Fladbury Worcestershire Littleburys Directory 1879

FLADBURY WITH HAMLETS OF HILL AND MOOR.

Fladbury (anciently Fledanbyrig and Flandenburch) is an important parish and large village, having the river Avon for its eastern boundary, and a railway station on the Great Western railway. It is situate 2 ¾ miles E. of Pershore, 3 ¼ N.N.W. of Evesham, and 11 S.E. of Worcester; is in the eastern division of the county, and hundred of Middle Oswaldslow; in the highway district of Evesham; the union, petty sessional division, county court, and polling district of Pershore. The area of Fladbury proper is 1,526 acres; with Hill and Moor and Wyre Piddle, 4,290 acres. The population in 1861 of Abbot’s or Hob Lench (then a hamlet in Fladbury parish, but now attached to Church Lench) was 66; Fladbury, 411; Hill and Moor, 346; Stock and Bradley (formerly a chapelry in Fladbury, but now merged into the parish of Bradley), 310; Throckmorton, 152; Wyre Piddle, 229. In 1871 the respective populations were: Fladbury, 425, with 96 inhabited houses; Hill and Moor, 325, with 79 inhabited houses; Throckmorton, 170, with 38 inhabited houses; Wyre Piddle, 252, with 56 inhabited houses; Abbot’s Lench, 80, with 15 inhabited houses. The annual rateable value of Fladbury proper is £3,930, and of Hill and Moor £2,325. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are now the lords of the manor, and the other landowners are the Duc d’Aumale, the Rev. W. P. A. Campbell, B. Workman, Esq., and Mr. R. Wagstaff. The soil is chiefly light clay, with a little sand; subsoil, gravel and sand; chief crops, wheat, barley, beans, hops, &c. Market gardening is carried on in this neighbourhood to a large extent. Fladbury is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Worcester and rural deanery of Feckenham; the living is a rectory, with the chapelries of Throckmorton, Wyre Piddle, and Hill and Moor annexed; joint yearly value, £778 with residence; patron, the Bishop of Worcester; rector, Rev. William Pitcairn Alexander Campbell, M.A., Queen’s College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1877. The church of St. John the Baptist is a very ancient building of large proportions, consisting of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, vestry, and western tower having eight pinnacles and containing six bells. The basement of the tower is of Norman work, but its upper stages were constructed about a century or more ago. The rest of the church is mainly Perpendicular. The chancel was restored in 1869 by the Rev. John Haviland, M.A., then rector of the parish, and in 1871 the body of the church was restored by subscription. There are several stained-glass memorial windows, also one representing the coats of arms of seven knights slain at the battle of Evesham in 1265. This church is remarkable as being one of the very few in Worcestershire which contains memorial brasses. There are several handsome monuments, the principal being one in the centre of the church to the Throckmorton family, dated 1445, a tablet to Bishop Lloyd, dated 1717, and a marble tablet and bust to Elizabeth Charlett. There is a fine-toned organ. The earliest register is dated 1560. The charities bequeathed are considerable. A handsome national school, with residence for the master, was erected in 1864-65. A convent existed at Fladbury in Saxon times, and the town was given to the Bishop of Worcester by King Ethelred in 631, and the bishop’s bailiff governed the place. A market was held here on Wednesdays. The principal residences are Craycombe House (Richard Watson, Esq.), The Chantry (Lieut.-Colonel Preedy, D.L., F.R.G.S.), Fladbury House (Rev. Henry Bromfield, M.A.), and The Rectory. HILL AND MOOR form a chapelry and hamlet of Fladbury. The former is distant about 1 ½ miles N.W., and the latter half a mile W. In May 1869 a chapel-of-ease was erected at Moor by subscription. It is dedicated to St. Thomas, and is built of red brick with Bath stone dressings. The site was given by Robert Wagstaff, Esq. Divine service is conducted by the rector or his curate every Sunday afternoon. THROCKMORTON, a small chapelry nearly 3 miles N., and WYRE PIDDLE, a chapelry 2 miles W., will be found under separate headings. Part of the chapel at the latter place is believed to be Saxon work – almost the only relic of the kind in Worcestershire.

