Elmley Castle

Last updated

Elmley Castle
Cottages in Elmley Castle.jpg
Grooms Cottage
Worcestershire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Elmley Castle
Location within Worcestershire
Population497 
Civil parish
  • Elmley Castle
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Pershore
Postcode district WR10
List of places
UK
England
Worcestershire
52°04′14″N2°01′33″W / 52.070657°N 2.025862°W / 52.070657; -2.025862

Elmley Castle is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, in England, United Kingdom. It is located on the north side of Bredon Hill 3 miles south-east of Pershore in the local government district of Wychavon.

Contents

Amenities and history

The village had a population of 497 in 2001, and retains public amenities such as a bus route, public house, post office, primary school, local shop selling local produce, and church.

The remaining public house is now called "The Queen Elizabeth Inn", after Elizabeth I, who is supposed to have stopped there. According to local legend, Elizabeth I was presented with a hat on her arrival in the village on the road from the nearby town of Pershore. The slope upwards out of the village at that point is still known as 'Besscaps'. [1]

The remains of a stone cross are still present in the centre of the village. Its age is unknown, and a significant portion remains underground.

The church of St. Mary dates from the end of the 11th century, the chancel shows herringbone pattern stonework in the external walls, the font has a 15th-century octagonal bowl on a 13th-century square base decorated with stonecarved serpents and dragons and the church was much added to in succeeding centuries. It contains grand monuments to Thomas, 1st Earl of Coventry and 17th century effigies of members of the Savage family. The decline in local Christian worshippers has led to a reduced service schedule at the church.

Castle

The ruins of an important Norman and medieval castle, from which the village derives its name, are located in the deer park, just over half a mile south, on Bredon Hill. The castle is supposed to have been built by Robert d'Abitot le Despenser in the years following the Norman Conquest. After his death (post 1098) it descended to his brother, Urse the sheriff, and on his death c. 1108, it then fell to his son and heir, Roger d'Abitot, who was unfortunately banished c. 1114, and it was then bestowed upon his sister Emmeline d'Abitots' husband, Walter Beauchamp. It remained in the powerful Beauchamp family as their chief seat until William de Beauchamp inherited the earldom and castle of Warwick from his maternal uncle, William Maudit, 8th Earl of Warwick, in 1268. Thereafter, Elmley Castle remained a secondary property of the Earls of Warwick until it was surrendered to the Crown in 1487. In 1528 the castle seems to have been still habitable, for Walter Walshe was then appointed constable and keeper, and ten years later Urian Brereton succeeded to the office. In 1544, however, prior to the grant to Christopher Savage (d.1545), who had been an Esquire of the Body of King Henry VIII, a survey was made of the manor and castle of Elmley, and it was found that the castle, strongly situated upon a hill surrounded by a ditch and wall, was completely uncovered and in decay. [2]

An Elizabethan stone mansion succeeded the castle, on flatter ground, built for William Savage of Elmley Castle (1554-1616). [3] Queen Elizabeth stayed on 20 August 1575 after visiting Worcester. [4] This building was entirely remodelled in 1702. [5]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Property details for 1 Besscaps Elmley Castle Pershore WR10 3HW - Zoopla".
  2. ↑ "Parishes: Elmley Castle | British History Online".
  3. ↑ Butler,A.T., Windsor Herald, editor, The Visitation of Worcestershire 1634, London, 1938, p.87.
  4. ↑ John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1823), pp. 533, 552.
  5. ↑ "Parishes: Elmley Castle | British History Online".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick</span> 14th/15th-century English noble

Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wychavon</span> Non-metropolitan district in England

Wychavon is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, with a population size of 132,500 according to the 2021 census. Its council is based in the town of Pershore, and the other towns in the district are Droitwich Spa and Evesham. The district extends from the southeast corner of Worcestershire north and west. It borders all the other districts of Worcestershire, as well as the counties of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bredon</span> Human settlement in England

Bredon is a village and civil parish in Wychavon district at the southern edge of Worcestershire in England. It lies on the banks of the River Avon on the lower slopes of Bredon Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bredon Hill</span> Natural feature in Worcestershire, England

