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TENBURY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"TENBURY, a parish, post, and market town, in the upper division of Doddingtree hundred, county Worcester, 22 miles N.W. of Worcester. It is a junction station on the Tenbury and Bewdley and Shrewsbury and Hereford railways. It is situated in the fertile valley of the Teme, which is here a considerable river, separating Worcestershire from Salop. Tenbury is a polling and petty sessions town. The parish includes the hamlets of Tenbury-Foreign, Berrington, and Sutton, and was held by Richard Fitz-Richard at the Conquest, and subsequently came from the Lacys, Mortimers, &c., to the Cornwalls.

The Teme is here crossed by a bridge of six arches, and is celebrated for its scenery and trout fishing. The town consists of two streets, intersecting nearly at right angles. It has of late years greatly improved. There are a bank, savings-bank, new corn exchange, market-house, union poorhouse, and gasworks. There is a salt spring, which a few years back was fitted up with pump-rooms and baths for the accommodation of visitors, but never came into favour. The population of the parish in 1861 was 1,947, and of the town 1,171.

Malting is carried on, but the chief trade is in hops and cider. A charter for a market was granted by Henry III. in 1249. Courts leet and baron are held by the lord of the manor. The Tenbury Poor-law Union comprises 19 parishes or places, 10 of which are in Worcestershire, 5 in Salop, and 4 in Hereford. The living is a vicarage* [the asterisk denotes that there is a parsonage and glebe belonging to the living] in the diocese of Hereford, value £744, in the patronage of trustees. The church, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, was partly rebuilt in 1777, the old one having been much injured by a flood in November, 1770.

In the interior are several interesting monuments. The church had formerly a chantry attached to it, and from the 11th to the 15th century belonged to the monastery of Lyra in Normandy. There is also the college and church of St. Michael, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £60. There are National and free schools. The Baptists have a chapel. Market day is on Tuesday. Fairs are held on Wednesday before Bromyard March fair, 22nd April, 26th September, 3rd December, and a statute fair on 1st May for the hiring of servants. They are all toll free."
"BERRINGTON, a hamlet in the parish of Tenbury, and hundred of Doddingtree, in the county of Worcester, 2 miles to the W. of Tenbury. It is seated on the border of Shropshire, on the south bank of the river Teme, and is a station on the Shropshire and Hereford railway."
"KYREWOOD, a hamlet in the parish of Tenbury, upper division of the hundred of Doddingtree, county Worcester, 2 miles S. of Tenbury."
"SUTTON, a hamlet in the parish of Tenbury, upper division of Doddingtree hundred, county Worcester, 2 miles S.E. of Tenbury. There is an ancient chapel-of-ease, containing tombs of-the earls of Arundel."
"TENBURY-FOREIGN, a hamlet in the parish of Tenbury, upper division of Doddingtree hundred, county Worcester. It is joined with Tenbury to form a township."

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