Abberley 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in north west

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England. It is situated on the northern slopes of Abberley Hill, which is tall, between the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

and

River Teme The River Teme (pronounced ; ) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of Bucknell and continu ...

. The civil parish had a population of 788 in the 2021 census.

Location

Abberley lies halfway between

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, Engl ...

and Tenbury, at the junction with the road from Worcester to

Cleobury Mortimer Cleobury Mortimer (, ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-east Shropshire, England, which had a population of 3,036 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. It was granted a market charter by King Henry ...

. The parish was described in 1905 as being "about six miles in length, and nowhere more than one mile in breadth". At the 2001 census, it had the youngest population of any Worcestershire village.

The village

Abberley is a village of three distinct parts. The oldest part, known as The Village, clusters around the 12th century and 13th century

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St. Michael. To the west, and divided from the Village by farmland and the Cleobury road, is The Common, where the largest part of the population lives, new housing is being added, and there is a village shop-cum-post office. Between the Village and the Common, on the Cleobury road, are the Parochial VC primary school and the Village Hall. Overlooking the village is the third part of Abberley, The Hill, with scattered farms, houses and cottages across the steep slopes of Abberley Hill. On the far side of Abberley Hill from the village, to the south of the Worcester-Tenbury road, lies Abberley Hall. Abberley Hill forms part of the Abberley and

Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit af ...

Geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...

. The Hill lies on the path of the Worcestershire Way, a long-distance hiking trail. Abberley has two churches, a primary school, a modern

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

, and nearby a country hotel and restaurant, The Elms.

Abberley Hall School, a preparatory school set in the grounds of Abberley Hall, closed on 1 July 2023. Abberley Clock Tower is the setting for the children's book by Gene Kemp, ''The Clock Tower Ghost''.

History

The name Abberley probably relates to the 6th century

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

chief Eobald, by way of ''Eobaldelega'', then ''Eobaldsleigh''. According to ''The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names'', Abberley is derived from 'Eadbald's wood or clearing' (''Eadbald'' + lēah). Abberley is recorded 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086–7 as ''Edboldelege'', when it was held by Ralph de Tosny, and was later recorded as ''Albodeslega'' in c.1150, ''Abbedeslegh'' in 1216, ''Ab(b)ot(t)eley(e)'' in 1346-1485 and ''Aberley'' in 1480. In 1405 Abberley Hill was at the centre of a protracted stand-off between two major armies, that of Henry IV camped on Abberley Hill itself and the primarily Welsh army of

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

camped on nearby Woodbury Hill. Eventually, cut off from their supply line, the Welsh withdrew, never again to penetrate so far into England. Abberley was in the upper division of

Doddingtree The Hundred of Doddingtree was granted to Ralph Todeni, or ''Ralph de Toni'', a relative of the Duke of Normandy, in 1066 by William the Conqueror as a reward for his services as Standard bearer during the Norman Conquest. It consisted mainly of ...

Hundred. On 10 March 1803 Colonel Henry Bromley inherited the Manorship of Abberley. As he had no son, on his death in 1836, the manor was put up for sale by his executors and bought by John Lewis Moilliet of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. He built a new house, Abberley Hall, but he died in 1845 before it was completed. Following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 76) (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the British Whig Party, Whig government of Charles ...

Abberley Parish ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred to Martley Poor Law Union. File:Abberley Hall School.jpg, Abberley Hall School File:Abberley St Michaels Church DSC00303.jpg, St. Michael's Church

Churches

A little to the north, across the Green (developed as a Millennium project) from the village, is the large

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

St. Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

's church, built between 1850 and 1852. It was designed by John Jenkins Cole and enlarged by the same architect in 1877 following a fire in January 1873.''St Michael's Church, Abberley'' Abberley Parish News September 2010 p36 It was built to replace St. Michael's church when the latter fell into disrepair, though the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

of St. Michael's was later restored and is still used for some services.

People

Gilbert Ashton Gilbert Ashton MC (27 September 1896 – 6 February 1981) was an English cricketer who played 62 first-class matches between the wars, mostly for Cambridge University (whom he captained in 1921, and also captained at football) and Worcesters ...

, Headmaster of Abberley Hall School * Henry Bromley, Member of Parliament for Worcester City and Lord of the Manor

References

'Parishes: Abberley', A History of the County of Worcester: volume 4 (1924)
pp. 220–24. Date accessed: 23 August 2007

External links

Abberley Parochial Primary School

Abberley Hall and Clock Tower

Abberley & Malvern Hills Geopark

The Worcestershire Way

Abberley Village Homepage
* {{authority control Villages in Worcestershire Civil parishes in Worcestershire