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| Elmstone Hardwicke is a village and sizeable parish north-west of
Cheltenham in Co Gloucestershire, England. Elmstone Hardwicke is in the
borough of Tewkesbury. Nearby villages include Uckington, Stoke
Orchard, and Tredington. Elmstone-Hardwicke is mentioned in the
Doomsday Book, where it is
called Almundeston. As part of the Deerhurst Hundred, the land of the
manor was held by radknights (free men), who ensured that the land was
farmed for the Lord. In Elmstone, the named free man was Beorhtric. The
first mention of Almundeston was in 889, when it was known as
Almundingtoun, Hardwicke was noted in 1086, and the two parishes were
first noted together in 1378. "Elmstone
Hardwicke,, a parish partly in the hundred of Westminster, and partly
in the lower division of the hundred of Deerhurst, Co Gloucester, 5
miles south of Tewkesbury. Cheltenham is its post town and railway
station, from which it is distant about 4 miles to the N.W. The parish,
which is situated on the high road to Worcester, contains the hamlets
of Uckington and Hardwicke. The tithes have been commuted in two
separate portions for each of these hamlets. The living is a vicarage
in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £233, in the patronage
of the lord chancellor. The church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene.
It has a battlemented tower, and the exterior of the edifice is adorned
with some curious figures in bas-relief. The Dean and Chapter of
Westminster are the lords of the manor. Springs are found in the parish
(The National Gazetteer, 1868)." Elmstone-Hardwicke
has an interesting history with regard to the use of its land. Prior to
the mid 18th century, most farmers in England rotated their crops
across three or four strips of land, and ‘rights of common’ were
claimed for grazing the unfenced land. The Inclosures Acts of the 19th
century proposed the inclosure of Elmstone-Hardwicke in 1899. However,
many fields remained unfenced until 1918, making it possibly the last
village in England to be inclosed. Following the Inclosure, many poor
farmers lost their common grazing rights, so in Elmstone-Hardwicke, a
10-acre plot was set aside as a recreation ground for grazing of their
animals, and a further 10 acres for allotments. The fields still exist,
and although none of the current residents graze or cultivate the land
as individuals, the Parish Council leases the land to a local farmer,
and the money is reinvested into the community. The land in
Elmstone-Hardwicke has been mainly used for arable farming over the
years, including tobacco in the 17th Century. St Mary Magdelene is the
parish church. It originally belonged to the Benedictine priory at
Deerhurst. It has a 'Perpendicular' style 15th Century tower. The
church consists of this tower, a nave, chancel, south aisle and south
porch. The church was restored in 1871-1878. The south porch was built
in the 1800s and the chancel has 14th century windows. The two west
bays of the nave are Norman and the font dates to the 1400s.[Wikipedia, Rootsweb] |
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| Chaceley lies 5 miles from Tewkesbury across the River Severn. The heart of the village is adjacent to the church and village hall but its boundaries extend to Forthampton in the north, Chaceley Hole and Sandpits in the south, to the River Severn in the east, and to the Worcestershire border in the west. The village was in Worcestershire until the county boundary was changed in 1931. By 1900 the population numbered 400 whilst by 2000 this had reduced to just 120. The village has its roots in livestock and mixed farming. The landscape has changed little over the centuries - fields have changed hands, but the field patterns still remain. The land is very fertile and in the past sustained many orchards as well as extensive crops though only scant remains of the former remain. The earliest reference to Chaceley was as 'Ceateweslea', possibly a derivative of Celtic "Ced" meaning wood and old English "Lea" meaning wood clearing. The parish allotments, owned by the church, covered 21 acres behind Glebe Cottage (now Werth Cottage) which was owned by the parish charity and their rent was given to the needy of the parish. Each farmer had an allotment whilst the cottagers would have their gardens turned over to produce. Werth Farm dates to the 17th century, with the adjoining barn dating to the 15th century or earlier. Both the house and barn were probably formerly thatched. Chaceley Court was until 1866 the homestead of Chaceley Court Farm which comprised over 200 acres of arable and pastoral land, orchard and meadow land. In the sale particulars of that year it was described as being close to the Church. Chaceley Hall (originally Chaceley Hole Farm), parts of which date back to the 1400s. Was reported to have been a hunting lodge for hunting wild boar and has been in the Lane family for 20 generations until it was sold in 1997. The church of St John the Baptist dates from the 12th century. Apart from the Norman chancel arch, and the lower stages of the 13th century tower, the church was generally rebuilt in the 14th century, when the south aisle was added. The upper stage of the tower is 14th century with a small spire. The chancel arch is probably early 12th century, but of unusual design. In the north east corner of the sanctuary a few medieval tiles remain. The octagonal font is 13th or early 14th century. The church was restored in 1882.[Chaceley Village] |
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| Deerhurst
is a village near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, England on the east
bank of the River Severn. Deerhurst has an Anglo Saxon partly 10th
century monastic building still standing, St Mary's Priory Church.
There is a second important Anglo-Saxon building in the village, Odda's
Chapel, a Saxon church, lying about 200 yards south-west of the church.
