Burford, Shropshire
Historical Description
Burford, a township and a parish in Salop. The township lies on the river Teme and the Knighton Canal, 1 mile W of Tenbury, and had formerly a market. Post town, Tenbury, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 1558; population, 356; population of ecclesiastical parish, first portion, St Mary, with Boraston and Nash, 484; second portion, with "Whitton, 354; third portion, St Mary, 395. The parish contains also the townships of Boraston, Nash, Tilsop, Weston, Whatmore, and Whitton. The manor was for generations in the possession of the Cornewall family. Burford House, erected in the reign of George II., is the manor-house. Tenbury gasworks are in this parish. The living is divided into three portions in the diocese of Hereford: the first portion is a vicarage united with the perpetual curacies of Boraston and Nash, the second portion a rectory united with the perpetual curacy of Whitton, the third portion a rectory; net value of the first, £360 with residence, second £299 with residence, third £336 with residence. The township of Stoke, which in 1884 was annexed to the parish of Greete for civil purposes, is in this parish for ecclesiastical purposes. The mother church is Early English with later additions, and consists of chancel, nave, and a low massive western tower; it contains a Perpendicular font, a piscina, a triptych of 1588, many monuments to the Come-wall family, and one to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of John of Gaunt, who married Sir John Cornewall, Lord Fanhope. There are churches also in Boraston, Whitton, and Nash.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Salop | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Burford St. Mary | |
Hundred | Overs | |
Poor Law union | Tenbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Shropshire Archives have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Burford
The register dates from the year 1558.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is an ancient building of stone, in the Perpendicular and earlier styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, repaired and refaced in about 1912, and containing 5 bells: there is a Perpendicular font of considerable beauty, and many monuments of the Cornewall family, including a brass, with a complete effigy and part of the marginal inscription in Norman French, to Elizabeth, wife of Mons. Esmonde Cornewaylle, c. 1370; with the figure were originally four shields of arms, of which only two now remain: here also is the tomb of Elizabeth of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, and wife of Sir John de Cornewall K.G. afterwards Baron Fanhope and Milbroke, who outlived the princess and died in 1443: these memorials were carefully repaired in 1889, when the church was completely restored and refitted at the sole cost of the late Hon. Miss Rushout, in memory of George, 3rd and last Baron Northwick, d. 1887: the chancel floor was considerably lowered and re-laid with marble, and a new chancel arch erected, across which is an elaborately wrought oak screen, erected as a memorial to the Rev. James Wayland Joyce M.A. rector 1843-87, to whom the stained east window was placed by the members of his family: the reredos is a triptych of mahogany, carved and gilt, and erected in memory of the Rev. the Hon. George Rushout-Bowles, 40 years rector, d. Oct. 1842; it displays in the centre representations of "the Annunciation" and "the Entombment," and at the wings are figures of local saints and of angels bearing the instruments of the Passion: there are stone sedilia and choir stalls of carved oak: the nave has also been reseated in the same material, and a fine new pulpit of oak with a sounding board erected on a stone base: the pulpit is richly carved and adorned with figures of the Fathers of the Church: at the entrance to the churchyard is an oak lych gate, erected as a memorial to the late Lord Northwick by his tenantry: the whole work has been carried out under the direction of Sir Aston Webb R.A., F.S.A. architect, of London: since Miss Rushout's death, Aug, 5th, 1891, a fine Jesse window has been placed at the west end of the church and a beautiful brass and bronze lectern in the nave, to her memory.
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 Burford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Burford (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Shropshire (Salop) is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Burford 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 Shropshire newspapers online:
- Shrewsbury Chronicle
- Wellington Journal
- Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales
- Ludlow Advertiser
- Salopian Journal
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Shropshire, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.