Badsey (St. James)
BADSEY (St. James), a parish, in the union of Evesham, Upper division of the hundred of Blackenhurst, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 2¼ miles (E. by S.) from Evesham; containing, with the hamlet of Aldington, 497 inhabitants. This place belonged to the abbey of Evesham, even before the Conquest; and in the reign of Edward III. the abbot provided a garden and buildings here, for the retirement of sick and convalescent monks from the establishment. The parish comprises 1795 acres, and is bordered on the west by the navigable river Avon, which here receives a small brook, which in its course turns several mills, including a silk-mill. It is crossed from west to east by the road from Evesham to Chipping-Campden. The village consists of an airy street, with some substantial dwellings. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued in the king's books at £5. 6. 8.; net income, £150; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Canons of Christ-Church, Oxford. The church stands in an open burial-ground rising gently from the street, whence its remarkably pretty tower and ancient yew-tree are seen with good effect.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.