HANBURY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"HANBURY, a parish in the middle division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, county Worcester, 6 miles S.E. of Bromsgrove, its post town, 4 E. of Droitwich, and 2 S.E. of Stoke Prier station, on the Gloucester railway. The Worcester and Birmingham canal passes through the parish for nearly 2 miles. The village is considerable, and the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The soil is chiefly stiff clay or marl, producing abundant crops of wheat and beans. The living is a rectory* [the asterisk denotes that there is a parsonage and glebe belonging to the living] in the diocese of Worcester, value £1,188. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is an ancient structure, with a tower containing eight bells.

In the interior are monuments of the Vernons. The church is situated on a hill. It was restored in 1860, the chancel being entirely rebuilt, and additional aisles added, at the expense of the rector. Thomas Vernon, Esq. in 1713, bequeathed £1,000 to the poor of the parishes of Shrawley and Hanley, with £200 for apprenticing poor children; also £108, the annual proceeds of property in the parishes of Feckenham and Dodderhill. There is a chapel for Wesleyan Methodists, and two National schools. Harry Foley Vernon, Esq., is lord of the manor. Statute fairs are held at the Vernon Arms on Lady Day and Michaelmas."

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