Berrow is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Malvern Hills district Malvern Hills is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Malvern, and its area covers most of the western half of the county, including the outlying towns of Tenbury Wells and Upton-upon-Sever ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, England, about seven miles east of Ledbury. According to the 2021 census it had a population of 334.

Parish Church

The parish church is dedicated to

Saint Faith Saint Faith or Saint Faith of Conques (Latin: Sancta Fides; French: Sainte-Foy; Spanish: Santa Fe) is a saint who is said to have been a girl or young woman of Agen in Aquitaine. Her legend recounts how she was arrested during persecution of Chri ...

and is notable for a plaque regarding a gruesome murder that occurred in the parish in the 18th century.

History

The Berrow Murder

On the night of Saturday 6th or early morning of Sunday 7 May 1780 Edward Gummery, his wife Elizabeth and their daughter Anne, aged 9, and a visiting brother-in-law of Elizabeth's, Thomas Sheen, were murdered in their home in Berrow. The perpetrators were never found. Reports at the inquest suggested that the murderers were disturbed by a visitor, a man called Player, at 4am. Player, having knocked, called out but received no answer. Concerned he raised his wife and having returned together found the front door now open. Having discovered corpses they raised the alarm. Villagers began a search and detained six "tramps" and two of these were later charged with the destruction of enclosure fences at

Malvern Link Malvern Link is an area of Malvern, Worcestershire, England to the north and east of Great Malvern. The centres of Malvern Link and Great Malvern are separated by Link Common, an area of open land that is statutorily protected by the Malver ...

but were not charged with the murders. In 1809, James Taynton, an octogenarian road labourer from Malvern Link was admitted to Worcester Royal Infirmary with a fractured leg. In his delirium he said a number of things which prompted further investigation and it was later ascertained that he was employed on the Malvern Link enclosures. The

Berrow's Worcester Journal ''Berrow's Worcester Journal'' is a weekly freesheet tabloid newspaper, based in Worcester, England. Owned by Newsquest, the newspaper is delivered across central and southern Worcestershire county. History 16th Century Printing Press Worces ...

reported that he admitted to having been involved with the destruction of the Malvern Link enclosure. He was pressed by patients as to whether he knew anything of the Berrow Murder and reportedly said that the murderers were all alive and as old as himself. After further inquiry from a nurse it was suggested that he had been more directly involved. He later said that the murders had been committed using bills.

- 2 February 1809 Edition He died shortly afterwards and no official investigation was made into his involvement.

References

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gomery/murder.html {{authority control Villages in Worcestershire Civil parishes in Worcestershire