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HARTLEBURY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"HARTLEBURY, a parish partly in the lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, and partly in that of Halfshire, county Worcester, 2 miles E. of Stourport, its post town, 4 S. of Kidderminster, and 6 N.W. of Droitwich. It is a station on the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton railway. The parish, which is considerable, is situated near the Worcestershire and Staffordshire canal, and the river Severn. It contains the hamlet of Upper Mitton. Here are extensive iron and tin works, which afford employment to many of the inhabitants.

This place has long been the episcopal residence of the bishops of Worcester, to whom the ancient castle was given by Buhred, King of Mercia. In the civil was of Charles I., the castle was destroyed by the parliamentary commander, Colonel Morgan, but was rebuilt at the time of the Restoration. The present structure is a stone mansion, standing in a park at the W. end of the village. It was much improved by Bishop Hurd, who built the library. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester, value £1,700, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. James, is a modern structure, with a tower containing six bells.

In the interior is the monument of Bishop Hurd, whose library is at the castle, with some of Warburton's and Pope's books. The charities produce £194 per annum, of which £127 goes to the free grammar school, which was made a royal foundation by charter of Queen Elizabeth, and has the right of presentation to several scholarships in Worcester College, Oxford, founded by Sir Thomas Cookes, Bart. There is also a foundation school for girls, with a small endowment. The Independents have a place of worship, recently erected. The Bishop of Worcester is lord of the manor."
"UPPER MITTON, a hamlet in the parish of Hartlebury, lower division of the hundred of Halfshire, county Worcester, near Mitton Lower, and three-quarters of a mile N.E. of Stourport.

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