Upper Arley in 1859

ARELEY, UPPER (ST. PETER), a parish, in the union of KIDDERMINSTER, S. division of the hundred of SEISDON and of the county of STAFFORD, 5 miles 
(N.W. by W.) from Kidderminster; containing 667 inhabitants. The village occupies a romantic situation near the margin of the river Severn, and the parish 
comprises 3803a.3r.12p.: a thin stratum of coal is worked, and there are quarries of red freestone, of which large blocks are raised for building, and which is alsoused for grindstones and millstones. Areley Hall is the residence of the Earl of Mountnorris, who, when Viscount Valentia, published his interesting travels in the east. 

The living is a perpetual curacy; patron and impropriator, Lord Mountnorris. The great tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £391.7., and those of the incumbent for £305: the impropriate glebe consists of 199 acres; the glebe belonging to the incumbent contains only about a quarter of an acre, on which the glebe-house stands. The church is situated on an eminence commanding a fine prospect. A school is supported by subscription.

 

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]