CRADLEY, divided into east and west, is a romantic and beautiful parish on the eastern border of this county, being nearly surrounded by Worcestershire. It is distant about 4 miles N.W. of Great Malvern, 8 N.E. of Ledbury, the same distance S.E. of Bromyard, 17 E. by N. of Hereford, and 4 N. of Colwall station on the Worcester and Hereford railway; is in Radlow hundred, Bromyard union and petty sessional division, Malvern county court district, and is a polling place and district of itself. The population in 1861 was 1,830; in 1871, 1,853; inhabited houses, 421; families or separate occupiers, 450; area of parish, 5,868a. 1r. 16p.; annual rateable value, £9,758 13s. 9d. The executors of the late Richard Yapp, Esq., who are lords of the manor, Thomas Henry Little, Esq., of Birchwood, John Shapland, Esq., of Hill house, E. B. Luxmore, Esq., C. W. Webb, Esq., of Dennis hall, Stourbridge, Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp, of Madresfield court, Joseph Fetherstonhaugh, Esq., of Hopton court, and the executors of the late Rev. W. E. Wall, are the principal landowners.

The soil is chiefly heavy land, strong clay and marl; hops are cultivated, with wheat, beans, roots, and fruit. Limestone is found in great quantities and of good quality; the quarries at Whitman's hill are well known. The Worcestershire and Herefordshire Beacons are objects of interest. Cradley is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of South Froome; living, a rectory; value, £1,173, with residence and 120 acres of glebe; patron, the Lord Bishop of Hereford; rector, Rev. Edward Renn Hampden, M.A., of Christ Church College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1854, and is also prebendary of Putson Minore in Hereford cathedral. The Rev. Charles Sedley Hagreen, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, is the curate.

The church, dedicated to St. James, is in the Norman and Early English styles of architecture, and has a square castellated tower containing six bells. It was rebuilt in 1869-70 at a total cost of £3,666, defrayed by subscription. The chancel cost upwards of £1,200. The east window is of stained glass by Hardman, of Birmingham, erected in 1872 as a memorial to the late Thomas Webb, Esq., of this parish, by his sons and daughters; cost, £300. The south window is also of stained glass, the gift of the late Joseph Shapland, Esq. A new organ, by Nicholson of Worcester, was placed in the church in 1874; it cost £340, and was the gift of the rector. In the churchyard is a fine old yew tree of several hundred years' growth. The earliest register is dated 1625.

There is a national school for boys, endowed in 1667; it has been recently reconstructed to accommodate 100 boys; and a class-room provided at a cost of £350. A national school for girls and infants was erected in 1855 on the glebe land; it is under Government inspection; number of children on the books, 120; average attendance, about 80. There are a few small charities, belonging to the parish. There are some curious old timber-framed houses, and the Seed farm is surrounded by a deep moat. Storridge is an ecclesiastical district formed out of the parish of Cradley in 1856. It. comprises 1,960 acres; and contained in 1871 a population of 278, with 65 inhabited houses.

The church of St. John the Evangelist stands at the junction of the highway to Worcester with the Cowleigh Park road, and is a handsome building of stone, consisting of nave and chancel. It was erected at the sole expense of the Misses Luxmore, sisters of the late rector of Cradley and dean of St. Asaph. The living is a vicarage; value, £150, with residence and 6 acres of globe; patron, the rector of Cradley; vicar, Rev. Richard Davies, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, who was instituted in 1856. The church was consecrated in August of that year. There is a national school for boys and girls, erected by Earl Beauchamp. It is under Government inspection; average attendance, about 50; accommodation only being provided for 40: It has been conjectured that the memorable conference between Augustine, the missionary to the Saxons, and the British bishops, was held upon the hill called Storridge. It has been further supposed that on an eminence to the right of Storridge, called Bear's wood; was one of the old temples of the ancient Britons.

Stifford's Bridge is a small place situate on Cradley brook and on the main road between Worcester and Froome's hill. Cowleigh Gate is distant about 2 miles N.W. of Great Malvern. Crumpan Hill lies to the N.E. West Malvern is an ecclesiastical parish situate chiefly in the civil parish of Mathon (Worcestershire), but includes also portions of Cradley and Colwall in Herefordshire. There is charming scenery here. (For complete directory of West Malvern, see "Littlebury's Worcestershire Directory", 1873, page 470.) The principal residences in Cradley parish are - Birchwood House, the seat of Thomas Henry Little, Esq., J.P.; Halesend, G. B. Yapp, Esq.; Ridgway House, John Yapp, Esq.; and The Rectory, Rev. Edward Renn Hampden, M.A., J.P.