Upper Arley, Staffordshire

Historical Description

Arley, Upper, a village and a parish in Staffordshire, in the south-western projection of the county, on the river Severn, 4 miles NNW of Bewdley. The parish has a station on the Severn Valley branch of the G.W.R., and a post and telegraph office under Bewdley, which is the money order office. Population, 647. Millstones are quarried. Arley Castle was built in 1836, a portion of the old Elizabethan Hall being incorporated. It was the residence of the Lyttleton-Annesley family, and is now that of the Woodward family. There is an ancient camp. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; value, £305. The church is ancient and is conspicuously situated; it was restored in 1884.

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 1564.

Churches

The church of St. Peter is an ancient building of stone, in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisle, south porch and a western tower containing 6 bells: there are several handsome monuments: in 1887 two stained memorial windows were placed at the east end by General Annesley and the Woodward families: the church was restored in 1885 at a cost of £2,829, and affords 245 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 Upper Arley from the following:

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

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.

Maps

Online maps of Upper Arley 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 Staffordshire newspapers online:

• Staffordshire Advertiser
• Tamworth Herald
• Lichfield Mercury
• Staffordshire Sentinel
• Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser