Throckmorton is a small 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 administrative district of

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 ...

, in the 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 ...

, England. The village lies 3.5 miles northeast of

Pershore Pershore is a market town in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. The town is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2011 census, the population was 7,125. The town is ...

, five miles north-west of Evesham and 9 miles southeast of the city 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 ...

. At the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, it had a population of 200.

The church

The village is ancient and the earliest extant remains are parts of the church and bell-tower (now a chapelry), dating from the 13th century. Excavations discovered the stone foundations of an even earlier church on the site. The church has no electricity and is lit by gas-lamps and candles.

QinetiQ Pershore

Formerly RAF Pershore, also known as Throckmorton Airfield, the site is owned and operated by QinetiQ as a Business Park and Trials Centre. At the periphery of the village is the former military airfield officially known as RAF Pershore. Archaeological investigations of the airfield have suggested that it was originally a Roman site. The airfield was built in 1940 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and was home to No 23 Operational Training Unit equipped with

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

bombers. Subsequently, the airfield was home to No 1 Ferry Unit, No. 10 Advanced Flying Training School and several other RAF units then latterly by the

Royal Radar Establishment The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) a ...

Flying Unit. The airfield was also sometimes used by Vulcan and Valiant V-bombers as one of a number of dispersal sites for the RAF's V-Force nuclear-deterrent; none were ever dispersed on anything other than training missions. In response to a question raised in Parliament, assurance was given that there are no records of radioactive contamination as a result of this use of the site as no V-bomber was ever dispersed with live weapons. Several plans have been put forward for the development of the site, which was used in 2001 as a burial ground for the carcasses of over 100,000 animals afflicted with

foot and mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, follow ...

. In 2008 it was suggested that the site be used as a prison camp to relieve overcrowding in Britain's jails. In 2008 proposals were put forward by QinetiQ to use the site for the development of an eco-town for a population of up to 20,000. From 2010 to 2015, the airfield hosted Throckmorton Air Show to benefit local charities. In 2019, people from Throckmorton and surrounding villages came together to share their opinions on the Throckmorton Airfield housing development. The development would bring over 2,000 houses to the area as well as schools, services and employment.

The Throckmorton family

The village gave its name to the

Throckmorton family Throckmorton or the variant spelling Throgmorton may refer to: Places *Throckmorton, Texas, county seat of Throckmorton County, United States * Throckmorton, Worcestershire, a small village near Pershore, United Kingdom *Throckmorton County, Texas, ...

In the media

The village has had a number of television and radio documentaries made about it, notably by Channel 4's archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' in 2002 and BBC Radio 4 in 2006.

Culture and countryside

The surrounding countryside is that celebrated by

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

and Edward Elgar, and there are numerous heritage sites locally.

References

External links

Village homepage

Throckmorton Parish profile

www.throckmortonairshow.com
Airshow {{authority control Villages in Worcestershire Wychavon Civil parishes in Worcestershire