Mathon (St. John the Baptist)
MATHON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Ledbury, Lower division of the hundred of Pershore, Upton and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 4 miles (W. by S.) from Malvern, and 7 (N. by E.) from Ledbury; containing 716 inhabitants. The parish is surrounded by the county of Hereford on all sides except one, where it is bounded by the parish of Malvern. It comprises by measurement 3140 acres, exclusively of 230 acres of common or waste; 1404 acres are arable, 1278 good pasture, and 108 hop-ground: the numerous gentle hills are well clothed at their tops with wood, and command extensive prospects. The principal produce is wheat, beans, hops, and fruit. There are some quarries of limestone, which is used for the roads, and also burnt into lime. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8; net income, £150; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, whose tithes have been commuted for £528. The church is an ancient structure in the later English style, with an embattled tower. A district church dedicated to St. James, a handsome edifice in the early English style, containing 330 sittings, was built at North-Hill, by subscription, in 1842; the Dean and Chapter of Westminster gave the site and £300 towards the erection, and the Dean of St. Asaph contributed £200. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter, with a net income of £100.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.