CLAINES - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"CLAINES, a parish in the lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, in the county of Worcester, adjoining the city of Worcester to the N. The West Midland railway goes through the parish, and has a station at Fearnall Heath. The parish is situated to the E. of the Severn, near the Worcester and Birmingham canal, and includes the tything of Whistons. The part of this parish extending to the city of Worcester is united to it by the new Boundary Act. There is no village, but several scattered hamlets, pleasantly situated in the midst of picturesque scenery. The living is a vicarage* [the asterisk denotes that there is a parsonage and glebe belonging to the living] in the diocese of Worcester, value £60, in the patronage of Sir O. Wakeman, Bart., who is impropriator of the great tithes, amounting to £1,200 a year, out of which he pays £27 to the incumbent in lieu of the small tithes.

The parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is an ancient building in the perpendicular style. There are two district churches in this parish: the one dedicated to St. George is a curacy in the patronage of the incumbent; the other, dedicated to St. Stephen, is a new church, situated at Barbourne, just outside the city boundary. The former is in the Gothic style, and was erected by the Parliamentary Commissioners at the cost of £3,345 10s. 8d. The latter was consecrated by the bishop on the 21st August, 1862. The style is early middle pointed, with a memorial east window to Miss Jane Lavender, the founder. The total cost, including endowment, was £7,500.

There are two national schools supported by subscription, and funds are collected for a new school in the district of Barbourne. Here is the nunnery of Whistons, now called the White Ladies, to which, after the battle of Worcester, Charles II. retired. The island of Bevere is formed by a narrow branch of the river Severn. The citizens of Worcester took refuge on this island in Hardicanute's time, and again during a pestilence in 1637. This parish was originally a chapelry to St. Helen's, Worcester, but in 1218 became a separate parish. Perdiswell Hall is the seat of Sir Offley Wakeman, Bart."
"WHISTONES, a tything in the parish of Claines, county Worcester, adjacent to the N. side of the city of Worcester, of which it forms a populous suburb. It contains White Ladies, on the site of Whitstone nunnery."

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