STRENSHAM - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"STRENSHAM, a parish in the upper division of Pershore hundred, county Worcester, 6 miles N. of Tewkesbury, its post town, and 5 S.W. of Pershore. The village is on the river Avon, near the Birmingham and Gloucester railway, and between the hills of Malvern and Bredon. It is famous for the siege it sustained against the parliamentary forces during the civil war, and for the signal bravery displayed by the then lord of the manor, Sir William Russell.

The soil is fertile, consisting of light earth, loam, and marl, upon a subsoil of blue lias and gravel. Various fossils and minerals are met with. 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 £200. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, has monuments and tombs of the Russells of Strensham Hall. The parochial charities produce about £65, of which £54 belong to Russell's school and almshouses. There are National schools for both sexes, supported by J.A. Taylor, Esq., who is lord of the manor. Samuel Butler, poet and author of "Hudibras", was born here in 1612. Strensham Court is the principal residence."

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