BLOCKLEY, Worcestershire

"BLOCKLEY, a parish in the upper division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, in the county of Worcester, lying detached within the county of Gloucester, 3 miles to the N.W. of Moreton-in-the-Marsh, its post town. It is a station on the Oxford and Wolverhampton section of the West Midland railway. It is situated on a small stream, a branch of the river Stour, and includes the hamlets of Dorne, Ditchford, Draycott, Northwick, and Paxford, and the chapelry of Aston Magna. A monastery appears to have been founded here before the middle of the 9th century, which was afterwards given to the bishops of Worcester, who have long held the manor, and who had a palace here before the Reformation. The silk manufacture was introduced here about 1700, and is still carried on. There are also several flour-mills and some stone quarries."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]