POSTAL REGULATIONS. – George Morris, Sub-Postmaster. Letters arrive by messenger from Pershore at 7.45 a.m.; despatched thereto at 5.30 p.m. on week-days only. Money-orders are granted and paid and post-office savings-bank business transacted. Postal telegrams may be sent from the railway station. Post town, Pershore.

Parish Church (St. John’s). – Rev. William Pitcairn Alexander Campbell, M.A., Rector; Rev. J. W. Stoneman, B.A., Curate; Robert F. W. Preedy, Esq., and Wm. Wagstaff, Esq., Churchwardens; Thomas Milton Parish Clerk.

St. Thomas’s Chapel-of-Ease, Moor.- The Rector or his Curate officiates.

National School (boys and girls), Fladbury. – … … … , Master.

Infant School, Moor. – Mrs. Bayliss, Mistress.

Railway Station (Great Western Railway). – H. Lampitt, Station Master.

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.

Allen Miss, Ivy villa
Bomford Albert H., Esq., Machine farm
Bomford Ernest G. Cook, Esq., Spring hill
Bromfield Rev. H., M.A., Fladbury house
Campbell Rev. William Pitcairn Alexander, M.A., (rector of Fladbury, with Throckmorton, Wyre Piddle, and Moor), The Rectory
Day Mr. William Thomas, Moor
George Mrs., Moor fields
Lilwall Mr. G. H., Brooklands
Oldham Henry, Esq., Manor house
Preedy Lieut.-Colonel Henry William, D.L., F.R.G.S., The Chantry
Preedy Robt. Francis W., Esq., Avon cot.
Watson Richard, Esq., Craycombe house
Yates Mr.

AGRICULTURAL & COMMERCIAL.

Barley Rd., mkt. grdnr., Spring cot., Moor
Bayliss Mrs., schoolmistress, Moor
Beck W., beer rtlr. and shopkeeper, Moor
Bomford Albert H., farmer, Machine fm.
Bomford Ernest George Cook, farmer and hop grower, Spring hill
Bullock William, shopkeeper, Moor
Burlingham H. & Co., coal merchants &c., depot at Railway station; offices, Evesham
Camden G., farm bailiff to C. Randell, Esq.
Chambers William Ed. Rouse Boughton, farmer and gardener, Broadway cottage
Clarke Charles, farmer, Moor
Drury Charles, farmer and gardener
Drury Fanny, draper, &c.
Drury Henry, farmer
Goddard Wm., market gardener, Moor
Goodwin Thomas, tailor and shopkeeper
Haggett Alfred, boot and shoe maker
Hundy Albert, Chequers Inn, & gardener
Hundy Mrs., wheelwright, &c., Moor
Jones Thomas, market gardener, Moor
Knight William, farm bailiff to Ernest G. C. Bomford, Esq., Spring hill
Lampitt Henry, station master, Rlwy. sta.
Lilwall G. H., maker of chemical preparations for horses and cattle, Brooklands
Milton Thomas, parish clerk
Milward W., baker, grocer, and prov. Dlr.
Morris G., blacksmith and sub-postmaster
Simpson William, butcher
Slater John, Anchor Inn, and market gardener
Smith William, farm bailiff to B. Workman, Esq., Hill Furze farm
Stanton Robert, carpenter
Stephens George, miller and farmer, Fladbury mill, and farmer in Cropthorne parish
Trenfield Giles, tailor
Trenfield Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth, shopkeeper
Wagstaff Robert, farmer, Weston’s farm
Wagstaff William, farmer, Moor
Watkins Mrs. Hannah, blacksmith

Source: Littlebury, Littlebury’s Directory and Gazetteer of Worcester & District, Third Edition. Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1879.