Parishmouse Free Resources For Family Historians

Severn Stoke is a picturesque village and parish on the E. bank of the Severn, 7 miles S. of Worcester, 9 N. of Tewkesbury, and 3 N. of Upton; in the western division of the county and hundred of Lower Pershore; union and petty sessional division of Upton; annual rateable value, £7,220; area of parish, 3,269 acres; population in 1861, 679; in 1871, 737, with 162 inhabited houses, and 181 families or separate occupiers. The right Hon. the Earl of Coventry is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The parish is very fertile, nearly two-thirds being pasture-land, the produce of the remainder being wheat, beans, barley, and fruit. The soil is loam and clay; subsoil, clay. Severn Stoke is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Worcester and rural deanery of Worcester East; living, a rectory, value £820, with residence; patron, the Earl of Coventry; rector, Rev. Henry William Coventry, M.A., Pembroke College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1869. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is chiefly Decorated work, with traces of Norman in the north wall, and a few Perpendicular additions. It consists of chancel, nave, transept, porch, and tower (containing five bells), which occupies the position of a north transept. The chancel was restored in 1872. The earliest register is dated 1538. The national school, for boys and girls, is conveniently situated neat the centre of the village. It is supported by subscription; average attendance about 120. The charities belonging to the parish are considerable. A market and fair were granted to be held here by Edward II., but both have long since fallen into disuse. The parish contains several handsome residences. The principal seat is Severn Bank, long the residence of the late Earl of Coventry, and now occupied by Mrs. Bagnall. It occupies a grand position, surrounded by magnificent woods, sloping away to the Severn meadows, with the long range of Malvern and its varied outline, and the Severn winding through the richest meadows, with pretty peeps and vistas of Severn end, of the church at Severn Stoke, and on all sides magnificent timber and park-like scenery.
Kinnersely is a hamlet about 1 mile E., and contains several farms; Sandford, Naunton, and Clifton lie to the N.; Birch Green is 1 mile N.E.
Postal Regulations – Post and money-order office, William Linton, Sub-Postmaster. Letters arrive from Worcester at 6 a.m.; despatched thereto at 6.40 p.m. Money-order and savings-bank business transacted from 9 a.m. till 5.30 p.m. The letter-box at Clifton is cleared at 6.50 p.m. Upton-on-Severn and Kempsey are the nearest telegraph offices. Post town, Worcester.
Parish Church (All Saints). – Rev. Henry William Coventry, M.A., Rector; Messrs. George Brooke and George Walter Morris, Churchwardens; William Linton, Parish Clerk.
National School (boys and girls). – Mr. Thomas Bovington, Master; Miss Forsey, Mistress.
County Police Station. – Andrew Gordon, Constable.
Carriers to Worcester. – John Colwell (on Wednesdays and Saturdays), stops at the King’s Head Inn, Sidbury; John Castle from Kinnersley (on Wednesdays and Saturdays), stops at the Reindeer, Mealcheapen street; William Sanders from Kinnersley (on Wednesdays and Saturdays), stops at the Red Lion Inn, Sidbury; Tompkins (on Saturdays), stops at the Old Greyhound, New street; Pitt (on Saturdays), stops at the Pack Horse Hotel, St. Nicholas street.

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
Marked thus * receive their letters via Kempsey.

Allsop Mrs., Kinnersley
Bagnall John, Esq., High house
Bagnall Mrs., Severn bank
Coventry Rev. Henry William, M.A. (rector), The Rectory
Hill John, Esq., Church house
Hunter George James, Esq., Spring bank
Kent Ernest, Esq., The Hill

AGRICULTURAL & COMMERCIAL.
Andrews James, farmer, Kinnersley
Andrews William, farmer, Kinnersley
Bovington Thomas, schoolmaster
Brooke George, farmer, Lower house and Sandford farms
Broomhall John, butcher, Kinnersley
Castle John, carrier & shopkr., Kinnersley
Colwell John, shopkeeper, beer retailer (Crown), and carrier to Worcester
* Darling Sm., horse trainer, Sandford villa
Dobbs Charles, head gardener to Mrs. Bagnall, Severn bank
Edwards J. B., butcher
Evans Thomas, farmer, Dunstall
Froud Charles, head gardener to Rev. H. W. Coventry, M.A.
Gordon Andrew, police constable
Hadley John H., horse trainer, Kinnersley
Hayfield John, farm bailiff to John Bagnall, Esq., High house
Hemus William, farmer, Kinnersley
Hill John, estate agent to the Right Hon. The Earl of Coventry, Croome estate office
Howship Joseph, Boar’s Head Inn, and baker, grocer, and prov. Dealer
Linton Wm., sub-postmaster, registrar of births & deaths, & parish clerk, Post office
* Morris George, farmer, Clifton court
* Mytton William, farmer, Naunton farm
* Mytton Wm., jun., auctioneer, Naunton farm; offices at Pershore and Evesham
* Newman Arthur, farmer, Clifton
* Rosser Robert, farmer, Clifton
Sanders William, carrier, Kinnersley
* Scott William, blacksmith, Sandford
* Seabright James, wheelwright, Clifton
Shepherd Francis, farmer; res., Pirton
* Shepherd Henry, farmer, Clifton
* Smith Mrs. Harriet, beer retailer, Clifton
Turberville Jas., beer retlr., Kinnersley
Vaughan Wm., blacksmith, Kinnersley
Walford John, market gardener
Walton Charles, tailor, Kinnersley
* White R. & J., farmers, Sheepcote farm
* White William, farmer, Birch farm
* Williams William, hay and coal dealer
Wilson W. A., head gardener to G. J. Hunter, Esq., Madge hill
* Woodward Mrs., farmer, Park farm

Source: Littlebury Littlebury’s Directory and Gazetteer of Worcester & District Third Edition. Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 1879.