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Alvechurch, Worcestershire

Historical Description

Alvechurch, a village and a parish in Worcestershire. The village stands adjacent to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 3 miles N of Redditch, with a station on the M.R., and a post office (S.O.) It was formerly a borough, and had a palace of the Bishops of Worcester, the last occupant of which was Bishop Latimer. Fairs are held on the first Wednesday in May and the first Wednesday in October. There are a Baptist chapel, a reading-room and library, a grammar school, and a Convalescent Home for children. The parish is divided into the Yields or hamlets of Rowney-Green, Barnt-Green, Forrill, Hopwood, and Lea End. Acreage, 6800; population of the civil parish, 1774; of the ecclesiastical, 1633. The Bishop of Worcester is lord of the manor. Bordesley Park is 1½ mile SE of the village. A tunnel of the canal, nearly 3 miles long, begins at Hopwood. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £500. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church, excepting the Perpendicular tower and part of the N aisle, was rebuilt in 1861 at a cost of £3200, portions of the old Norman structure being incorporated and the Norman doorway retained; the chancel was restored in the Early English style, has lancet windows, an alabaster reredos, a beautiful east window, and is divided from the nave by a fine Gothic arch. The church contains a beautiful font of Caen stone, and some ancient monuments and brasses. Dean Hickes, the author of " Thesaurus," was rector of this parish at the Revolution of 1688, and was deprived for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William III.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

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

Ancient CountyWorcestershire 
Ecclesiastical parishAlvechurch St. Lawrence 
HundredOswaldslow 
Poor Law unionBromsgrove 

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


Church Records

The parish register dates from about the year 1570.


Churches

Church of England

St. Mary (parish church)

The church of St. Lawrence is a building of stone, and was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower and a portion of the north aisle, in 1861, at a cost of £3,200, from the designs of William Butterfield esq. architect, of London, and consists of clerestoried chancel of two bays, with aisles, nave of three bays, aisles, South porch with plain lancet windows, and an embattled western tower, with open parapet and 12 pinnacles, and containing a clock and 8 bells: the church retains a Norman doorway; the chancel has been restored in the Early English style, and the side windows are filled with stained glass, given by the Very Rev. T. W. Jex Blake D.D. Dean of Wells 1896-1910, and Mrs. Jex Blake, in memory of their parents: the east window is richly moulded and shafted trip1et, and half below it a reredos of alabaster and encaustic tiles; there is a low chancel screen, formed out of the ancient rood screen: three windows in the aisles are filled with stained glass by Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Preedy: the west window was erected in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee in 1897 of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria; the font, a work of beautiful design and execution, is a memorial to Mrs. Sandford, first wife of the late Ven. Archdeacon Sandford; the old cross in the churchyard has also been restored as a monnment of gratitude to the late Baroness Windsor (who largely contributed towards the restoration and died 9th November, 1869), and in memory of her sons, the Hon. Robert Windsor-Clive M.P. who died 4th August, 1859, and the Hon. William Windsor-Clive, who was killed in a railway accident, 24th September, 1857: beneath an arch in the north wall is the recumbent cross-legged effigy of a knight in armour, with shield and sword, assigned to Sir John de Blanchfort, 1346, and there is also a brass in memory of Philip Chattwyn, 1524, a gentleman usher to Henry VIII., with effigy and arms; and an inscription on brass to Richard Aston, 1684; there are also monuments to Edward Moore esq. 1746, and to Dixie Hollington, 1690: several of the windows are stained: the church affords 400 sittings.


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 Alvechurch from the following:


Land and Property

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


Maps

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


Newspapers and Periodicals

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


Villages, Hamlets, &c

Barnt Green
Lea End

Visitations Heraldic

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

DistrictBromsgrove
CountyWorcestershire
RegionWest Midlands
CountryEngland
Postal districtB48
Post TownBirmingham

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