KEMPSEY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"KEMPSEY, a parish in the lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, county Worcester, 4 miles S. of Worcester, its post town, and 2 W. of the Wadborough railway station. The village, which is large, is situated on the S.E. bank of the river Severn. A monastery was founded here in 799, which, after it had flourished for nearly a century, was given to the bishops of Worcester, who had a palace here. At this palace Henry II. and Edward I. kept their courts, and Simon de Montfort slept with his prisoner, Henry III., prior to the battle of Evesham, in which he was defeated and slain. This parish includes the chapelry of Norton.

The surface is generally level, but well wooded, and the meadows along the banks of the Severn are luxuriantly rich. In the vicinity are many good family residences. There are no remains of the bishop's palace, but the bishop's steward annually observes the ceremony of opening a court leet and baron. The impropriate tithes have bean commuted for a rent-charge of £553, and the vicarial for £230. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester, value £248, in the patronage of the dean and chapter.

The church is a plain cruciform structure dedicated to St. Mary, with a large tower containing six bells. In the interior is the monument of Edmund Wylde, representing the figure of an armed knight, over which are the branches of a horse-chestnut tree, growing from out of the top of the tomb. The church was rebuilt in 1799. Near the church are traces of a Roman camp of 15 acres. A Roman inscription has recently been found here. The charities produce about £61 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes. The Bishop of Worcester is lord of the manor."

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