HOLT
Holte (xi cent.); Hoult (xvii cent.).
The parish of Holt, containing nearly 1,999 acres,
of which 661 are arable, 1,041 under permanent
grass and 202 woodland, (fn. 1) covers a strip of land lying
between Grimley Brook and Shrawley Brook; the
River Severn forms its eastern boundary. The road
to Ombersley and Droitwich runs along the northern
edge of the parish and crosses the Severn by a fine
iron bridge of a single span, built about 1826 at Holt
Fleet. (fn. 2) Not far from the bridge a lane branches off
from the road to Holt village, (fn. 3) whence it turns at
right angles to join the road from Shrawley to
Worcester, which runs through the parish in a south-easterly direction. The hamlet of Holt Heath has
grown up at the junction of this road with that to
Ombersley. Holt Fleet, which stands close to the
river, is a place of call for steamers between Worcester
and Stourport during the summer months, but the
nearest station is at Droitwich on the Great Western
railway, 6½ miles away.
The church of Holt stands in what was originally
part of the grounds of Holt Castle, the 'praty pile' of
Leland, immediately opposite the west front of the
house and a little distance to the east of the main
Worcester road, about which the majority of the
houses are grouped.
The soil is loam and gravel, the subsoil sandstone
and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley and
oats, but hops and fruit are also grown. The
common lands were inclosed by an Act of 1810. (fn. 4)
Little Witley lies 2 miles west of Holt; it was a
chapelry attached to the church here in 1831, but
was transferred in 1904 to the parish of Great
Witley. The hamlet of Little Witley is extremely
picturesque, containing some good half-timber work.
From the chapel here a good half-timber building
known as 'Chapel Farm' takes its name.
The following place-names occur in local records:
Hearoc hricge (fn. 5) (x cent.); le Rode (fn. 6) (xiv cent.);
Hawkerydge Wood, (fn. 7) now Ockeridge, Chappellyardes, (fn. 8)
Newnton, (fn. 9) Wyrkins Mill (fn. 10) (xvi cent.).
CASTLE
Holt Castle was never apparently
brought into prominence and little is
known of its history. It followed the
descent of the manor (q.v.), and is now the property of
Lord Dudley. The castle consists of a rectangular block
of buildings, partly of the 15th century and partly of the
early 18th century, with a massive square 14th-century
tower in the centre of the west front (probably built
by John Beauchamp, first Lord Beauchamp of Kidderminster, who was executed in 1388), and a modern
addition on the north. The tower is evidently a
survival from an earlier fortified building, which was
replaced in the 15th century by a house with a central
hall of moderate size, having the principal apartments
on the north and in all probability a wing containing
the kitchen and servants' apartments on the south. Of
this building the solar portion and the lower walls at
least of the hall survive, forming an L-shaped fragment
of the plan incorporated into the later additions.
Sufficient detail remains in the solar portion at the
north end of the hall to show with certainty that it is
of the 15th century, while the disposition of the hall
itself and the thickness of its side walls practically
amount to proof that it is of similar date. The
south wall, which is thinner than the side walls of the
hall, was probably erected about 1700, when the
interior of the house was almost entirely remodelled
to suit the fashion of the time, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the kitchen wing was then
removed. Towards the end of the 16th century floors
appear to have been inserted in the solar portion, new
chimney stacks constructed, and in all probability the
original hall roof was taken down, the walls being
raised to accommodate an upper floor. At the period
of the Queen Anne restoration, referred to above, the
remaining portion of the plan seems to have been
squared up by the addition of a staircase and withdrawing room on the east side of the hall, and the
whole exterior refaced, sash windows being inserted
throughout. The facing is of a reddish sandstone.
Within the last fifty years the present kitchen and
offices were rebuilt in a style corresponding with the
rest of the building, with the exception that the
windows have stone mullions.
Plan of Holt Castle
The tower measures internally 16 ft. by 14 ft. 10 in.
The thickness of the walls at the ground stage averages
about 4 ft. It is of four stories, with a basement, and
the floors are unmarked by external string-courses.
