NORTON-BY-KEMPSEY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"NORTON-BY-KEMPSEY, a parish in the lower division of Oswaldslow hundred, county Worcester, 3 miles S. by E. of Worcester, its post town, and 2 S.W. of the Spetchley railway station. The village, which is of small extent, is wholly agricultural. There are some brick and tile kilns. The land is in good cultivation, and stone is quarried. The Birmingham and Gloucester railway passes through the parish. The appropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £450, and the appropriate glebe contains 41 acres.

The living is a perpetual curacy* [the asterisk denotes that there is a parsonage and glebe belonging to the living] in the diocese of Worcester, value £100, in the patronage of the dean and chapter. The church, dedicated to St. James, is a small structure, with an embattled tower containing three bells, and has recently been restored. The chancel has a stained window. The parochial charities produce about £28 per annum, to be distributed among the poor. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans and- a parochial school. Norton Hall is the principal residence."

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