Ombersley (St. Ambrose)

OMBERSLEY (St. Ambrose), a parish, in the union of Droitwich, Lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, Worcester and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 6 miles (N.) from Worcester; containing 2267 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the west by the river Severn, and contains about 7000 acres of rich land, of which about two-thirds are arable: the scenery is beautifully varied, and the park of Ombersley, the seat of Lord Sandys, forms an interesting feature in the view. The roads from Worcester to Kidderminster, and from Droitwich to Tenbury, cross each other at this place. The Severn is here crossed by a bridge, constructed under an act of parliament passed in 1826; it consists of one gigantic iron arch, with stone piers, and cost £8000: tolls are paid both by foot-passengers and carriages passing over, in liquidation of the debt incurred. A market, granted by Edward III., has been long disused. Courts baron and courts of survey, with view of frankpledge, are held twice in the year. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £15. 7. 3½., and has a gross income of £400, with a good house; the patronage and impropriation belong to Lord Sandys, whose tithes have been commuted for £483, and who has a glebe of 292 acres. The church, rebuilt in 1829 at a cost of £17,000, is in the later English style, and is one of the most elegant churches in the county: in the burial-ground are the remains of an ancient cross. There is an Independent place of worship. A charity school was founded in 1701 by Thomas Tolley, to which Thomas Baker in 1722 bequeathed £100, and Richard Lloyd in 1723 gave a farm in the parish of Suckley, and two copyholds in Ombersley. In 1826, another school was established out of the funds of this charity, in a distant part of the parish called Brookhampton, for the reception of younger children. A sum of about £70 per annum, arising from bequests, is distributed to the poor; and there is a fund of £200, left in 1730 by William Barnesley, for clothing and apprenticing a boy. The Romans had a camp here; relics of Roman pottery-works have been discovered, and remains of intrenchments are yet to be seen on Hadley-Heath common.