Areley Kings is a village on 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 ...

, in the

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 ...

Stourport-on-Severn Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest (district), Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, 4 miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Be ...

, in the

Wyre Forest __NOTOC__ Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust lies wi ...

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 10 miles north 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, Engl ...

and south of Stourport on Severn. It is in the

. The village is featured 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, and is home to many historical places of interest such as Areley Hall and St Bartholomew's Church.

History

The manor of Areley Kings was from early times part of the manor of

Martley Martley is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills district of the English county of Worcestershire. It is approximately nine miles north-west of Worcester. The population of the village is approximately 1,200 people. The mixed farming ...

and the rector of Martley still has the right to appoint the rector at Areley Kings. The manor of Areley originated in a fishery at "Ernel" which, with the land belonging to it, was granted by the

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda (10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to ...

to Bordesley Abbey upon its foundation in 1136, and retained until the Dissolution.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...

is rumoured to have slept a night at Areley House during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. Areley Kings 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. In 1931 the parish had a population of 940. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Stourport on Severn and Astley.

Church

St Bartholomew's Parish Church at Areley Kings was founded as a Norman Church, with a continuous history and a partial re-building by the

Victorians 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 litera ...

. The church is probably first mentioned in the preface of the ''Brut'' of Laȝamon, who wrote sometime between 1189 and 1207. He describes himself as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

''at Erneleye, at a noble church upon Severn's bank''. He wrote a history of England, partly legendary, partly factual, translating earlier writings from Latin and French. The discovery, during rebuilding, of the base of a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

font under the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

floor with an inscription containing the name of Layamon, establishes the connection with the writer and shows that a church existed here c. 1200. The church complex includes a Queen Anne Rectory and medieval timber-framed church house.

Notable people

Charles Harrison Charles Harrison may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Charles W. Harrison (1878–1965), American tenor * Charles Yale Harrison (1898–1954), American-Canadian novelist and journalist *Charles Harrison (art historian) (1942–2009), British art ...

, MP for

Bewdley Bewdley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley, and is west of Kidderminster, north of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham. It ...

from 1874 to 1890 lived at Areley Court, Areley Kings. *

Frances Ridley Havergal Frances Ridley Havergal (14 December 1836 – 3 June 1879) was an English religious poet and hymnwriter. ''Take My Life and Let it Be'' and ''Thy Life for Me'' (also known as ''I Gave My Life for Thee'') are two of her best known hymns. She also ...

wrote the hymn ''Take my life and let it be'' at Areley House in 1874.K. L. Parry ''Companion to Congregational Praise''1953 p201 Independent Press, London. *

Layamon Layamon or Laghamon (, ; ) – spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman – was an English poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the ''Brut'', a notable work that was the first to present the legend ...

12/13th century poet lived in Areley Kings and a local road is named after him.

References

Populated places on the River Severn Villages in Worcestershire Former civil parishes in Worcestershire Stourport-on-Severn {{Worcestershire-geo-stub