ELMLEY CASTLE

Index
Descriptive Notes
Status
Location
Parish Church
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction
Hundred
Poor Law Union
Adjoining Parishes
Parish Registers
Bishops' Transcripts
International Genealogical Index (IGI)
Register Copies
Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents
Census Records
Search Services (Fee paying)
Manorial Records
Schools Records
Other Sources
Directories

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]

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 BMSGH Reference Library [7]
Baptisms 1813-1881 Marriages 1813-1836 Burials 1813-1937 Banns 1823-1946
 
At Society of Genealogists [68] :-
ELMLEY CASTLE : Christenings 1813-81, Marriages 1813-36, banns 1823-1946, B 1813-1937 [Microfilm.]   Published Salt Lake City : Genealogical Society of Utah, 1982

ELMLEY CASTLE : Marriages 1705-40: Worcestershire registers, vol. 1 [Typescript.]   IN: Worcestershire registers, vol. 1   Published , 1994   Author Wall, F (transcriptions)

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
At BMSGH Shop
St.Mary

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

At Society of Genealogists [59]
ELMLEY CASTLE (St. Mary) : Monumental Inscriptions: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 9 [Typescript.]   IN: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 9   Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1991   Author Bushell, L (transcriptions)   Author Farmer, G R (transcriptions) Source D: Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry

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 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 parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, Elmley Castle   Published , 1980       Edition 3rd repr. of 1958 book Source D: S K Minney   Location Worcestershire tracts box 

The story of Elmley Castle in the county of Worcestershire   Published 1969   Author Lloyd, R H        Edition 3rd edn Source D: L Weinstein. Society of Genealogists

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]

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© Arthur Lewis and contributors 2008
Comments, additions, corrections etc to Arthur Lewis
Last updated on 12th December 2011

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