Blockley, Worcestershire

Historical Description

Blockley, a village and a parish in Worcestershire. The village stands in a south-eastern projection of the county, on the Fosse Way and the river Evenlode, 3½ miles NW of Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and has a station on the G.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office (S.O.) It is an ancient place, and had once a monastery, founded before 855, and a palace of the Bishops of Worcester. The parish includes also the hamlet and ecclesiastical parish of Aston-Magna, the hamlets of Dome, Ditchford, Draycott, Northwick, and Paxford. Acreage, 7896; population of the civil parish, 2127; of the ecclesiastical, 1931. There is an electric lighting and manufacturing company. Traces of the Fosse Way exist, and many Roman coins and other Roman relics have been found. Northwick Park is an ancient seat, formerly of the Childes, and afterwards of the Rushout family. Addison was a frequent visitor here. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; gross value, £602 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church is partly Norman, has a modern tower, and contains ancient monuments and brasses to the Rushout family and others. There are Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels. The vicarage of Aston-Magna is a separate benefice.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Blockley from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Blockley (St. Peter and St. Paul))

Land and Property

The full transcript of the Worcestershire section of the Return of Owners of Land, 1873.

Maps

Online maps of Blockley are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Worcestershire papers online:

• Worcester Journal
• Worcestershire Chronicle
• Worcester Herald

Villages, Hamlets, &c

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Worcestershire 1569 is available on the Heraldry page.