The entrance doorway and vaulted corridor dividing the
ground stage into two compartments are most likely
alterations of the 15th century, when the nucleus of the
present house was erected, and were constructed with
the view of transforming the tower into the principal
entrance of the new building. The narrow chamber
thus formed on the south side of the corridor is lighted
by three narrow loopholes, and is now cut up by
modern brick partitions. In the thickness of the
north wall is a straight flight of stone stairs leading to
the first floor, now entered by a modern external
doorway. That a staircase has existed here from the
15th century is shown by a blocked doorway, now
used as a cupboard, by which it was entered from the
solar end of the house. A vice at the south-west
corner originally led from the basement to the firstfloor level; its upper flight is now broken away, and
the entrances to it on both ground and first floors
have been blocked. At the first-floor level a second
vice leads to the upper floors and out on to the leads.
The upper stages are lighted on the west by good
pointed windows of two trefoiled ogee lights with
flowing tracery in their heads, and on the north and
south by single trefoiled lights, also with ogee heads.
There are blocked windows in the east wall. The
whole is crowned by a moulded cornice with grotesque
heads at the four angles surmounted by an embattled
parapet. The facing is of large squared sandstone
rubble. The entrance doorway and the tracery of
the windows have been considerably restored.
The room at the north-east of the tower, beneath
the west end of the original solar, is the only room
on the ground floor which retains any visible detail of
the 15th century. In addition to the cupboard recess
in the west wall
above described
there is a blocked
doorway immediately to the north
which probably
opened originally
upon stairs leading
to the cellar which
occupies the internal
angle made by the
tower with the house
on this side. A
blocked doorway immediately beneath
lends support to this
supposition. The
present cellar stairs
are entered from the
modern part of the
house by a doorway
at the north-east, the
west jamb of which
is of original 15th-century date, and
the stairs themselves,
inclosed by a brick
partition, are taken
out of the room. A partition, probably of the 16th
century, divides this room from the dining room, to
which it now serves in the place of a serving lobby.
The dining room has good panelling of the early
18th century. The hall, staircase and withdrawing
room all have panelling and finishings of the same
date. They present a particularly pleasing example
of the Queen Anne style.
The timbers of the roof of the solar portion of the
house are of original 15th-century date and must have
originally been open to the solar below, the present
attic floor having been inserted in the 16th century.
It is now divided by a partition of that date into two
rooms. The eastern, which is also the larger room,
is known as the 'chapel,' and is lighted by a 16th-century four-light mullioned window in the east
gable. The roof was originally gabled on both east
and west, but the western gable has been removed
and the roof hipped to conform with the surrounding
roofing. The cutting of the timbers is immediately
obvious from the inside. In both rooms are remains
of 16th-century plastering. Few other details of
interest exist elsewhere in the house. Some 15th-century glazed tiles, probably taken up from hearths,
are preserved.
Externally the elevations are flat and uninteresting.
An embattled parapet crowns the walls, behind which
rises a tiled, hipped roof with small dormer windows.
A moulded string-course marks the level of the first
floor. The large sash windows impart an 18th-century
air to the whole of the exterior, which is curiously at
variance with the embattled parapet. The front
elevation is rendered interesting by the juxtaposition
of the 14th-century tower and the 16th-century
stone stack of the hall, surmounted by its diagonal
brick chimney shafts. All that portion of the older
house to the north of the tower has been refaced at
the period of the modern additions on this side. The
east, or garden, front has its embattled parapet interrupted by the 'chapel' gable and by the long, narrow
windows of the staircase hall. A flight of steps, with
good wrought-iron
railings, leads from
the staircase hall to
the garden. On
the west side of the
house a stone wall
running westwards
at right angles from
the house, against
which it abuts,
divides the fore-court from the
garden, and communication is
secured by a stone
doorway with a
straight-sided two-centred head. The
portion of walling
in which this is
contained measures
about 2 ft. 10½ in.
in thickness. Its distance from the
house, with which
it is connected by
about 84 ft. of thinner walling, precludes the possibility of its having
originally formed a portion of the kitchen wing
which has presumably disappeared; probably it
originally formed part of the north wall of an outhouse or barn. The terraced garden on the east side
of the house slopes down to the Severn; that on the
south seems still to preserve much of its original 16th-century arrangement.
