Oddingley 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

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

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 ...

, approximately north-east of the county town of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

History

Toponymy

Oddingley was recorded in 816 as ''Oddingalea''. It was listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 as ''Oddunclei''. The name derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

for "Woodland clearing of the family or followers of man calledOdda".

19th century

In 1806, Oddingley became known for the unsolved murder of the village

parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term ...

, George Parker. Parker was shot and beaten to death by a man widely suspected to be Richard Hemming, a carpenter from Droitwich. Hemming was never apprehended and it was believed that he had escaped the country. In 1830, a body was found which was later identified to be that of Hemming.

Governance

Oddingley is in the Bowbrook

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the Worcestershire

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Wychavon Wychavon is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, with a population size of 132,500 according to the 2021 census. Its council is based in the town of Pershore, and the other towns in the district are Droitwich Spa and Evesh ...

. It is part of the constituency of

Mid Worcestershire Mid Worcestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Nigel Huddleston, a Conservative. Members of Parliament Constituency profile Income levels are on average considerably higher than th ...

, represented at

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

by Conservative MP

Nigel Huddleston Nigel Paul Huddleston (born 13 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury since September 2022 and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade since October 2022. He served as Parlia ...

. It was part of the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

constituency of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

prior to

Britain leaving the European Union Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC o ...

in January 2020.

Geography

Oddingley lies approximately north-east of the county town of

and about south of

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. The ...

. Nearby villages to Oddingley include Hadzor, Newland, Dunhampstead, Saleway, Sale Green and Tibberton. It is situated close to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

Demography

The population of Oddingley, according to the 1801 census, was 110. In the 1991 census, the population of the village was recorded as 165. By 2001, this had grown to 197 with 77 households.

Church

Oddingley's church is dedicated to Saint James the Apostle and lies to the south of the village. In June 2014, th
church website
was launched to provide more information about the history of the church, its current services and upcoming events.

References

{{authority control Villages in Worcestershire