Offenham (St. Milburgh)

OFFENHAM (St. Milburgh), a parish, in the union of Evesham, Upper division of the hundred of Blackenhurst, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 2½ miles (N. E. by N.) from Evesham; containing 353 inhabitants. It is said, but on insufficient grounds, to have taken its name from the Saxon king, Offa, who according to tradition had a palace here. The lands were given to the abbey of Evesham by Ethelred, King of Mercia, in 703; and in the Domesday survey the whole place still belonged to the establishment: the abbots had a park in Offenham, to which they frequently resorted; and in the summer of 1843, extensive foundations of buildings were discovered, with fragments of mullions and doorways. The parish is situated on the left bank of the navigable river Avon, and consists of 1179a. 3r. 13p. of productive land. The living is a discharged perpetual curacy, valued in the king's books at £6. 11. 5½.; net income, £123; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Christ-Church, Oxford. The church, which stands at the south-west end of the village, is a simple structure, with a tower. The parish is entitled to £5 per annum for the support of a Sunday school, the bequest of John Millard, who died in 1827.