BEWDLEY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"BEWDLEY, a market town, parliamentary and municipal borough, and chapelry in the parish of Ribbesford, in the hundred of Doddingtree, and county of Worcester, 14 miles to the N.W. of Worcester, and 129 miles from London by road, or 137½ by the Great Western railway, which has a station at Kidderminster, 3 miles to the S.W. of the town; it may also be approached via the North-Western and West Midland railways. There are besides two branch lines in course of formation - the Severn Valley line, from Hartlebury to Shrewsbury, which passes through the hamlet of Wribbenhall; and the Tenbury line, which is to pass through Bewdley, and so on to Kidderminster, connecting Bewdley with the trunk lines of communication to the metropolis, and all parts of the kingdom.

Its name is a corruption of Beaulieu, and refers to the singular pleasantness of its situation. It is seated on the west bank of the river Severn, not far from the border of Shropshire. It was anciently an extra-parochial place, included within the jurisdiction of the Welsh Marches, and possessed the privilege of sanctuary. It became a part of the parish of Ribbesford in the reign of Henry VI., and was added to the county of Worcester in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. A palace was built here by Henry VII. for his son Arthur, and the marriage of that prince with Catherine of Arragon (by proxy) took place here. The palace was occupied by Charles I. during the Civil War, after his retirement from Oxford, and being much injured by the attacks of the Scottish troops, was soon after taken down.

The town of Bewdley stands partly on the level ground by the river, and partly on the slope of a pleasant hill. The river is crossed by a slight and handsome stone bridge of three arches, which was erected in 1797, and from which the principal street runs westward, and divides into two branches. The town is clean, the houses for the most part well built, and the streets paved and lighted with gas. There is a townhall, built of stone in 1818, and supported on several arches, through which are the entrances to the market-place, an open area bounded by arcades with stalls. Two small prisons stand next the townhall.

Bewdley was at one time the seat of an extensive carrying trade on the river, and also of the manufacture of Dutch caps; but both these have declined. Most of the workpeople are now employed in agricultural pursuits, or in the manufacture of horn combs, lanterns, drinking-horns, and powder-flasks. There are also a brass foundry, brick and rope-making works, several tanneries and malting houses.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Hereford, of the value of £100, in the patronage of the Rector of Ribbesford. The church stands in the principal street. It is a spacious stone structure, erected in 1748, on the site of an older one built of timber, and is dedicated to St. Anne. In 1853 a separate district was assigned to this church by an order in council, out of the parish of Ribbesford, which district is named the "district chapelry of St. Anne", and embraces about a third part of the town. There is a new church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, at Far Forest, the living of which is a curacy, value £101, in the gift of the Rector of the parish of Ribbesford and the Rector of Rock, alternately. The Baptists, Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Quakers have chapels in the town.

The charitable endowments of Bewdley amount to £278 per annum. The foundations consist chiefly of the free grammar school and numerous almshouses. The grammar school was founded in 1591, and was afterwards endowed by several benefactors, but its affairs were for many years involved in a suit in Chancery. It is, however, expected that a new school-house will soon be built, and a master appointed. The blue-coat school for 60 children has been united with the National school.

Fourteen almshouses for aged women were founded in 1645; eight additional ones, by Thomas Cook, in 1693; and six for aged men, rebuilt in 1763. Cook's almshouses have been lately very extensively repaired by a donation of £200 from the late Rev. Joseph Crane, formerly curate of Ribbesford. In connection with the grammar school is a small free library founded by the late Thomas Wigan. There are also a library and reading-room, established in 1848, in connection with the literary institution; and a savings-bank.

Bewdley received its first charter of incorporation from Edward IV., on whose accession the manor, which at an early period belonged to the Beaumonts, Earls of Warwick, and afterwards to the Mortimers, Earls of March, became a possession of the crown. A new charter was granted by James I., another by James II., but after long litigation the former was confirmed. The borough has returned one member to parliament since the reign of James I.

Under the Reform Act, the limits of the borough include, besides the old borough, Wribbenhall, on the east bank of the Severn, Hoarstone, Blackstone, Netherton, and Stourport. Its government is vested in a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, with the style of the "bailiff, burgesses, and inhabitants of the town and borough of Bewdley". It has a revenue of about £600, and an area of 7,110 acres, containing 691 inhabited houses, according to the census of 1861, within the municipal, and 1,516 within the parliamentary limits; the population being respectively 2,905 and 6,786, against 3,124 and 7,318, in 1851, showing a decrease in the parliamentary borough of 1,532, and in the municipal of 219, in the decennial period.

Tombes, the philologist, and Bishop Willis, one of the founders of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, were born here, and received their early education at the grammar school. Ticknel Park, Winterdyne, and Spring Grove are the principal seats. Bewdley Park, near the town, is an extensive inclosure, adorned with magnificent woods, intersected by fine walks. Saturday is the market day. Fairs are held on the last Tuesday in February, and on the Monday before the feast of St. Anne, for cattle; and on the 23rd April, the 2nd Tuesday in October, and the 10th and 11th December, for pedlery and general merchandise."

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