Powick (St. Peter and St. Lawrence)

POWICK (St. Peter and St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Upton, Lower division of the hundred of Pershore, Worcester and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 2¾ miles (S. S. W.) from Worcester; containing, with the chapelry of Clevelode and hamlet of Woodsfield, 1704 inhabitants. In December, 1642, an action was fought near this place, between the parliamentarian troops under Colonel Sandes, and the royalists under Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, wherein the former were defeated, and the colonel mortally wounded. The parish comprises 5190 acres, of which about half are arable of various qualities, and half meadow and pasture; there are a few acres of wood, and about 140 of waste: the soil varies from the best sandy loam to the stiffest marl. The meadow lands stretch about 4 miles north and south, first by the Teme, and after its junction with the Severn, along the banks of that river, presenting at times a scene of remarkable solitude. A new bridge across the Teme was erected in 1837, consisting of one main iron arch, with a small arch in each abutment, of red granite. There are many villas, some of which occupy sites beautifully secluded; most of them are built with considerable taste, and surrounded with ornamental pleasure-grounds. On an eminence overhanging the hamlet of Stanbrooke is a convent of English nuns of the Benedictine order, established in France, but driven to England at the French revolution in 1793; they first settled at Preston, in Lancashire, thence removed to Salford House, Warwickshire, and fixed themselves here in June 1838. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the chapelry of Clevelode, valued in the king's books at £10. 2. 7.; net income, £290; patron, the Earl of Coventry; impropriators, the Corporation of Worcester. The church is a spacious cruciform structure, presenting some Norman details in the transepts. A national school is supported; and a fund of £70 per annum, arising from bequests, is distributed among the poor. Two sepulchral Roman urns, containing burnt human bones, were dug up about 1832, at the village, at the point of the tongue of land between the roads leading to Upton and Ledbury: other relics have been found in the vicinity.