nmECTORY.] . ALVECHUR0H. 19 is a township and chapelry in the parish of Richaru :xathal1iel Kane :Y1..1. of Oriel College, Oxforu, , 2 miles south-east from station on J.P. who l'e'Sides at Suckley. Alfrick Court is the pro­ the Worcester and Bromyard branch of the Great Western perty & re:;idence of Rdward Wallace Evans esq. Lady railway, 7! west from Worcester and 7 east from Brom­ Henry ~omerset, of Eaostnor Castle, Ledbury, who i'S yard, in the Western division of the county, hundred of lady of the manor, Etlward 'Wallace Evans esq. and ~Ir. Upper , union, Worcester petty ses­ Richard .xotley, are the principal landowners. The soil sional division and county court district, rural deanery of is loam and clay; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are , and archdeaconry and diocese of ·Worcester. Old wheat, barley and beans, "With some land in pasture. Storridge Hill is 372 feet above the sea level. The church The area i;; 1,665 acres; l':lteable value, £2,148; the of St. Mary is a small and plain building of stone in the population in 1891 was 375. Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, north Parish Clerk, William ~Iorris. . transept, south porch, vestry and a wooden tower at the 'Vull Letter Box, near Church, cleared at 7.20 p.lll. "West ena with a small spire, and containing 4 bells: on Letters through lYorcester are delivered about 7 a.rn. the south side of the tower is a sun-dial, inscribed " On The nearest money order office is at Knightwick, &; this moment hangs eternity:" the chancel retains a the nearest telegraph office it at Suckle] piscina: in 1885 the church was restored, re-seated, the \Vall Letter Box, Pound End, cleared at 7.10 p.m roof opened out, the ancient rood screen renovated and a A School Board of 7 members was fmmed November 13. north transept built, at a cost of £1,500: there are ISO 1874, for the united district of Alfrick, &. sittings. The register dates from the year 1655, but Suckley; A. W. Knott, Worcester, clerk to the board; some entries relating to this place are in the registers of Thomas Dovey, jun. attendance officer Suckley. The living is a chapelry, annexed, together with Board School, for Alfrick &LuIsley, built in 1874, at a cost that of Lulsley, to the rectory of Suckley, joint net of £1,400, for 130 children; average attendance, go; yearly value £212, including 16 acres of glebe, in the Lewis Lloyd, master gift of the Crown, and held since 1882 by the Rev. Carrier to Worcester.-William Packwood, sat Allies Mrs. BeweIl Caswell In. shopkpr'. & wheelwright Packwood William, farmer &; carrier Evans Edward Wallace, Alfrick court Cross George, farmer, Catterhall Pullin James, farmer &; hop grower, Smvthe• Rev. F. H. Dunville RA. Dovey Thomas, carpenter MilIham (curate of St. Mary's) Higgins Fredk. blacksmith, Clay grn Spencer Elizabeth (Mrs.), farmer Williama Mrs. Cherry Green Higginson Thos. farmT. &; blacksmith StalIard Thomas, New inn P.H COMMERCIAL. Lewis George, farmer, Crews nill WadeJames,clerk to the parish cound Berrow Thos. farmer, Newhouse farm Lightband John, Swan P.H 1Vnll John A. S. beer ret.l& shopkeeper Bevan James, farmer, Norgroves Matthews Wm. farmer, Cherry orchd Williams Fras. farmer & hop grower, Brooks Joshua, farmer, Folly Notley Job, miller (water) (seed & The Napp Burrows Thos. gamekpr. to Wallace flour), farmer & hop grower IWillin1118 Jas. farmer, Yarrington farm Evans esq Nicholas John, shoe maker

ALVECHURCH, with , BARNT GREEN, FOREHILL, HOPWOOD and. LEA END. is an ancient village, formerly a borough, £500, including 98 acres of glebe, with resi. giving name to an extensive parish and has a station on dence, in the gift of the Bishop of ·Worcester,. the branch of the Midland railway, 3 miles north and held since 1894 by the Ven. William Walters from Redditch, 4! north-west from , 10 south M.A. of Christ Church Oxford, and archdeacon of \Vor­ from , 12 north-west from , 20! north cester. A rectory house was built in 1872 from designs from and 127 from , in the Eastern divi- by W. Butterfield esq. There is a Baptist chapel here, sion of the county, Middle Oswaldslow hundred, Broms- built iu 1860. Charities: Nicholas Lewknor founded grove union, Redditch petty sessional division and county and endowed a hospital for seven men and two women,. court district, rural deanery of Bromsgrove, and arch- who receive the !Sum of £33 6s. 8d. amon!; them; Mrs. deaconry and diocese of Worcester. The Birmingham Christian Smith, 20S.; Thomas Joliffe, the