MANORS
At the time of the Domesday Survey
Urse D'Abitot held of the manor of
Wick 5 hides at HOLT which Ailric
had previously held, 'rendering the customary rent
except the peasants' labour, as it could be obtained
from the reeve.' (fn. 11) The estate passed with the rest
of Urse's possessions to the Beauchamps, who held
it in demesne (fn. 12) until William Beauchamp gave it to
his younger son John between 1235 and 1269. (fn. 13)
John de Beauchamp was succeeded by his son Richard,
who died in 1327, leaving as his heir his son John,
then eight years old. (fn. 14) This John was in the sea
fight at Sluys in 1340, and served in the French
wars 'from the time of the passage to Normandy all
the while the king was abroad' (fn. 15) ; he fought in the
king's company at Crecy, and was subsequently at
the siege of Calais. (fn. 16) He had returned to England
by Michaelmas 1348, at which time he bought a
small estate at Hanley Child, and settled it on himself and his wife Isabel for life, with successive
remainders to his sons William and Thomas. (fn. 17) He
was one of the knights of the shire in the Parliament
of 1352. (fn. 18) Afterwards, however, he went back to
the wars in France, and seems to have served in the
Poictiers campaign (fn. 19) ; in 1357 he obtained a grant
of £12 yearly for his good service. (fn. 20) He was still
living in 1361, but seems to have died before
1367. (fn. 21)
Holt Castle: West Front
He was succeeded by his son of the same name,
who married, about 1370, Joan daughter and heir
of Robert Fitz With, then a minor in the king's
wardship. (fn. 22) This John Beauchamp served under
John of Gaunt in the Spanish campaign of 1372, (fn. 23)
and in 1373 obtained a grant of a yearly fair at a
place called 'le Rode' in the parish of Holt, on the
day of St. Mary Magdalene. (fn. 24) It was, however,
after the accession of Richard II that he made his
most rapid rise in the royal favour. He was knighted
in the summer of 1385, (fn. 25) at which time he obtained
a grant of land in Carnarvonshire to the annual value
of £100 in aid of the honourable maintenance of his
rank (fn. 26) ; this was supplemented, after he had been
made Justice of North Wales, (fn. 27) by a grant of all the
temporalities of the alien
Priories at Deerhurst (Gloucs.)
and Astley. (fn. 28) In October 1387,
'in consideration of the noble
and trusty family from which
he sprang, and of his own
great sense and circumspection,' he was created a peer
and baron of the realm under
the style of Lord Beauchamp
and Baron of Kidderminster, (fn. 29)
an estate which he had lately
acquired. (fn. 30) In December of
the same year he was summoned to Parliament, but he
never took his seat, (fn. 31) and in the following March,
upon the seizure of authority by the Lords Appellants,
he was attained of high treason, (fn. 32) and after imprisonment in Dover Castle (fn. 33) was brought to London and
beheaded on Tower Hill. (fn. 34)
Beauchamp of Kidderminster. Gules a fesse between six martlets or.
The manor and advowson of Holt were subsequently
restored to his son and heir John, (fn. 35) during whose
minority they were delivered to the Earl of Warwick
as overlord (fn. 36) ; a moiety of the goods was, however,
granted in 1390 to Elizabeth the sister of John
Lord Beauchamp towards the maintenance of herself
and her nephew. (fn. 37) John Beauchamp was declared
of full age in January 1397, (fn. 38) but it was found that
he had married Isabel Ferrers, a niece of the Countess
of Warwick, without leave, and decided that the
earl should keep the manor of Holt until he had
received 250 marks. (fn. 39) John denied that he had
married without leave, but he did not have livery of
his lands until Michaelmas 1398. (fn. 40) By the reversal
of the proceedings of the Merciless Parliament in the
same year he became lord of Kidderminster, (fn. 41) but in
1399 his father's attainder being reaffirmed after the
accession of Henry IV, his honours were again forfeited. (fn. 42) He died in August 1420, leaving as his
heir his daughter Margaret, (fn. 43) whose second husband
John Wysham was holding the manor in her right in
