White Ladies Aston

Descriptive Notes

In the earliest days of it's existence the parish was known as Aston Episcopi [or 'Bishop's Aston' ].
The parish was named after the Cistercian Nunnery of Whistones, to the North of Worcester, which held the manor from the mid-13th century until the Dissolution. On 28th August 1651Cromwell stayed a night at a house in White Ladies Aston before the battle of Worcester.

Status

Ancient Parish [25]
Abolished ecclesiastically in 1924 to help create White Ladies Aston with Churchill Ecclesiastical Parish. [25]

Location

O.S. Ref: SO922527
6 miles S.E. of Worcester & 5 miles N.W. of Pershore, between the A422 & A4538

Parish Church

St. John Baptist

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction

Archdeaconry & Diocese of Worcester [1] [25]

Hundred

Lower Oswaldslow [11] [25] [28]

Poor Law Union

Pershore [3] [25]

Parish Registers at Worcestershire Archives

[Contact details]

    Coverage Source
Microform Christenings 1558-1966 [5]
  Marriages 1559-1966 [5]
  Burials 1559-1966 [5]
  Banns 1824-1948 [5]
Originals Marriages M1559-1975 [12]

Bishops' Transcripts

Begin 1604 Worcestershire Archives [22]

International Genealogical Index (IGI)

[19]

    Coverage
Parish Registers Births / Christenings 1558-1875
  Marriages 1813-1882

Register Copies

At Society of Genealogists [68]
Christenings 1558-1840, Marriages 1559-1706, 1719-1839, Burials 1559-1709, 1718-1840: Worcestershire registers, vol. 1 [Typescript.] - Published , 1993 - Author: Mulholland, J H (trans.)

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents

At BMSGH Shop
St.John the Baptist

At BMSGH Reference Library [7]
St.John the Baptist

At Worcestershire Archives [51]
St.John the Baptist

At Society of Genealogists [59]
St. John the Baptist: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 9 [Typescript.] - Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1991 - Author: Somerton, D K (trans.)

War Memorials

For the names of those included on a WW1 memorial at St. John the Baptist Church see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/memorial/white-ladies-aston-st-john-the-baptist-church-ww1-memorial/

For a WW1 memorial to Hamilton Stanley Sherwood at St. John the Baptist Church see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/memorial/white-ladies-aston-st-john-the-baptist-sherwood-memorial/

For a memorial cross to Hamilton Stanley Sherwood at St. John the Baptist Church see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/memorial/white-ladies-aston-st-john-the-baptist-sherwood-memorial-cross//

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 Archives, 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 Archives [14]

Search Services (Fee paying) - BMSGH and Independent

Burial1660-1840 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index

Manorial Records

Worcestershire Archives [50]
Aston Episcopi: Manor books 1781-1860, 18th cent.; Parliamentary survey 17th cent.; Surveys, valuations, manor books, rent rolls etc 17th-19th cents.
Bishop's Aston: Rental 1695-1702, 1759-c.1805
Kempsey with Aston Episcopi: Court rolls 1664
White Ladies Aston: Stewards' accounts 1808-33

Parish Records on microform

At Worcestershire Archives [13]
Overseers of the poor accounts 1815-56
Poor rate assessment 1826
Vestry & parish meeting minutes 1842-83
Vestry, parish & PCC meeting minutes 1842-1948
Poor rate books 1862-64
Highway rate books 1862-64
Highway rate book 1862-64
Poor law assessment valuation 1862
List of services & preachers 1911-24

Directories

An extract from the Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis:

ASTON (WHITE LADIES), a parish in the lower division of the hundred of OSWALDSLOW, county of WORCESTER, 5 miles (E. S.E,) from Worcester, containing 342 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Bishop of Worcester, rated in the king's books at £6. 17. 3½ and in the patronage of R. Berkeley, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. In the manor-house Oliver Cromwell fixed his head-quarters the night before the battle of Worcester.

Last Updated: 04/11/2016