Worcestershire Places (5) : Pershore

Pershore is a market town which dates from Saxon times and belonged to Pershore Abbey as per a charter dating from the late 7th century. The abbey may have been founded around 689CE by King Oswald. The abbey was partially demolished in the 16th century after the Reformation. The (still impressive but much reduced) remains of the abbey form the parish church of the Holy Cross.

Pershore is renowned for it's Georgian architecture. Pershore is known for the growing of plums nearby and celebrates a plum festival.

Worcestershire Places (4) : Upper Arley

Situated on the banks of the river Severn and with it's railway station on the Severn Valley Railway, Upper Arley looks like the sort of village which has been in Worcestershire since the Domesday Book. In fact the village was in Staffordshire until being transferred in 1895. 

The manor of Upper Arley was founded in about 996CE. Originally it belonged to the college in Wolverhampton. In 1276 it was bought by Roger de Mortimer and remained owned by his family until the mid-15th century. Later it was owned by the Lyttleton and Woodward families.

The oldest building in the village is the Norman church dedicated to St Peter (the oldest remains date from the 14th century). Arley railway station opened in 1862. It closed one hundred and one years later but was reopened by the Severn Valley Railway in 1974.

Worcestershire Places (3) : Norton

Norton is a village near to Worcester in the parish of Norton-juxta-Kempsey. The village was part of the manor of Kempsey which dates back to the Domesday Book. Norton contained a barracks for the Worcestershire Regiment of the British Army from 1881. The barracks remained MOD property until the 1987 and have now been sold off for apartments and a new housing estate.

The parish church (originally a chapel of ease for the parish church in Kempsey) is dedicated to St James the Great. It dates from the 12th century at least though has seen much rebuilding and change in the following centuries, especially in 1875.

Norton is served by the new railway station Worcestershire Parkway which opened in 2020, the original station Norton Halt (which was a little further up the Cotswold Line closer to the centre of Norton) closed in 1966.

Worcestershire Places (2) : Blakedown

Blakedown is a village in the North of the county near Kidderminster. The village has existed since the Domesday Book when it was known as Bleak Down and was part of Hagley parish. The railways reached Blakedown in 1852 and this sparked a boom in population and economic development. Blakedown split from Hagley and merged with Churchill parish.

Nowadays Blakedown is largely a dormitory town for people working in larger nearby towns and cities. The village's church is dedicated to St James the Great, built in 1866.

Worcestershire Places (1) : Hartlebury

Hartlebury is a village to the South of Kidderminster. The village has been in existence from Saxon times, in 817CE it was known as Heortlabyrig (Hill of the Deer) and was granted by Burghred, King of Mercia to the Bishop of Worcester in 850CE. The area remained a home for the Bishop until the 21st century. The fortified manor house Hartlebury Castle being the residence of the Bishop from the 13th century until 2007. The castle is now open to the public and includes the Worcestershire County Museum.

The church of St James is of a much later period than the castle, it was mostly built in 1836 though retains elements from earlier buildings. The tower is 16th century and there are some arches from the 14th.

Hartlebury is a stop on the railway line between Worcester and Birmingham via Kidderminster. It also used to have a line through to Shrewsbury via the Severn Valley, and indeed was the original starting point of the Severn Valley Railway.