Cleeve, Prior (St. Andrew)

CLEEVE, PRIOR (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Evesham, Upper division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, locally in the Upper division of that of Blackenhurst, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 5½ miles (N. E.) from Evesham; containing 366 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the navigable river Avon, which here receives the waters of the Arrow, on its entering the county. It comprises 1454a. 3r. 17p., whereof 900 acres are arable, and 500 meadow and pasture; the soil is a clayey loam, resting upon blue limestone, and the scenery is rich and pleasing, and abounding with fine orchards. There are quarries of lias and blue limestone, which are wrought for building, slabs for hearthstones, and various other purposes; and also a species of marble susceptible of a high polish, and resembling that of Derbyshire. The village is beautifully situated on an eminence rising from the southern bank of the Avon; the grounds immediately around it are flat, and the meadows occasionally subject to floods. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8; net income, £156, derived from 110 acres of land; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. The church is in the early English style, with a handsome embattled tower. On a bank or terrace above the Avon, is a mount having the appearance of an ancient barrow; near it, in lowering a portion of the bank, in 1824, above thirty skeletons were found scarcely two feet below the surface. In working the quarries, in 1811, two earthen jars were discovered at three feet from the surface, having Roman coins in a state of good preservation; one jar contained gold and the other silver coins, of the reigns of Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius.