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Cradley () is a village 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 ...
of
Cradley and Storridge Cradley may refer to:
* Cradley, Herefordshire, England
** Cradley and Storridge, a civil parish formerly called just "Cradley"
* Cradley, West Midlands, a suburb of Halesowen in the West Midlands
* Cradley Heath
Cradley Heath is a town in th ...
, in
Herefordshire
Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...
, England. The nearest Herefordshire towns to Cradley are
Ledbury
Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills.
It has a significant number of Tudor style timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane a ...
, to the south and
Bromyard
Bromyard is a town in the parish of Bromyard and Winslow, in Herefordshire, England, in the valley of the River Frome, Herefordshire, River Frome. It is near the county border with Worcestershire on the A44 road, A44 between Leominster and Worc ...
, 9 miles to the north-west. The
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 ...
town of
Malvern is to the south-east on the farther side of the
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 ...
. Cradley and Storridge parish had a 2011 population of 1,667.
On 12 October 2018 the parish was renamed from "Cradley" to "Cradley & Storridge".
Cradley village hall is a 16th-century timbered building. It was built as a school for boys.
[Herefordshire. The Western Gate of England. Kings England Series of books Edited by Arthur Mee. Pub.1938.Page 48.] It has been renovated and restored after a fire destroyed a large part of the roof. It has 21st-century additions of meeting rooms, and is a heritage and village resource centre. Used for research into local history and genealogy, it has computer, printing and copying services. Since the closure of the combined village shop and post office, a post office counter with usual services is part of the village hall. A new village stores opened in 2022.
The parish church is dedicated to St James. 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 ...
was added by Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...
in 1868.
[''The Buildings of England: Herefordshire'', Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p106 ] Pevsner also mentions a
mediaeval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
lychgate
A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...
, a
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
dated 1722 and the remains of a previous carved font incorporated into a doorway in the tower. Carved stones in the fabric of the church have been identified as dating from the
Saxon period
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 them ...
.
The "Three Villages Festival" celebrates the rural Herefordshire life of the villages of Cradley, Storridge and
Mathon. In 2011, the event's theme was "Masquerade", an exploration of mask making and wearing.
References
External links
Cradley and Storridge village information
Cradley Primary SchoolCradley - A Village HistoryGENUKI for CradleyCradley Village HallCradley Parish CouncilSt James the great Church CradleyCradley Mathon and Storridge local mart and information on local businesses and groups
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Villages in Herefordshire