An inscription dates this to 1056. Odda’s Chapel is a single two-cell
building of nave and chancel. The date of the foundation of
Deerhurst as an Anglo-Saxon minster church is unknown. The church was
already in existence in 804 when Æthelric, son of Æthelmund,
bequeathed extensive lands to the community at Deerhurst. Both Æthelric
and Æthelmund were probably buried here. In the first half of the 9th
century Deerhurst seems to have been one of the most important
religious foundations of the kingdom of the Hwicce, a sub-kingdom of
Mercia. In the second half of the 10th century, St Alphege began his
ecclesiastical career at Deerhurst. Alphege went on to become
Archbishop of Canterbury but was martyred by the Danes at Greenwich in
1012. Deerhurst played an important role in 1016 when King Cnut of
Denmark and King Edmund Ironside met at Deerhurst, made peace and
divided England between them. In the middle of the 11th century
Deerhurst was the principal residence of Earl Odda, one of the most
important men in England during the reign of Edward the Confessor. Odda
died in 1056 soon after the dedication of a second church building now
known as Odda’s chapel. After Odda’s death the parish church and its
estates were given to the monastery of St-Denis near Paris. Deerhurst
became an alien priory, a cell of St-Denis, while Odda’s own lands were
given to Westminster Abbey. Subsequently, after the Norman Conquest,
the division of Deerhurst between two distant landlords meant that it
lost the importance it had hitherto enjoyed. During the Hundred Years
War St-Denis lost control and Deerhurst eventually became a cell of
Tewkesbury Abbey. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the priory
church became a parish church, as it remains to this day. There was a
major restoration of the building in 1861-1862 when many of the
Anglo-Saxon features now visible were discovered. St Mary’s church is
one of the finest and most complete buildings in England to survive
from before the Norman Conquest. A substantial part of the building is
now considered to belong to the first half of the 9th century. There is
some magnificent Anglo-Saxon sculpture, much of it of the 9th century.
The font also belongs to the 9th century. A painted figure of
Anglo-Saxon date is located on a stone panel in the nave. The panel
portrays a saint carrying a book in a veiled hand and is likely the
oldest surviving wall-painting in any church in Britain.[Wikipedia, Friends of Deerhurst Church] Boddington lies 4 miles north-west of Cheltenham beside the road from Cheltenham to Coombe Hill, which marks its north-east boundary. On the west side of the parish, where Boddington Moor provided a large area of meadow common to Boddington and Leigh parishes. Apart from Boddington the parish includes three hamlets: Hayden in the south-east, partly in Staverton parish, Withy Bridge in the north-east, and Barrow on the west side. The parish is flat, lying mainly at c.50 ft., rising to 150 ft. on the south-east side, and to 100 ft. at Barrow Hill. The River Chelt crosses the north part of the parish. In the 17th century the river was known in the parish as Boddington Brook. The parish is on the Lower Lias, which is partly overlain with gravel. Several springs rise from the Lower Lias and springs at Barrow and Hayden have saline waters which were used medicinally in the 18th century. The land has been used mainly for arable farming, and open fields covered the greater part of the parish until inclosure in 1803; there was also a quantity of rich pasture. Boddington village was probably the earliest settlement in the parish, for the names of the other hamlets are not found earlier than the 13th century, while the name Boddington was in use by 1066. The name Boddington suggests that the settlement was originally a single farmstead and it never became a nucleated village. Although Boddington hamlet had the church and the principal manorhouse it remained small. About 1700 Boddington had some six houses. Barrow, first appearing in 1209, may have been used not of a settlement but only of a wood or grove. By 1700 Barrow had nine houses, almost a quarter of all the houses in the parish. Barrow Court, at the southern end of the hamlet, was built in the 18th century. It is a large brick farm-house, called Whitehouse Farm in the early 19th century. By the early 19th century Barrow was a scattered village along a road leading from Boddington hamlet.Barrow was then the biggest settlement in the parish. The name Hayden occurred as a personal name in 1220, presumably indicating the existence of a settlement. By 1700 half the houses in the parish were in Hayden and Withy Bridge tithing. The small settlement at Withy Bridge comprised only the manor-house and buildings associated with it. In 1327 27 people were assessed for tax in Boddington and its hamlets. There were c.100 communicants in 1551, and c.180 in the early 18th century. A small parliamentary garrison occupied Boddington manor-house in 1643, where it was besieged by Sir William Vavasour. There were several freeholders in Boddington manor in the Middle Ages, at least 21 in 1351, and 24 in 1620. Some of the 16th-century freeholders owed heriots, but others only rent and relief. The freehold estates varied in size, but, from the number of them, it seems likely that most were small. Some of the 14 tenants mentioned in 1544 were copyholders. In 1585 31 copyholders were recorded in Boddington, Hayden, Barrow, and Leigh. There were 25 copyholders and lease-holders and 8 tenants at will in 1620. Copyholders owed rent in cash and kind. During the 17th and 18th centuries a number of substantial freehold estates was built up. By the time of inclosure in 1803 about half the occupiers had freehold estates, some of them being among the largest estates in the parish. The conditions of tenure appear to have changed a little. By 1677 copyholds could be held for three lives. The open fields of Boddington, comprising about half the parish, were inclosed with those of Staverton by a single Act and award in 1803. During