I wo RmELn D I T S T O W NS H I PS A HISTORY OF T HE PARISH PROMI SAxofND HORMAN " A ND mew we OE S OF LD F MILIE O A S . AND DOCUME NTS O NE ' ‘ C NT AI D IN T HE PARISH CHE S I S. B y J N R ANDA OH LL, ” ofT h e 01d S ort"; and S orts en fe p p m . Li ” " J h n Wil kins on ofR ev: J W ’ c e o , Life ” . Flet h r , Guide to ” ' " Brid north u d to W n ock etc g , G i e e l , . a be had o the A uthor . é nda t e e M f , J R ll , Pos O ce Mad l y fi , y, or o M rs Ca nnon ce Wor eld f , , Qfi t fi . WORF IELDAND ITS TOWNSHIPS A HIST ORY OF T HE PARISH F R OM S AXON AND NOR MAN T I ME S . AND INCLUDING A A ND DO ME T NOT ICE S OF OLD F MILIE S, CU N S CONT AINE D IN T HE PAR ISH CHE ST , B Y JOHN R ANDA LL, “ " m u on o T HE s3.v VALL OLD Sp a s AND SPO R SME N r E Y , m T , J " " W . R o o n m . L E r a us vJ. LE CHE IF on, Lu z on Rm F T , " " I E n m (Inc. G U D T o B mcmonm . Gums T o w ox. PRINTE D AND PUBLISHE D BY T HE AUTHOR AT T HE POST OF F ICE 11 m m “ , SA LO P. U M ottR 15 DE T O THE REA R . T h e reas ons which induced m e to undertake this little work on W orfield were first , because , havin g written a series of articles on IVorfield and its Townships in the Well ington Jam aal friends expressed a wish to see them republished in a condensed and and b ecau s e th e h portabl e form ; , secondly places themselves ave for years so pleasan tly impressed themselves on my mind that I feel h a pleasure in reproducing t em . The late vicar interested himself in collecting facts and noting down events relative to the parish with t d u t a view to their publica ion , but eath p an end to the project , so Hi . far as he was concerned . s w idow , the late Mrs Broadbent , feeling it to be her melancholy duty to carry out the wishes of her t l a e husband , instituted inquiries and collected inform ation with a view of arranging and preparing the whole for the press : but finding hm r n . N r o S . o t a st the task too great , the Rev . B James, M A , Vicar of , was applied to and induced to undertake the work ; the only obj ections to which are that it was published at the high price of 1 0/ and was also deficient in information which could only be obtained by one living near , and making rep eated enquiries and invest W id m i ations . h d g y Mr . Broadbent not ake more use of the contents o f the two old chest- s which stand in the church , and contain \Vorfield documents essential to a history of and its townships , or “ m e how , as the present vicar remarked to , the author of a History of Worfield f could have overlooked them , it is di ficult to understand . t The chests hemselves are consp icuous objects , near to the Bromley m n onuments ; they are from five to six feet in le gth , and pro s i portionately wide and deep , curio ities in themselves , hav ng the appearance of having com e down from a high antiquity . If he did s ee h m them , how he could ave restrained his curiosity to have the o . pened I cannot imagine They are as old , I should think , as the ’ . J oldest document they contain . Mr ames s book ap peared just ten am years ago ; but these chests have not been opened , I told by n a a . d . the Churchwarde s , for twenty ye rs p st This I can rea ily believe , for the keys were so rusty , and the locks also , that it took us an We n ot hour to unlock one . did succeed however in opening the w second chest till some months afterwards , hen I obtained the 545222 L f E N C / J i l l o / l a . 4 ass i an e m Mr n had to st c of the s ith , . John Turner , of Hallo , who 0 5 s O had t r the take the hinge to get it pen . I his chest ca ried into Re ading Room and having made an appointment with the R ev. to r va T Mayo be p esent , we , with the consent of the i c r, took out n e m th e co t nts , which were in a dirty, da p , and disorderly condition , ' nd to b e a conveyed them to that gentleman s res iden ce at Bromley , as o . s rted , cleaned , an d put in better order for preservation in future I regret h owever that I have not been able to avail myself of any of the thes e documents in time for this publication , in consequen ce of l " dimcu ty of obtaining translations of such a multi tudinous m ass , r M and I m n as M . ayo terms them , leave with regret this rich i e for L i n MP . some more fortunate explorer, when . as Mr . Stanley e ghto , " in his admirable paper “ on the preservation of ancient monuments seem s s to b e in con s to ugge t , there shall , as there ought , either n ction o S e with the county, or our Shropshire Arch aeol gical ociety in s Mr n some adept these matter appointed . Leighto remarks In thes e days of unlimited educational progress there are very few am n people, even o gst those eligible young men who profess to b e u a desirous of t rning their br ins to anything, who can re ad a manu un ar are r are script two h dred ye s old . There still fewe who ’ ac u i t diflerent - q a n ed with the hand writings of the earlier periods. I have o ften thought that we ought to have attached to this society a re ader of ancient manuscripts whom we could recommend to any person des irous of h aving the manuscripts in his possess ion calen r an s uch da ed . I fear there is notin this county of Salop y ” s na r n profes io l pe so . v en r n n ar th Onl y 400 copies of th is work ha e be p i ted . e ly e l a r the c whole of which are subscribed for , at / e ch ; to othe s pri e b e had . n of the book will be Thes e m ay of the auth or, J R a dall , ffi d Mrs . ann Ofli ce Worfield . Pos t O ce, Ma eley , or of C on , Post , r 1 887 . Medel ey , Octobe , 33 s ub its Edwina i a 1at p . CHAPT E R I . — — Firs t impres s ions ofWorfiel d Worfield in Saxon and Norman tw ee A Royal . ano — a o s : eo A a H u on om th e b i M r E rly L rd L fric, lg r, gh M tg ery , re ell ous Ear l ob e and o s wn to th e W mo s and su c ss o th e R rt , ther do hit re their c e r, presen t S ofA quire p ley. Y first impressions of Worfiel d were published nearly a quarter of n a century ago , and havi g been thought worthy of quotation by Mr. James i n his book , they might be reproduced here . I then said “ r el d Wo fi , is one of the prettiest villages the Midlan d Counties m boast , and its church is a fine speci en of the style of Architecture current during one of the most interesting periods of our history . The village is the centre of a cluster of out - lying townships and h as . h amlets, eac as primitive and rural itself It stands on the river rfe Morf W o , on the verge of what in Norman times was called e Forest . Its population and that of its townships have remained stationary , and the occupations followed are pretty much the same as those which engaged the attention of the villagers a thousan d Worfiel d years ago . The lofty spire of church is a l andmark well known to travellers by the high road from Wolverhampton to Bridgnorth , and t o those who have driven along the wide sandy lanes within some miles of it . It shows where the village st ands amid the trees ; it marks too the spot where a christian fane was r aised when human habitations began to rise amid the darkness of surrounding woods , and men inured to the extremes of cold an d hunger came forth to rear among heathen settlers s house o f prayer .