CLEEVE PRIOR

Descriptive Notes:
Also known as Priors Cleeve
In the 17th century a Thomas Bushell, born in Cleeve Prior in 1594, became the lessee of the royal mines in Cardigan, Wales. He founded a mint in Aberystwyth Castle, where silver coins were minted between 1639-1642.

Status:
Ancient Parish [25]

Location:
O.S. Ref: SP088493
On the Warwickshire border of the county, 5 miles N.E. of Evesham
Oden [Hoden], the name of two farms is 1 mile S.E. [57]

Parish Church:
St. Andrew

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction:
Archdeaconry & Diocese of Worcester [1] [25]

Hundred:
In Upper Oswaldslow, though locally in Upper Blackenhurst [11] [25] [44] [28]

Poor Law Union:
Evesham [3] [25]

Adjoining Parishes: Salford Priors (Warwickshire); Bidford (Warwickshire); Welford (Gloucestershire); Dorsington (Gloucestershire); Pebworth (Gloucestershire); North & Middle Littleton [1]

Parish Registers:

		Coverage	Source
Microform at WLHC	Christenings	1598-1965	[5]
	Marriages	1599-1965	[5]
	Burials	1599-1964	[5]
	Banns	1754-1812	[5]
Transcripts at WLHC	Christenings	1598-1894	[27]
	Marriages	1599-1900	[27]
		1599-1837	[27] [21]
	Burials	1598-1900	[27]
Originals at WRO	Banns	1823 - 1962	[12]

Bishops' Transcripts:
Begin 1612 Worcestershire Library and History Centre [22]

International Genealogical Index (IGI):
[19]

		Coverage
Parish Registers	Births / Christenings	1598-1875
	Marriages	1599-1875

Register Copies:
At Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Record Office [71]
Christenings 1598-1793 Marriages 1599-1837 Burials 1598-1640, 1661-1812

At Society of Genealogists [68] :
CLEEVE PRIOR : Marriages 1599-1640, 1662-78, 1695-1837: Phillimore's parish register series, vol. 100 - Worcestershire, vol. 2 [CD-ROM]   IN: Phillimore's parish register series, vol. 100 - Worcestershire, vol. 2   Published London : Phillimore & Co Ltd, 1910   Author Phillimore, W P W ed.

CLEEVE PRIOR : Marriages(Index) 1651-75: Boyd's marriage index [Typescript.]   IN: Boyd's marriage index   Published , 1925-55   Author Boyd, Percival ed.  Source D: P Boyd.

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
A BMSGH Shopt
St.Andrew

At BMSGH Reference Library [7]
St.Andrew

At Worcestershire Library and History Centre [51]
St.Andrew

At Society of Genealogists [59]
CLEEVE PRIOR (St. Andrew) : Monumental Inscriptions: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 2 [Typescript.]   IN: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 2   Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1983   Author Newman, Oliver (transcriptions)

Census Records:
All the censuses between 1841 and 1901 are now available on a number of fee-paying (Subscription or PayAsYouGo) sites including Ancestry.co.uk, FindMyPast.co.uk, thegenealogist.co.uk and genesreunited.co.uk. The 1911 census is available in full or in part on some of these sites. We are unable to advise on the choice of site since researchers' personal preferences will be influenced by the content and search facilities offered by each site. Some sites offer a free trial.

Access to the library edition of Ancestry.co.uk is widely available at most record offices, including Worcestershire Library and History Centre, and some libraries. You are advised to book time on their computers before making a visit. 

A free-to-view site is being developed at freecen.org.uk for the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 censuses.  Coverage of Worcestershire parishes is rather sparse at this time.

Census returns can usually be viewed at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Family History Centres.

Some repositories offer census details on microform, disc or printed copy. These include:
1841-1901 at Worcestershire Library and History Centre [14]

Search Services (Fee paying) - BMSGH and Independent:
Burial 1599-1851 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index

Manorial Records:
Worcestershire Record Office [50]
Manor books 18th and 19th cents
Cleeve Prior and Broadmarston: Manor Court Books (draft) 1812-1907

Schools Records:
The following school records are original documents. Note reference number and contact staff at Worcestershire Record Office:
Cleeve Prior C E (Controlled) School
Log book - 1904-59 - Ref: BA 9284/1(ii)

A handlist of other records of schools and of other educational establishments held by Worcestershire Record Office for this parish can be found here.

Directories:
CLEEVE (PRIOR'S), a parish in the upper division of the hundred of OSWALDSLOW, locally in the upper division of that of Blackenhurst, county of WORCESTER, 5½ miles (N. E.) from Evesham, containing 343 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at £8, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. The church is dedicated to St. Andrew. The village is situated on an eminence, but the grounds immediately round it are flat, and the meadows on the banks of the Avon, which receives the Arrow, and enters Worcestershire from this parish, are sometimes subject to floods. The parish contains blue limestone; and there are quarries of valuable paving stone, and a species of marble which bears a polish like the Derbyshire marble; in working one of which, in 1812, two earthen jars of Roman coins, one containing gold and the other silver, principally of the reigns of Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, and in good preservation, were found at the depth of three feet from the surface. [Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis]

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© Arthur Lewis and contributors 2008
Comments, additions, corrections etc to Arthur Lewis
Last updated on 11th December 2011

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