OMBERSLEY

Descriptive Notes:
The parish extends from Crossway Green in the north to Hawford in the south and from the river Salwarpe in the east to the Severn in the west.

At Hadley, next to a 16th century inn, is a bowling green, claimed to be the oldest in the UK. (But the  claim is contested by Southampton Old Bowling Green, which claims to be the oldest bowling green in the world, in use since 1299.)

Status:
Ancient Parish [25]

Location:
O.S. Ref: SO844635
6 miles north of Worcester & 4 miles west of Droitwich on the intersection of the A449 & A4133

The following are hamlets: Acton, 3 miles north of Ombersley and 2½ south of Hartlebury, Boreley is 2 miles N.W., Comhampton is 2½ miles N by W, Dunhampton is 2 miles N by E.; Hadley from 1 to 2 miles east. Holt Fleet is 1½ miles west; Line Holt 3 miles N.W. by N; Northampton 1½ miles N.N.W, Sytchampton 1¾ miles north, and Uphampton 1 mile N.N.W. [57]
Sinton is ½ mile south [11]

Parish Church:
St. Andrew

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction:
Archdeaconry & Diocese of Worcester [1]

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

Poor Law Union:
Droitwich [3] [25]

Adjoining Parishes:
Hartlebury; Elmley Lovett; Doverdale; Westwood Park; Salwarpe; Claines; Grimley; Holt; Shrawley; Astley [1]

Parish Registers:

		Coverage	Source
Microform at WLHC	Christenings	1574-1953	[5]
	Marriages	1574-1959	[5]
	Burials	1574-1950	[5]
	Banns	1754-89	[5]

Bishops' Transcripts:
Begin 1608 Worcestershire Library and History Centre [22]

International Genealogical Index (IGI):
[19]

		Coverage
Parish Registers	Births / Christenings	1574-1877
	Marriages	1574-1882

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
MIs in Bloom's Worcestershire Monumental Inscriptions, part 1 [Manuscript.] - Author: Bloom, J Harvey (trans.) 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.
The findmypast.co.uk website offers access to the 1911 census. This is a Subscription or PayAsYouGo site. 
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 1660-1840 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index

Manorial Records:
Worcestershire Record Office [50]
Abstract of fines and herriots c.1635;Account rolls scattered records 1492-1625; Bailiffs' account roll [1540], 1593-4; Copy of the custom of the manor 1833; Copy of order 1572 relating to the customs of the manor 1935; Court book 1569-81, 1711-1935; Court rolls - extensive records between 1272 & 1710; Custumals [17th cent.]; Extent 16th & 17th cent.; Minute book 1495-59; Pannage rolls 14th-15th cents, 1484-7;Presentments to Court Leet and Court Baron 16th cent.; 1770-97; Proceedings of manorial court of Ombersley (in Evesham Abbey Court Book) 1542, 1543; Rentals 15th cent., 1422-1491 (scattered), 16th cent., 1500, 1525, 1526, 18th cent., 1722-32
Parish Records on microform at Worcestershire Library and History Centre [13]
Register of apprentices 1803-21
Return to be made by the constable on behalf of the Worcestershire Militia of persons aged 18-45 yrs. 1806
Examinations, removals & other papers of the overseers of the poor 19th cent
Book concerning security 7 bastardy expenses 1804-28
Examination, removal orders, settlement papers & other papers of the parish officers 18th & 19th cent.
Examination, removal orders, settlement papers & other papers of the overseers of the poor 18th & 19th cent. (pt 2)
Examination papers, apprenticeship papers, removal orders 17th, 18th & 19th cent.

Schools Records:
The following school records are original documents. Note reference number and contact staff at Worcestershire Record Office:
Handicraft Centre
Log book - 1926 - 42 - Ref: BA 8121/1

Ombersley Endowed First School
Log book - [1875] - 92 - Ref: BA 8121/1

Ombersley Mixed and Infants School
Log book - 1915 - 52 - Ref: BA 8121/1

Ombersley School
Log book - 1903 - 15 - Ref: BA 8121/1

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

Other Sources:
Through changing scenes of life : a millennium of history in Ombersley & Doverdale - Published Leominster : Orphans Press, 1999 - Author: Roelofsz, Eugene Society of Genealogists

Directories:
OMBERSLEY, a parish in the lower division of the hundred of OSWALDSLOW, county of WORCESTER, 4¼ miles (W.) from Droitwich, containing, with the townships of Borley, Hadley with Hay-Elms, Mayeux with Chatley, Northampton-Parsonage with Powers, Ombersley, Sychampton with Brookhampton and Comhampton, Uphampton, Winnall with Acton and Dunhampton, 1814 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at £ 15.7. 3½ , and in the patronage of the Marchioness of Downshire. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, has lately been rebuilt, in the later style of English architecture, and is now one of the most elegant in the county: in the churchyard are the remains of an ancient cross, supported on steps. The river Severn passes through the parish. Here was formerly a market, granted by Edward III, but it has been long disused. A charity school was founded, in 1701, by Thomas Tolley, to which Thomas Baker, in 1722, bequeathed £100, and Richard Lloyd, in 1723, liberally endowed it with land and houses. [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 8th February 2010

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