the 19th century farming continued to be mixed, with a predominance of meadow and pasture which increased towards the end of the century. Boddington formed part of the parish of Deerhurst in the 12th century. Architectural evidence shows that the church at Boddington was built before the end of the 12th century, but no documentary reference to it has been found before 1305. In that year Boddington was served by a chaplain, and the church was probably built as a chapel to Staverton. In 1469 a burial ground was consecrated at Boddington and the church was used for baptisms by 1518 and for marriages by 1656. In 1551 Boddington was served by a chaplain, later to become Vicar of Staverton. In 1563 the churchwardens complained that services were not regular because the vicar served both Boddington and Staverton, and in 1584 sermons were not preached regularly. In the 17th and 18th centuries Boddington usually shared a curate with Staverton. The church of St Mary Magdalene is a stone building with a Cotswold stone roof, and comprises a long, narrow nave, chancel, south porch, north vestry, and a low west tower with a pyramidal roof. The church was built in the 12th century, and the rear arches of the north and south doorways and one narrow, deeply-splayed window in the north wall survive from that time. In the 14th century the west tower of two stages was added. The chancel, heavily restored in the 19th century, was rebuilt in the 14th century. The west part of the nave was rebuilt in the earlier 18th century. A vestry was built in 1865, and the church was restored in the 1870's.[British History] |
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| Forthampton is a straggling village in Gloucestershire, England in the Cotswolds area. The village is located close to the River Severn five miles from the market town of Tewkesbury and features a church, a collection of thatched cottages and farmsteads and a village hall. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. This church is part of the wider Severnside Benefice, which comprises the Parishes of Chaceley, Forthampton, Deerhurst with Apperley, and Tredington with Stoke Orchard and Hardwicke. The church consists of a nave, chancel, north aisle, west tower, and south porch. The tower is 13th Century with massive diagonal west buttresses and a stair-vice on the north-east corner. The tower has three stages and a plain parapet. In the churchyard, there is a whipping post and stocks, west of the church. The post has manacles and stocks for three.[Wikipedia] |
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| Ashchurch
is a village and former civil parish in the Tewkesbury district of
Gloucestershire, England. The parish was originally called Eastchurch,
due to its position east of the parish and town of Tewkesbury, and had
a population of 6,064 at the 2001 UK census. The former Ashchurch
Parish covered the village of Ashchurch, the large Northway estate, and
the settlements of Aston Cross, Aston on Carrant, Pamington and Natton.
The parish once extended even further west to include the area called
Newtown, but this was transferred to Tewkesbury in 1931. The
parish church is dedicated to St Nicholas. Building the church began in
1092 and consecration followed in 1121. Many partly carved pieces of
stone can be found in the walls sugesting that the building used some
of the waste stone from Tewkesbury Abbey. The first recorded service
was for a confirmation in 1145 attended by the Bishop of Worcester. The
church features a long nave having walls that lean outwards reminding
one of a ship's hull. This is a reference to St Nicholas also being the
patron saint of seamen. During the 13th century the north aisle was
added, followed by a fine, pinnacled tower in the 14th century. The oak
rood screen dividing the sanctuary from the nave dates from the 15th
century. The existence of such an ancient screen is rare as many were
destroyed in Cromwellian times.[Wikipedia, St Nicholas] Tewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon. The name Tewkesbury comes from Theoc, the name of a Saxon who founded a hermitage there in the 7th century, and in the Old English tongue was called Theocsbury. Evidence of a church predating the abbey suggests that a considerable settlement rose up on the site previous to the Norman Conquest. Evidence of monastic buildings from the years immediately following the conquest can still be seen surrounding Tewkesbury Abbey, which was begun in 1090 and consecrated in 1121. Tewkesbury was the site of the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471. At the “Bloody Meadow,” south of the town, Edward IV's Yorkist forces defeated the House of Lancaster in a historic battle of the Wars of the Roses with a bloody aftermath. Tewkesbury was incorporated during the reign of Elizabeth I. Historically, Tewkesbury is a market town, serving the local rural area. Tewkesbury has also been a centre for flour milling for many centuries, and the water mill, the older Abbey Mill still stands though it has now been converted for residential use. The town features many notable Tudor buildings, but its major claim to fame is Tewkesbury Abbey, a fine Norman Abbey, originally part of a monastery, which was saved from the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII after being bought by the townspeople for £453 to use as their parish church. The monastery was founded by the Despensers as a family mausoleum, and the tower is believed to be the largest Norman tower still in existence. The tower once had a wooden spire which may have taken the total height of the building to as much as 79 metres, but this was unfortunately lost in a heavy storm on Easter Monday 1559. Tewkesbury claims Gloucestershire's oldest public house, the Black Bear, dating from 1308. Other notable buildings are the Royal Hop Pole Hotel in Church Street, the Bell Hotel, a large half-timbered structure opposite the Abbey gateway, and the House of the Nodding Gables in the High Street. The historic Abbey Cottages are over 500 years old.[Wikipedia] |
