TARDEBIGGE

Descriptive Notes:
There are records of a Saxon church in 974 A.D., the name Tardebigge means 'tower on the hill'. The tower of a Norman church which replaced it in the 11th century collapsed in 1775 and the present building, except the chancel, was completed in 1777. The Cookes memorial survives from the Norman church. St Bartholomew's Church is on a hill overlooking the Worcester and Birmingham Canal which extends 30 miles from Gas Street Basin in Birmingham to Diglis Basin in Worcester.
The canal is level from Birmingham to Tardebigge New Wharf situated below the church, then it descends by 58 locks to the River Severn. The series of 30 locks from the New Wharf to Stoke Prior (known as the Tardebigge Flight) is the largest concentration of narrow locks in the country. Of the five tunnels on the canal, two lie within the parish, Shortwood Tunnel (613 yards long) and Tardebigge Tunnel (580 yards long). Between the two tunnels lies Tardebigge Old Wharf, now the location of a boat-hire business.

Directories:

TARDEBIGG, a parish partly in the Alcester division of the hundred of BARLICHWAY, county of WARWICK, but chiefly in the upper division of the hundred of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, 3 miles (E.S.E.) from Bromsgrove, containing, with the hamlets of Bentley, Redditch, Tutnal with Cobley, and Wibheatb-Yields, 3458 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 Earl of Plymouth. The church is dedicated to St. Bartholomew. At Redditch, in this parish, is a manufacture of needles and fish-hooks. The Birmingham and Worcester canal passes through a short tunnel in the parish. [Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis]

BORDESLEY, a hamlet in that part of the parish of TARDEBIGG which is in the upper division of the hundred of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, 5½ miles (E. S. E.) from Bromsgrove. The population is returned with the parish. A Cistercian abbey, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was built in 1138, by the Empress Matilda, the revenue of which, a short time previously to the dissolution, was estimated at £392. 8. 6.: the chapel, dedicated to St. Stephen, which subsisted for some time afterwards, formed part of it. [Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis]

Status:
Ancient Parish [25]
Medieval status in Warwickshire, Staffordshire & Worcestershire varied at different times, thereafter entirely Worcestershire (Halfshire Hundred), except for the township of Tutnall & Cobley (Warwickshire, Barlinchway Hundred, transferred to Worcestershire in 1844 for civil purposes (Halfshire Hundred)). Included in Worcestershire were a chapel at Redditch (a separate Civil Parish in 1866, and a separate Ecclesiastical Parish in 1855) and the townships of Bentley Pauncefoot & Webheath (each a separate Civil Parish in 1866) so that Tardebigge was entirely Worcestershire in 1844-66 and had no separate civil identity after 1866. [25]

Location:
O.S. Ref: SO995691
3 miles east of Bromsgrove & 2¾ miles west of Redditch

Tardebigge comprehends within its parochial boundaries the hamlet of Tutnall [1½ miles N.W.] and Cobley [2 miles N.E.] (formerly a detached part of Warwickshire), as well as the townships of Bentley Pauncefoot, Web Heath and Redditch, exclusive of the ecclesiastical parish of Redditch. [57]

Parish Church:
St. Bartholomew
Bordesley Abbey Chapel: St. Stephen

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction:
Archdeaconry & Diocese of Worcester until 1921, Archdeaconry of Dudley & Diocese of Worcester (1921 - *) [1] [25]

Hundred: Part in Alcester division of Barlichway, Warwickshire but chiefly in Upper Halfshire, Worcestershire [44] [11] [25] [28]

Poor Law Union:
'Tardebigge' was separately rated for poor law purposes at creation of Bromsgrove Poor Law Union but each of the 4 units separated soon after 1836 and 'Tardebigge' no longer had a separate poor law status. [3] [25]

Adjoining Parishes:
Bromsgrove; Alvechurch; Bordesley; Redditch; Feckenham; Hanbury; Stoke Prior [1]

Parish Registers:

		Coverage	Source
Microform at WLHC	Christenings	1566-1971	[5]
	Marriages	1566-1969	[5]
	Burials	1579-1971	[5]
	Banns	1754,1822-45,1846-1907, 1909-29,1946-60	[5]
Transcripts at WLHC	Christenings	Index to baptisms 1858-1968	[27]
Originals at WRO	Banns	1754 - [55]; 1823-1960	[12]

Bordesley
Parish Registers:
The Cistercian monastery of Bordesley was founded by Waleran de Beaumont between 1138 & 1140 in the clayland of north-east Worcestershire (& now on the outskirts of Redditch). Bordesley came under Tardebigge.[5]

		Coverage	Source
Microform at WLHC	Christenings	1704-69	[5]
	Marriages	1722-50	[5]
	Burials	1713-69	[5]
Transcripts at WLHC	Christenings	Index to baptisms 1858-1968	[27]
Originals at WRO	Christenings	C1704-70	[12]

Bishops' Transcripts:
Begin 1613 Worcestershire Library and History Centre [22]

International Genealogical Index (IGI):
[19]

		Coverage
Parish Registers	Births / Christenings	1813-1875
	Marriages	1730-1882

Register Copies:
At Society of Genealogists [68] :-
Tardebigge : Christenings 1566-1812, Marriages 1566-1837, Burials 1579-1812 [Microfilm.] - Published Salt Lake City : Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971
Tardebigge : Christenings 1813-57, Marriages 1837-1908, Burials 1813-67 [Microfilm.] - Published Salt Lake City : Genealogical Society of Utah

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents:
St.Bartholomew BMSGH microfiche [53]
St.Bartholomew Worcestershire Library and History Centre [51]
St. Bartholomew: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 6 [Typescript.] - Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1987 - Author Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (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.
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 51 61 81 at Worcestershire Library and History Centre [14]
See also Tutnall & Cobley
1851 - 91 Redditch Library
1841 Warwickshire Record Office

At Society of Genealogists :-
1851 Census Worcestershire, vol. 10 Bromsgrove transcript & surname index : part 1 Stoke Prior & Bromsgrove (part); part 2 Belbroughton, Clent, Hagley, Pedmore, Frankley, Hunnington, Romsley, Tutnall & Cobley, Bromsgrove (part); part 3 Tardebigg, Tutnal & Cobley, Bentley Pauncefoot, Webheath, Redditch & Alvechurch - Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1993-5 - Author: Friend, A F (trans.)

1871 census Greater Birmingham (part) plus Budbrooke, Dunchurch & Leamington surname & folio index plus images of the folios for pieces RG 10/2968-2974, 3076-3086, 3088-3089, 3119, 3134-3160 & 3187-3193 [CD-ROM] - Published Birmingham: Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry 2004 - Author: Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry

Search Services (Fee paying) - BMSGH and Independent:
Burial St Bartholomew: 1695-1840; Bordesley Chapelry: 1713-69 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index

Manorial Records:
Worcestershire Record Office [50]
Bordesley: Detailed survey of Manor 1561

Parish Records on microform at Worcestershire Library and History Centre [13]
Vestry minute books 1850-1921
Church rate book of Bentley & Webheath [1868]
Rent charge and tithe rent charge book 1869-83, 1884-1906
Bentley Church minute book 1958-60

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© Arthur Lewis and contributors 2008
Comments, additions, corrections etc to Arthur Lewis
Last updated on 3rd April 2008

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