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

Register Copies:
At BMSGH Reference Library [7]
Baptisms 1813-1873 Marriages 1813-1876 Burials 1813-1851
Baptisms 1874-1907, Marriages 1876-1918, Burials 1851-1917
Baptisms 1907-1953, Marriages 1918-1959, Burials 1917-1950
Baptisms A-Z 1771-1812
Baptisms Marriages and Burials 1574-1753 Baptisms and Burials 1753-1812 Marriages 1754-1812 banns 1771

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
OMBERSLEY : Monumental Inscriptions: in Bloom's Worcestershire Monumental Inscriptions, part 1 [Manuscript.]   IN: Bloom's Worcestershire Monumental Inscriptions, part 1   Published , Nd.   Author Bloom, J Harvey (transcription.) Society of Genealogists [59]

War Memorials:
For the names of those commemorated on a War Memorial at  St Andrew's Church see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/Casualties/ListByMemorial/Ombersley St Andrew's Church

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 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 Source Review. 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 6th July 2011

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