ELMLEY CASTLE

Descriptive Notes:
Elmley Castle used to have a castle but it was in ruins by the mid sixteenth century and hardly anything now remains. Following the conquest, the Lords of the manor were the d'Abitots. They were followed in the twelfth century by the Beauchamps and in the sixteenth century by the Savages. Bishop Bonner was born here in 1492 and Elizabeth I slept here in 1575. [Source: 'The Castle at Elmley' by David Phillips]

Directories:
ELMLEY-CASTLE, a parish in the middle division of the hundred of OSWALDSLOW, county of WORCESTER, 4¾ miles (W. S. W.) from Evesham, containing 316 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at £5. 6. 5½ , endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Worcester. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains some handsome monuments. On one of the Breedon hills a strong castle was erected, in the reign of William the Conqueror, and destroyed in that of Henry III: a college, or chantry, for eight priests was founded in it by Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in honour of the Blessed Virgin: the site and surrounding moat are still discernible. Henry III granted to this place a weekly market and an annual fair on St. Lawrence's day. Here are quarries of stone, one kind of which is blue, used for the flooring of kitchens. A small stone cross stands within the parish. [Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis]

Status:
Ancient Parish [25]
Abolished ecclesiastically in 1922 to help create Elmley Castle with Bricklehampton Ecclesiastical Parish [25]

Location:
O.S. Ref: SO982410
On the Gloucestershire border, equidistant between Evesham and Pershore, at the foot of the Bredon Hills, about 4 miles S.W. of Evesham and 4 miles S.E. of Pershore

Kersoe is a hamlet, 1½ miles S.E., with several farms. Netherton is a hamlet ¼ mile east; it was ecclesiastically annexed to Elmley Castle in 1864, and is chiefly occupied by farmers. [57]

Parish Church:
St.Mary the Virgin

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

Hundred:
Middle Oswaldslow [11] [25] [28]

Poor Law Union:
Pershore [3] [25]

Adjoining Parishes:
Great Comberton; Little Comberton; Bricklehampton; Cropthorne; Netherton; Hinton on the Green (Gloucestershire); Sedgeberrow; Ashton under Hill (Gloucestershire); Overbury; Kemerton (Gloucestershire) [1]

Parish Registers:

		Coverage	Source
Microform at WLHC	Christenings	1657-1998	[5]
	Marriages	1665-1836	[5]
	Burials	1665-1937	[5]
	Banns	1824-1946	[5]
Transcripts at WLHC	Christenings	1665-1870	[27]
	Marriages	**1665-1836	[27]
	Burials	1665-1932	[27]

** Shelved separately

Bishops' Transcripts:
Begin 1612 Worcestershire Library and History Centre [22]
Transcript: BTs1612-41Worcestershire Library and History Centre [27]

International Genealogical Index (IGI):
[19]

		Coverage
Parish Registers	Births / Christenings	1612-1700; 1703-1812; 1831-1879
	Marriages	1612-1700; 1665-1740; 1743-1836
Bishops' Transcripts	Births / Christenings	1608-1700 (67%)

Register Copies:
At Society of Genealogists [68] :-
Christenings 1813-81, Marriages 1813-36, banns 1823-1946, Burials 1813-1937 [Microfilm.] - Published: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1982
Marriages 1705-40: Worcestershire registers, vol. 1 [Typescript.] - Published , 1994 - Author Wall, F

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
St.Mary BMSGH microfiche [53]
St.Mary Worcestershire Library and History Centre [51]
(St. Mary) : MIs: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 9 [Typescript.] - Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1991 - Authors: Bushell, L & Farmer, G R Society of Genealogists [59]

Census Records:
Access to all the censuses between 1841 and 1901 is now widely available on the library edition of Ancestry.co.uk at most record offices. You are strongly advised to book time on their computers before making a visit.
Many commercial organisations have issued CDs and DVDs covering all the censuses from 1841 to 1901.

Some repositories offer census details on microfiche as listed below:
1841-1901 at Worcestershire Library and History Centre [14]

Search Services (Fee paying) - BMSGH and Independent:
Burial 1665-1850 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index

Manorial Records:
Worcestershire Record Office [50]
Account roll [1399-1400]; Court book 1631; Rent roll 1607-1765; Court rolls 1347-1583; Accounts 1345-1535; Compotus rolls [1401-11]; Rentals 1760-1845; Surveys, valuations, manor books, rent rolls etc 17th -19th cents

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

Other Sources:
"The Castle at Elmley" by David Phillips

The story of Elmley Castle in the county of Worcestershire - Published 1969 - Author: Lloyd, R H Society of Genealogists

---

© Arthur Lewis and contributors 2008
Comments, additions, corrections etc to Arthur Lewis
Last updated on 28th March 2008

---