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Claines – an extensive parish in the hundred of Oswaldslow, lower division, 2 miles N. from Worcester, and 114 from London; containing 496 inhabited houses. This was originally only a chapelry to the church of St. Helen’s, Worcester, from which is was separated in 1218, and is now a distinct curacy.

White Ladies, formerly a priory of seven or eight white nuns, is in this parish. In the early part of the last century, the chapel was still standing: the house is now a modern residence. When Charles II, retired here, after the battle of Worcester, he left his gloves and garters, which long remained in possession of the Cookseys, who then resided here. Bevere, an island, formed by Barbourn brook, which runs through this parish, is remarkable for having proved an asylum to the citizens of Worcester, in the days of Hardicanute, in 1041, when the inhabitants fled to this place, to avoid a general massacre, which he had ordered, leaving their property and habitations a prey to the soldiery; they likewise took refuge here during a dreadful pestilence in 1637, which carried off in a few months one thousand five hundred and fifty-one of the population, at that time comparatively small. The living is a curacy; Rev. Thos. Henry Newport, incumbent; patron, Henry Wakeman, Esq. Population, 1801, 1463 – 1811, 2194 – 1821, 2509.

Source: Worcestershire Delineated: Being a Topographical Description of Each Parish, Chapelry, Hamlet, &c. In the County; with the distances and bearings from their respective market towns, &c. By C. and J. Greenwood. Printed by T. Bensley, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, 1822.