Tibberton Laird Description of Worcestershire 1814

Tibberton lies to the east of the city, and is an extensive parish, in which, much to the credit of its inhabitants, enclosures upon a very large scale are now taking place; the public and private roads throughout which are designed upon such a liberal plan, as must ultimately tend much to the advantage of the neighbourhood. It contains nothing remarkable, but we must not omit two strange stories preserved by Mr. Fellowes, Vicar of Tibberton, in 1718, in his MS. Account of the parish. One is of a Roger Tandy, who was so very strong, that, whilst at Sir John Pakington’s, at Westwood, in the reign of James I he took up a hogshead of beer, and having drunk out of the bunghole, set it down on the ground again, by the mere strength of his arms, without even resting it on his knee, or elsewhere. The other is a kind of cotemporary story with the narrator, for Hugh Pescod, commonly called the “ little Turk,” who was alive in his day, declared upon his oath, that, as for as he was capable of judging, he was hanged up by the neck for half an hour in a pear-tree near Tibberton, by Oliver Cromwell’s troops, in August, 1651. Being afterwards cut down, and thrown into a saw-pit, he recovered; in memory of which he planted several elm-trees near his orchard! It would have been more appropriate indeed to have planted a row of pear-trees; but probably he had taken a distaste to them!

Source: A Topographical and Historical Description of the County of Worcester, by Mr. Laird. Printed for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster Row; and George Cowie and Co. successors to Vernor, Hood, and Sharp, 31, Poultry, London. Printed circa 1814.