Bredon Hill is a hill in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Evesham in the Vale of Evesham. The summit of the hill is in the parish of Kemerton, and it extends over parts of eight other parishes. The hill is geologically part of the Cotswolds and lies within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. However, it now stands isolated in the Vale of Evesham due to natural causes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Worcestershire (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

West Worcestershire is a constituency in Worcestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Harriett Baldwin, a Conservative. The constituency is considered a safe seat for the Conservatives. The constituency boundaries roughly correspond with the Malvern Hills District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beoley</span> Village in Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire

Beoley is a small village and larger civil parish north of Redditch in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire. It adjoins Warwickshire to the east. The 2021 census gave a parish population of 984, mostly at Holt End. The parish includes the hamlet of Portway, adjacent to the A435 road. It adjoins the Redditch suburb of Church Hill and the civil parishes of Alvechurch, Tanworth-in-Arden, Mappleborough Green and Wythall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holt, Worcestershire</span> Human settlement in England

Holt is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of the county of Worcestershire, England. The church is dedicated to St. Martin, and dates from about the 12th century. Holt Bridge, over the River Severn, was designed by Thomas Telford, and opened in 1830.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmley Castle (castle)</span> 11th-century fortification in Worcestershire, England

Elmley Castle was a late 11th-century earthwork and timber castle which received stone additions in the 12th and possibly 13th centuries, located 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south of the village of Elmley Castle and 12 miles (19 km) southeast of the city of Worcester, in Worcestershire. Nothing but the earthworks survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Coventry, 1st Earl of Coventry</span> English politician

Thomas Coventry, 1st Earl of Coventry, became 5th Baron Coventry on the death of his nephew in 1687. He was created 1st Earl of Coventry in 1697. He was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1660 and 1687 when he succeeded to the peerage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlton, Worcestershire</span> Human settlement in England

Charlton is a village in the Wychavon district of the county of Worcestershire, England. During the 2007 United Kingdom floods, many homes were affected for the second time in a decade. Charlton lies between the River Avon and Bredon Hill. Evesham is 3 miles to the east, and Pershore 5 miles to the west, but its postal address is Pershore rather than Evesham. Fladbury and Cropthorne are its neighbouring villages, both within a mile Fladbury is just over the River Avon and Cropthorne up the hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Comberton</span> Human settlement in England

Great Comberton is a village in Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick</span> English nobleman and soldier

William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick was the eldest of eight children of William de Beauchamp of Elmley and his wife Isabel de Mauduit. He was an English nobleman and soldier, described as a “vigorous and innovative military commander." He was active in the field against the Welsh for many years, and at the end of his life campaigned against the Scots.

This is a list of sheriffs and since 1998 high sheriffs of Worcestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croome D'Abitot</span> Human settlement in England

Croome D'Abitot is a village and civil parish, which shares a joint parish council with Severn Stoke, in the Malvern Hills District in the county of Worcestershire, England. The parish church of St Mary Magdalene is situated in the grounds of Croome Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dormston</span> Human settlement in England

Dormston is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Redditch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William (III) de Beauchamp</span> English Baron

William III de Beauchamp of Elmley Castle in Worcestershire, was an English Baron and hereditary Sheriff of Worcestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salwarpe</span> Human settlement in England

Salwarpe is a small village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England, less than two miles south west of Droitwich, but in open country. The name is also spelled Salwarp, and in the time of John Leland was recorded as Salop. Since 2003, Salwarpe has shared a parish council with Hindlip and Martin Hussingtree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter de Beauchamp (Steward to Edward I)</span>

Walter de Beauchamp, of Beauchamp's Court, Alcester in Warwickshire and of Beauchamp Court, Powick in Worcestershire, was Steward of the Household to King Edward I from 1289 to 1303. He was the younger brother of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick (c.1238-1298), the first of his family to hold that title and was the founder of the junior line of the Beauchamp family known as "Beauchamp of Powick".

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.