Eckington, Worcestershire

Historical Description

Eckington, a village and a parish in Worcestershire, on the river Avon, 3½ miles SW by S of Pershore, with a station on the Bristol and Birmingham branch of the M.R., and a post and money order office under Pershore; telegraph office at the railway station. Acreage, 2168; population, 635. The manor has belonged to the Hanford family since 1536. Their seat, Wollas Hall, situated on the northern slope of Bredon Hill, is a good example of a mediaeval mansion, and contains some good pictures. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £295 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The church has a fine Norman doorway and a massive embattled tower with gargoyles. It contains a Norman font and a monument of the Hanford family. The nave of the church is Norman, date of font unknown. The nave roof is made of oak and is well carved, supposed to be of the 16th century.

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.

Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1678.

Churches

Church of England

Holy Trinity (parish church)

The church of the Holy Trinity is a building of stone, in the Norman and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a massive embattled western tower, with curious gurgoyles, and containing a clock and 6 bells: the erection of the north aisle has destroyed the uniformity of the building, but the interior retains a Norman arcade on the south side, a good Norman doorway with zigzag ornament, and one window of the same date: in the chancel is a handsome monument of stone, with kneeling effigies, to John Hanford esq. ob. 17 Aug. 1616, his wife and 13 children eight in front and five at the ends; there are also tablets to the Hanford family, 1766-1816; to Christianus Kenrick, 30 years vicar here, who died Oct. 28, 1711: and to Flock, his only son, d. 1746; besides several others to the Gilby, Checketts, Bick, Boulter and Capper families: there is a cylindrical Norman font: the church was thoroughly restored in 1886-7, at a cost of £1,010, and affords 300 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 Eckington from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Eckington (Holy Trinity))

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Eckington 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.