Tardebigg (St. Bartholomew)

TARDEBIGG (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union of Bromsgrove, Upper division of the hundred of Halfshire, Droitwich and Bromsgrove, and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 3 miles (E. S. E.) from Bromsgrove; containing, with the chapelry of Redditch, the hamlet of Bordesley, and the townships of Tutnall with Cobley, Bentley-Pauncefoot, and Webheath, 4877 inhabitants. This parish, the name of which signifies "the big tower," or "the tower on the hill," is situated on the road from Bromsgrove to Alcester, and comprises 10,832 acres of a very fertile but heavy clayey soil. About 3000 acres are woodland, and the remainder arable and meadow in about equal portions. Hewell, the seat of the Hon. Robert Henry Clive, is situated here in a demesne highly embellished, in which is a lake of 30 acres; and Foxlydiate House, the property and residence of William Hemming, Esq., has neat pleasure-grounds and gardens attached. The Birmingham and Worcester canal and the Birmingham and Gloucester railway run through the parish. Fairs are held on the first Monday in August and the third Monday in September, for cattle. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8, and in the patronage of Mr. and Lady Harriet Clive, to whom the impropriation also belongs: the great tithes have been commuted for £1254; and the vicarial tithes for £600, with a glebe of 41½ acres, and a house. The church, rebuilt in 1776, is an elegant structure in the Grecian style, with a very beautiful spire: it contains a monument to Sir Thomas Cookes, Bart., a former proprietor, and founder of Worcester College, Oxford; and another by Chantrey to the late Earl of Plymouth, whose remains are interred in the family vault beneath. This edifice, and the chapel at Redditch, were built of excellent stone raised here. In the churchyard, from which a panoramic prospect is obtained, are some schools, prettily situated, rebuilt in 1843 at the expense of Lady Harriet Clive, and partly supported by her ladyship.