Ombersley is a village and civil parish in Wychavon district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Holt Fleet, where Telford's 1828 Holt Fleet Bridge crosses the River Severn. The 2011 census recorded a population of 2,360 for the parish.[1]
| Ombersley | |
|---|---|
Mar2006.jpg) The Kings Arms, Ombersley | |
  Ombersley Location within Worcestershire | |
| OS grid reference | SO844635 |
| • London | 103 miles |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DROITWICH |
| Postcode district | WR9 |
| Dialling code | 01905 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
History
editThe first known reference to the village[2] was the granting of a Charter to Abbot Egwin, later Saint Egwin, of Evesham Abbey in 706 AD. This was the Charter of King Æthelweard of the Hwicce, which granted twelve cassates in Ombersley to the Benedictine Abbey at Evesham.[3]
During the reign of William the Conqueror, the Domesday Book indicates the village was within an exclave of the ancient hundred of Fishborough in 1086 and remained the property of the Abbey of Evesham (Saint Mary).[4] It remained the property of the abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the early 16th century. By 1848 the village was within the parish of Ombersley (St. Ambrose), in the hundred of Oswaldslow.[5]
Royal forest
editOmbersley was part of a Royal forest until 1229. The forest gives the village its name.[6]
Ombersley Court
editOmbersley Court is traditional home of the Lords Sandys, many of whom are buried in the family mausoleum in the churchyard of St Andrew's parish church. When St Andrew's was built in its current form between 1825 and 1829, the chancel of the old church was adapted for use as mausoleum for the lords of the manor.[7] The architect of the church was Thomas Rickman; the cost of building was £18,000 of which two-thirds was contributed by Mary Sandys, dowager Marchioness of Downshire.[8] It is grade I listed. [9]
Governance
editSince 1973 there has been a combined parish council for Ombersley and Doverdale. The parish council website, as of April 2022[update], states that "combining of the Parishes of Ombersley and Doverdale in 1973 created one of the largest parishes in Worcestershire",[10] and the Neighbourhood Development Plan refers (eg page 5) to "the parish of Ombersley and Doverdale",[11] but other sources - Office for National Statistics, Ordnance Survey, MapIt,[12] NHLE[13] - indicate that the two parishes still exist as separate entities.
Ombersley is in Wychavon district of the county of Worcestershire, and in the parliamentary constituency of Mid Worcestershire
Geography
editOmbersley is 6 miles north of Worcester, 4 miles west of Droitwich, and 10 miles south of Kidderminster on the intersection of the A449 & A4133. The western boundary of the parish is the River Severn; to the east, Hadley Brook forms much of the boundary with the parish of Doverdale in the east, and the River Salwarpe, to the north of the Droitwich Canal, forms the southern boundary before it joins the Severn.
Listed buildings
editAs of April 2022[update] there are 151 listed buildings in the parish. Ombersley Court is grade I listed, five buildings are grade II* listed and 145 are at grade II.[14]
Notes
edit- ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Ombersley Parish (E04010421)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics.
- ^ Article about Ombersley, The Birmingham Post (May 2006)
- ^ University of London & History of Parliament Trust (2003–2007). "Houses of Benedictine monks - Abbey of Evesham". British History Online. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
- ^ Open Domesday Online: Ombersley, accessed November 2017.
- ^ A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848. Pages 476-79.
- ^ "Parishes: Ombersley | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- ^ Sandys Mausoleum
- ^ Goodall, John (2015). Parish Church Treasures. London: Bloomsbury; p. 248
- ^ Historic England. "Ombersley Court (1172877)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ "About Us - Ombersley & Doverdale Parish Council". www.odpc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ Ombersley and Doverdale Neighbourhood Development Plan 2020-2030: Adopted version. DJN Planning Limited for Ombersley and Doverdale Parish Council. October 2021.
- ^ "MapIt : map postcodes and geographical points to administrative areas". mapit.mysociety.org. Retrieved 25 April 2022. Compare searches for WR9 0DS and WR9 0QB
- ^ Compare Historic England. "Ombersley Court (1172877)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
Parish: Ombersley
and Historic England. "Doverdale Manor (1215111)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 April 2022.Parish: Doverdale
- ^ To view the full list, go to https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/advanced-search?searchType=nhleadvancedsearch and enter "Ombersley" as "Parish"
References and further reading
edit- "Parishes: Ombersley". A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3. Victoria County History. 1913. pp. 460–468. Retrieved 1 September 2024 – via British History Online.
- Staff. Ombersley Conservation Area Appraisal Wychavon District Council, June 2005
- Davis, Martin (2024). House of Sandys: Fragments from the Ombersley Court Archive. Cricklade, England: Anthony Eyre, Mount Orleans Press. ISBN 9781912945481.
External links
edit
- Photos of Ombersley and surrounding area on geograph
- Saint Andrew's Church website
- Ombersley: historical and genealogical information at GENUKI.