1428. (fn. 44)
Alice daughter and co-heir of Margaret married
John Guise of Aspley Guise (Beds.), and succeeded
to a third part of the manor of Holt (fn. 45) in 1472 after
the death of her mother's third husband Sir Walter
Skull. (fn. 46) Alice Guise died in 1487, leaving as her heir
her son John, (fn. 47) who died in 1501 seised of a moiety of
the manor of Holt, which he left to his son of the
same name. (fn. 48) Anselm, the son and heir of this John
Guise, (fn. 49) sold his property in Holt to Sir John Bourne
in 1557. (fn. 50) Of this moiety Sir John died seised in
1575, leaving as his heir his son Anthony, (fn. 51) from
whom it was bought in 1578 by Thomas Fortescue
and Edmund Hardy, (fn. 52) probably for the purpose of
a settlement on Elizabeth, Fortescue's daughter, on
her marriage with Sir Thomas Bromley, the lord
chancellor. Sir Thomas Bromley died seised of the
estate in 1587, leaving as his heir his son Henry. (fn. 53)
Joan, a second daughter and co-heir of Margaret
Beauchamp, married before 1487 John Croft, (fn. 54) and
was seised of a third of the manor of Holt in that
year. Her sister Elizabeth married Thomas Croft, (fn. 55)
ranger of Woodstock, and after his death in 1488
probably Nicholas Crowemer (fn. 56) ; she seems to have
died childless about 1500, for after this date the
manor was divided in moieties between John and
Joan Croft and John Guise. (fn. 57)
John Croft survived Joan, and died in 1531, (fn. 58)
having settled a moiety of the estate on Elizabeth his
second wife for her life. (fn. 59) She, with his son and
heir John, granted to Thomas Evans a lease of the
premises in 1535, (fn. 60) and in 1537 apparently the
reversion after the death of Elizabeth. (fn. 61) In 1549
John Croft seems to have bought back the lease, (fn. 62)
which his son and heir Martin granted ten years
later to Sir John Bourne, (fn. 63) the owner of the other
moiety of the manor. Sir John Bourne at his death
in 1576 left the lease to his son and heir Anthony,
who subsequently sold it to Sir Thomas Bromley. (fn. 64)
Henry, the son and heir of Sir Thomas Bromley,
who succeeded his father in 1587, (fn. 65) was the magistrate
appointed to search Hindlip
House, after the discovery
of the Gunpowder Plot, for
Garnet and Oldcorne, (fn. 66) whom
he brought to his house after
their arrest to restore their
strength before their journey
to London. (fn. 67) Sir Henry
Bromley bought the reversion
of the Croft moiety of Holt
from Ezechiel Evans in 1613, (fn. 68)
and died seised of the whole
manor in 1615. (fn. 69) He left as
his heir Thomas his son by
his second wife Elizabeth, who
succeeded to the castle and manor of Holt (fn. 70) after the
death of his father's widow Anne, upon whom the
estate had been settled for life. (fn. 71) Sir Thomas
Bromley died about 1629, (fn. 72) leaving as his heir his
son Henry, then under age; the custody of the land
was granted to Richard Downes. (fn. 73)
Bromley of Holt. Quarterly fessewise indented gules and or.
Henry Bromley afterwards became Sheriff of Worcestershire. (fn. 74) He took the Royalist side in the Civil
War, and was accordingly sentenced to a fine amounting to £4,000 (one-sixth of his property) in 1646. (fn. 75)
An order for his arrest on account of non-payment
was issued in 1648, (fn. 76) but he subsequently paid his
fine and was allowed to receive his rents 'on security
of two years' value for the real estate and double the
value of the personal estate.' (fn. 77)
Henry Bromley died before 1657, leaving as his
heir his son of the same name, (fn. 78) who in that year
settled the manor on himself and his wife Mercy and
their heirs male. (fn. 79) He was succeeded in 1683 by
his son William, (fn. 80) whose daughter and heir Mercy
married John Bromley of Horseheath. (fn. 81) Their son
Henry, who was created Lord Montfort in 1741,
had inherited the estate by 1726 (fn. 82) ; he was still in
possession of it in 1740, (fn. 83) but seems to have sold it
before 1764 to Thomas Lord Foley. (fn. 84) It has since
followed the descent of Witley Court (fn. 85) (q.v. in
Great Witley), and is now the property of the Earl
of Dudley.
