farm at Dormston which property eventually came by conveyance to Jane Suffield, aunt to the celebrated author J. R. R. Tolkien. In 1733 he was still described as Robert Savage ‘The Elder’, gentleman, of Dormston, implying he was still resident there. The following year his daughter Penelope was married in Worcester Cathedral, appropriate for gentry, to Giles Turberville, one of H.M. Excise Officers. Robert has signed the Marriage Licence and the Bondsman for this Marriage Bond, William Bristo, also came from Dormston. Robert Savage appears to be the last of this family seated at Dormston and he died at Alcester. He is interred at Inkberrow where there is a Savage chapel in St. Peter’s Church. The 1634 Visitation gives the Arms of this family.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
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Directories
Dormston Worcestershire Littleburys Directory 1879
Dormstone is a small parish 10 ½ miles E. of Worcester, and 7 ½ W. of Alcester; is in the eastern division of the county, and hundred of Upper Pershore; union, petty sessional division, and county court district of Pershore; polling district of Inkberrow; acreage, 770; annual rateable value, £734. The population in 1861 was 97; in 1871, 124, with 23 inhabited houses. William Laslett, Esq., of Abberton hall, is the principal landowner. The soil is a stiff clay; subsoil, clay and stone; chief crops, wheat, beans, and oats. The living is a vicarage in the diocese and archdeaconry of Worcester and rural deanery of Feckenham; value, with Kington rectory, £120 yearly; patron, William Laslett, Esq.; vicar, Rev. William Blake Atkinson, who was instituted in March 1879. The church is a plain stone building, with nave, chancel, and tower containing three bells. Bag-end, and a gabled and moated house, are notabilia here.
POSTAL REGULATIONS. – Letters are received through Worcester. As there is no rural messenger for this parish, letters are left at Kington till called for. Feckenham is the nearest money-order and telegraph office. Post town, Worcester.
Parish Church. – Rev. William Blake Atkinson, Vicar; Messrs. William Sherwood and
Edward Pugh, Churchwardens; Jph. Glover, Parish Clerk.
AGRICULTURAL & COMMERCIAL.
Edgcombe James, farmer, Coneybury farm
Gardner Joseph, farmer
Glover Joseph, parish clerk
Gower Edward, farmer
Green Thomas, farmer, Bag-end farm
Halford William, farmer, Quarry pits; and in Kington parish
Jones Alexander, cooper
Pugh Edward, farmer, Moat farm
Sherwood William, farmer, Hill farm
Source: Littlebury, Littlebury’s Directory and Gazetteer of Worcester & District, Third Edition. Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1879.
Dormston Worcestershire Billings Directory 1855
Dormston is a small parish, distant from Worcester about 10 miles N.E., and contained in 1851 a population of 109 inhabitants.
The Church, which is situated on low and damp ground, is a small erection, consisting only of nave, chancel and a small wooden tower, and is in a sadly dilapidated state. It is on a stone basement, with gable-end roof, much more resembling the roof of a house than that of a church. The eastern window has a new stone heading of ogee shape, but is without mullion or tracery. The chancel was restored in 1837. the funerals of this parish are sent to Kington, the burial-ground not being used. The living is a Perpetual Curacy, in the patronage of T. B. Vernon, Esq. Rev. John Home, Incumbent; Mr. Thomas Bristow, Clerk. Service – 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., alternately.
DIRECTORY
Baker William, farmer, The Hill
Gower Ann, farmer
Green James, farmer, Bag End
Laugher Jane, farmer, Quarry Pits
Hedgecombe Thomas, farmer, Coneybury
Pugh Joseph, farmer, The Moat Farm
Stanley George, shoe maker
Source: Billings Directory of Worcestershire 1855
Family History Links
The Worcestershire and Dudley Historic Churches Trust Site
Administration
- County: Worcestershire
- Civil Registration District: Pershore
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Worcester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Worcester
- Rural Deanery: FamilySearch states Pershore; Littlebury’s Directory 1879 gives Feckenham as the rural deanery.
- Poor Law Union: Pershore
- Hundred: Pershore
- Province: Canterbury
- Petty Sessional Division:
- County Court District: Pershore
- Polling District: Inkberrow