Witley, Great (St. Michael)

WITLEY, GREAT (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Martley, Lower division of the hundred of Doddingtree, Hundred-House and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 10½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Worcester; containing, with the hamlet of Redmarley, 381 inhabitants, of whom 325 are in the township of Great Witley. The parish is intersected by the roads from Worcester to Ludlow, and from Staffordshire into Herefordshire. It lies on the north-west border of the county, at the foot of a range of hills; and comprises 2433 acres, of which 565 are arable, 1623 meadow and pasture, and 195 woodland or coppice. Pure limestone is burnt for purposes of building and agriculture, and inferior limestone is quarried for the repair of roads. An abundant supply of water is obtained from the Abberley and Woodbury hills, which are composed of ferruginous or basaltic gravel. The springs which rise in the parsonage-grounds turn a mill at a distance of 300 yards, and never vary in the driest or wettest weather. On this account it has been conjectured that they may have a more remote source than the Abberley or Woodbury hills. Witley Court, the property of Lord Ward, is a spacious and elegant mansion, beautifully situated in a park which abounds with picturesque scenery, and of which a part, formerly belonging to a religious house, pays no tithes. The mansion was occupied by the Dowager Queen Adelaide from 1842 till 1845. Some of the females are employed in making gloves for the manufacturers of Worcester. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 6. 3., and in the gift of Lord Ward: the tithes have been commuted for £400, and the glebe contains 30 acres. The church, which adjoins Witley Court, is an elegant structure, erected in the early part of the last century, by the first Lord Foley and his widow, to the former of whom it contains a superb monument by Rysbrach: the painted windows are supposed to have been executed in Italy; they were brought from the chapel at Canons, when that princely mansion of the Duke of Chandos was taken down. Fossils of various descriptions are found in the pure limestone, and some bivalves in the argillaceous stratum. On the crown of Woodbury Hill are the remains of a British camp, comprising an area of 26 acres. It is supposed to have been the station occupied by Owen Glendower in his war with Henry IV., and Abberley Hill the station of the king, as several cannon-balls have been found imbedded in the former which appear of remote formation.