Wolverley (St. John the Baptist)
The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester (the appropriators), valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8.; net income, £300. The great and small tithes were partly commuted in 1775, and a commutation of the remainder of the former has taken place under the late act, for £811, and of the latter for £39; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe contains 8½ acres. The church, erected about 80 years ago, is a neat brick edifice, on an elevated site commanding beautiful views of the Stour valley. William Seabright, in 1620, bequeathed property in and near London, now producing a rental of about £700, to establish a free grammar school, and for other purposes. In 1829, in consequence of the improved state of the funds, it was determined to extend the charity, in furtherance of which the school premises were re-erected. The buildings now constitute a handsome range in the later English style, comprising a Latin school in the centre, a spacious schoolroom at each wing, one for boys and the other for girls, and adjoining residences, with gardens attached. The sum of £3 per annum is paid to each of seven parishes for distribution in bread; and the trustees expend annually about £30 in clothing, and £15 in coal, for the poor of Wolverley. John Smith, Esq., in 1823, bequeathed £600 for founding an afternoon lectureship, about one-third of the interest to be applied to the relief of superannuated husbandmen and widows. John Baskerville, the eminent printer, was born here in 1706.See Cookley.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.