Pershore

PERSHORE, a market-town, and the head of a union, partly in the parish of St. Andrew, and partly in that of Holy Cross, Upper division of the hundred of Pershore, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 9 miles (S. E.) from Worcester, and 102 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing 2813 inhabitants. The name of this place, variously spelt Persore, Pearshore, and Pershore, is thought by Camden to be derived from Periscoran, in allusion to the numerous peartrees which grew in the vicinity. A convent was founded here, according to William of Malmesbury, by Egelward, Duke of Dorset, or, as others suppose, by Oswald, nephew of Ethelred, King of Mercia, about 689, for secular clerks. It was remodelled by Edgar, as a monastery for Benedictine monks, about 984, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, and St. Paul, and afterwards to Edburga, eighth daughter of Edward the Elder. The buildings suffered repeatedly from fire, especially in 1287, when a considerable part of the town was also destroyed: at the Dissolution, the revenue was valued at £666. 13. The remains are the church of the Holy Cross, and the Abbey house, but the latter has undergone such alterations that every vestige of its ancient character is lost.

The town is pleasantly situated on the lower road from Worcester to London, and on the western bank of the Avon, which is here navigable, and is crossed by a bridge on the south. The principal street is about three-quarters of a mile in length; the greater part is well paved, and the houses are of respectable appearance. In 1845 an act was passed for a railway from Oxford, by Pershore, to Wolverhampton. The market is on Tuesday; and fairs are held on Easter-Tuesday, June 26th (called the Great Fair), the first Monday in August, and the Tuesday before November 1st. The town returned two burgesses to parliament in the reign of Edward I. The powers of the county debt-court of Pershore, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Pershore. As to civil jurisdiction the parishes of St. Andrew and Holy Cross are distinct: that of St. Andrew embraces several chapelries, and comprises 6537 acres, of which about 700 are in the town portion; that of Holy Cross, including also some hamlets, contains 4377 acres. The living of St. Andrew's is a discharged vicarage, with the curacy of Besford annexed, valued in the king's books at £8. 19. 2.; net income, £588; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The church consists of a choir and south transept, the remains of a noble cruciform edifice; and is partly Norman, but principally in the early English style. The church of the Holy Cross is later English; it was enlarged and beautified in 1846: the living is held as a curacy, with the vicarage of St. Andrew's. There is a place of worship for Baptists. The poor-law union of Pershore comprises forty parishes or places, and contains a population of 13,382.

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