Longdon (St. Mary)

LONGDON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Upton-upon-Severn, Lower division of the hundred of Pershore, Upton and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 3 miles (S. S. W.) from Upton-upon-Severn; containing 598 inhabitants, of whom 520 are in the township. The parish comprises 3845 acres, of which 125 were common or waste: the common fields and meadows have been inclosed within the last four years. The road from Upton to Gloucester passes through the village, and the river Severn runs within a mile and a half. Sandstone of a very soft kind is quarried, chiefly for fences. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Castle-Morton annexed, valued in the king's books at £14. 17. 3½.; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The tithes have been commuted for £845; the appropriate glebe contains 94 acres, and the vicarial 26. The church stands on the north-east side of the village: the nave was rebuilt in 1787, of brick; the tower and spire are of hard sandstone, and the former contains a peal of six good bells, recast in 1835. A school was founded in 1630, and endowed by Giles Godwin with land now producing £34 per annum.