At the time of the Domesday Survey there was a
water-mill in Holt, which was then worth 40d., (fn. 86)
and by 1499 another mill had been built. (fn. 87) Both
these followed the descent of the manor, (fn. 88) but one of
them, called Wyrkins Mill, was leased for three lives
by Sir John Bourne to Martin Croft in May 1557 (fn. 89) ;
they are perhaps represented by the two water-mills
known respectively as Holt Mill and Hollingshead
Mill at the present day.
The fish-pond belonging to the manor is first
mentioned in 1329, (fn. 90) when it formed part of the
dower of Eustacia widow of Richard de Beauchamp,
together with one-third of the pleas and profits of
court and the liberties belonging to the manor, which
included the fines for bloodshed and breach of the
assize of bread and ale. (fn. 91) A dovecot worth 3s. 4d.
yearly is mentioned among the appurtenances of the
manor in 1420. (fn. 92)
The last Sir John Beauchamp of Holt had a park
attached to his manor in the early part of the 15th
century. It was worth 6s. 8d., besides the keep of the
deer there at his death in 1420, (fn. 93) but no mention of
it occurs after this date.
LITTLE WITLEY
LITTLE WITLEY was probably included in the
grant said to have been made in 964 by Edgar to
the church of Worcester (fn. 94) of Witley and Grimley,
which were subsequently leased by Bishop Oswald to
Eadmer for three lives. (fn. 95) One hide of land at Witley
was held of the bishop of the manor of Wick Episcopi
in 1086 by Urse D'Abitot, (fn. 96) and had formerly been
held by Arnwin the priest, who is said to have been
a priest of Edric the Wild and to have received
Witley from Bishop Aldred at Edric's request. (fn. 97)
Little Witley followed the descent of Holt until the
beginning of the 13th century, when William de
Beauchamp enfeoffed Hugh de Cooksey. (fn. 98) Hugh's
son and heir of the same name married Julian daughter
of Hugh le Poer, (fn. 99) who brought him as her marriage
portion the manor of Great Witley (fn. 100) (q.v.), the
descent of which has since been followed by Little
Witley. (fn. 101) The Earl of Dudley is the present lord of
the manor.
BENTLEY
BENTLEY (Beonet Laege, ix cent.), now represented by a farm in the parish of Holt, was given in
perpetual alms by Burghred to Aelhun, Bishop of
Worcester, in 855. (fn. 102) It was leased for three lives by
Bishop Oswald to Eadmer in 962, (fn. 103) and in 1017
Archbishop Wulfstan gave to his brother Elfwig
6 'manentes' at Bentley. (fn. 104) Bentley seems to have
become incorporated with the manor of Holt by the
time of the Domesday Survey. (fn. 105)
CHURCHES
The church of ST. MARTIN
consists of a chancel 25¼ ft. by 16 ft.,
a nave 49½ ft. by 18½ ft., a south
chapel 42 ft. by 11ft. and a western tower 12 ft.
square. These measurements are all internal.
The mid-12th-century church consisted of the
still existing nave and a chancel somewhat shorter
than the present one. In the 13th century the
chancel was lengthened eastward and the sills of the
old chancel window were lowered. The south
chapel was added in the middle of the 14th century
and the tower in the 15th, when the old west wall of
the nave was rebuilt.
The 15th-century east window of the chancel is
of two lights with a four-centred head, and on either
side are two much defaced niches. In the north wall
of the chancel are three single-light windows. The
eastern one is of 13th-century date, and the two
western are 12th-century windows with round heads,
but they have been lengthened to bring their sills
level with that of the later window. The lengthening
of the easternmost has cut into a 12th-century roundheaded niche, and both have cut through an external
embattled moulding of the same date. In the south
wall is a lancet light similar to that on the north, and
west of this a 15th-century trefoil-headed piscina. A
segmental arch of two chamfered orders opens into
the south chapel. The semicircular chancel arch is
of 12th-century date. The eastern face is comparatively plain, only the inner order being enriched, but
both orders on the west, with the soffit, are elaborately ornamented with the cheveron, and above is a
sunk label enriched with medallions. The jambs
have two half-round columns to the inner order and
two angle shafts to each jamb, all having elaborate
capitals and circular bases. On the north the capital
of the eastern angle-shaft is scalloped, those of the
western angle-shaft and the inner half-round column
being carved with an interlacing ornament. The
capitals of the smaller shafts on the south are also
scalloped, but the middle one is of a foliated type.
