DISCLOSURE: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission.
UK Genealogy Archives logo

Claverley (All Saints)

CLAVERLEY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Bridgnorth, Hales-Owen division of the hundred of Brimstree, S. division of Salop, 6 miles (E.) from Bridgnorth; containing 1669 inhabitants. This parish comprises the townships (for highway purposes) of Beobridge, Broughton, Gatacre, Ludstone, Shipley, and Sutton, which, in the manor court of Claverley, are denominated "foreign towns," being distinct manors; and Ashton, Dallicott, Farmcott, Heathton, Hopstone, and Woundale, which are called "king's towns," and are part of the forest of Morfe. The lordships of Beobridge and Broughton were part of the possessions annexed to the abbey of Haughmond, but after the Dissolution they became the property of the Levesons, who also became possessed of Ludstone. Throughout the copyhold lands, the Borough-English custom prevails, of descent to the younger son. The parish lies on the eastern confines of the county, and consists of 8141a. 3r. 28p., about three-quarters of which are arable, and the rest pasture, with 43 acres of waste. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £300; patrons and impropriators, the family of Whitmore: the great tithes have been commuted for £2060, and the remainder for £12. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a high tower surmounted by pinnacles; the pews have been lately re-arranged, and galleries built. A school was founded in 1659, by Richard Dovey, who endowed it with an estate; in 1702, John Sanders devised £5 a year for clothing the boys; and Richard Bennett, in 1794, left £100 in aid of the charity, which is now united with a national school. In Gatacre-Park House, here, the Earl of Derby took shelter immediately after the battle of Worcester, and shortly before he was brought to the scaffold.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

Advertisement

Advertisement