interest of and Worcester canal, on which are several wharves, and £20, for poor not receiving parochial relief; Job Marston, the river Arrow run through the parish. The ea.rliest £20; and Mr. John Smith, the rents of tenements in mention of Alvechurch is in King Offa',s two charters of London street, Alvechurch, "to poor not receiving parish donation to the monastery of Bredon, in this county, in pay;" the Rev. Dr. Worth, 1742, left £100 for tue charity the year 780. The church of St. Lawrence is a building school; Edward Moore, Sos.; Mrs. Mary Moore, the of stone, and was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower interest of £25; the Rev. John Welch, the interest of £50' and a portion of the north aisle, in 186[, at a cost of to the poor, and £20 for education; and William Smith,. £3,200, from the designs of William Butterfield esq. archi- gentleman, left the ~nterest of £50 to the poor. The' tect, of London, and consists of clerestoried chancel of Bishops of Worcester had a ,seat or palace here in the 12th two bays, with aisles, nave of three ba.ys, aisles, south century, and the remains of the moat still exist. The fair porch and an embattled western tower, with open parapet is held on the first Wednesday in May. and statute fair • and 12 pinnacles, and containing a clock and 8 bells: the on the first Wednesday in October. The Ecclesiastical church retains aNorman arcade and doorway: the chancel Commissioners are lord~ of the manor. The principal has been restored in the Early English style, and its landownl:'rs are Lord Winrhur, of Hewell Grange, Lieut.­ original lancets reproduced: the east window is a richly Col. Henry C. Geast· Dugdale, Rev. Thomas Hassall moulded and shafted triplet, and has below it a reredos Mynors RA. of Weatheroak Hall, and \Villiam Charles of alabaster and encaustic tilps: there is a. low chancel Alston esq. of EIindon Hall, near Birmingham, the screen, formed out of the ancient rood !Screen; three devisees of ~Ir. John Boulton, Harry William Boulton windows in the aisles are filled with stained glass by Mr. esq. the Ecclesiastirol Commissioners. Charles G. Beale . Gibbs and Mr. Preedy; the west window was erected in esq. WaIter ,"Villiam 1Viggin e<;q. J.P. Forehill. The commemoration of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee; the soil is stiff clay; subsoil, clay and marl. The crops are font, a work of beautiful design and execution, is a wheat, oats and beans; about two-thirds of the parish memorial to Mrs. Sandford, first wife of the is pasture. The area is about 6,747 acres; rateable late Ven. Archdeacon Sandford: the old cross in value, £12,633; the population in 18g1 was 1,774 in the' the chnrchyard has also been restored, as a manu- civil, and 1,633 in the ecclesiastical parish. ment of gratitude to the late Baroness Windsor (who Rowney Green is a hamlet, 2 miles south-east. The largely contributed towards the restoration and died 9th Mission chapel, erected in 1862, is a building of iron and ; November, 1869), and in memory of her sons, the Hon. wood, seating ISO persons, and there is also a Wesleyan Robert Windsor-Clive M.P. who died 4th August, 1859, chapel. Bordesley Hall, the property of Col. H. O. Geast and the Hon. William Windsor-Clive, who wa.s killed in a Dugdale, and now in the occupation of James Balleny­ railway accident, 24th September, 1857: beneath an arch Elkington esq. J.P. is in 3 park of nearly 200 acres; the in the north wall is the recumbent cross-legged effigy of views obtained from the house are extensive and pic­ a knight in armour, with shield and sword, assigned to turesque. The Forehill House is the residence of WaIter Sir John de Blanchfort, 1346, and there is also a brass in William Wiggin esq. J.P. memory of Philip Chattwyn, 1524, So gentleman usher W :Barnt Green is 3 hamlet, 11 miles north-west. The Henry VIII. with effigy and arms; and an inscription on Birmingham and Bristol railway has a junction station brass to Richard Aston, 1684; there are also monuments Ihere, II miles south-east from Birmingham, IS! north­ to Edward Moore esq. 1746, and to Dixie Hollington, east from Worcester and I23~ from London. ForehiU 1690: several of the windows are stained: the church (or Forrill) is a hamlet, 2! miles north. Hopwood is So affords 600 sittings. The register dates from about the hamlet, 2 miles north. The Westheatk tunnel of th6 year 1570. The living is a rectory, net yearly value I Worcester and Birmhlgham canal runs from here near!! WQROS. 2*