Plan of Holt Church
There are three single-light windows in the north
wall of the nave, the first of which is modern, while
the other two are original 12th-century windows
with round heads and wide splayed reveals, and below
the sills externally is an enriched cable moulding.
The north door between these windows is of the
same date and has a round head of two orders richly
ornamented with cheverons and shafted jambs with
elaborate cushion capitals, on the eastern of which is
carved the fable of the fox and the stork. At the
east end of the south wall are two bays of 14th-century
arcading to the south chapel, with arches of two
chamfered orders and an octagonal pier. The
responds are octagonal to within about 4 ft. of the
ground and square below. In the western face of the
upper part of the east respond is a shallow niche with
a plain pointed head. Further west is the 12th-century south door, which has a round head of
two orders enriched with both the horizontal and
vertical cheveron and double shafted jambs with
cushion capitals carved with grotesque heads. West of
the south door is a
modern single-light
window of 12th-century detail.
The south chapel
has a well-designed
14th-century east
window of three
lights with flowing
tracery over, and in
the south wall are
three two-light windows of the same
date with a blocked
south doorway. Between the middle
and easternmost window is a small blocked
light which may have
opened at one time
into an anchorite's cell. Externally the 14th-century
string-course stops square a few feet on either side
of this, and the adjoining buttress is evidently not
contemporary with the original building of the aisle;
these facts tend to prove the existence at some time
later than the 14th century of some small building
against this part of the south wall. There is also a
small blocked loophole at the south-west corner of
the chapel, but in this case the string-course is broken
over it, and it is evidently a part of the original building.
The tower is of three stages with an embattled
and pinnacled parapet and angle buttresses up to the
second stage with small flat buttresses on corbels from
belfry openings are of two lights with a quatrefoil
over and are filled with pierced freestone slabs. There
are also single-light openings in the second stage
under square heads and filled in the same manner as
the belfry lights. The handsome west window is of
three lights and dates from the 15 the century. The
tower arch is of two chamfered orders.
The 12th-century font is circular in form, carved
with well-drawn grotesques and having a twisted
fluted stem and cable mouldings. There are some
interesting fragments of 15th-century glass in the
windows of the south chapel, including a portion
of an Annunciation and a well-drawn achievement
of the arms of Brayley. In the south-west corner of
the chapel is a wall monument to Henry Bromley,
died 1683, and his wife Mercy (Pitts), and in the
chancel another to Sir Henry Bromley, kt., died
1615, erected by his wife Anne Beswicke, and in the
floor of the chancel a slab to John Washbourne,
1619, rector of this church with the arms: A fesse
with three molets thereon between six martlets impaling a cheveron between three scallops. There is
also preserved in the south chapel a tabard emblazoned
with the Brayley arms and quarterings, and in the
same place is a life-size effigy of 15th-century date of
a lady in a long robe and wearing a wimple, coif
and veil. This has lately been painted in various
colours by the wife of a deceased rector.
Holt Church from the North-east
The bells are five in number, including a sanctus,
undated and without inscription: the first, a treble
bears the inscription 'Robart Dugard, Whitney
Kinnersley, C.W. 1713,' and the mark of the
maker R.S.; the second has neither date nor inscription; the third is inscribed 'Jesus Be Our
Speed 1632, IH. IW.'; the fourth is of 1603 and
bears the inscription 'God Save Our King James,
1603,' and the maker's mark A.W.
The plate consists of a large cup, paten and flagon,
presented in 1699 by Margaret Bromley and made
in the previous year, a small modern paten and a
brass almsdish, presented in 1721.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and burials 1538 to 1812 and marriages 1538
to 1753; (ii) a marriage book 1754 to 1812.
The chapel of the HOLY TRINITY, Little
Witley, (fn. 106) consists of an apsidal chancel, north vestry,
nave and western bellcote. The present building
was entirely rebuilt in 1867, partly upon the old
foundations, some of the old stones being re-used.
The only original detail remaining is the blocked
north doorway of the nave, which has a two-centred
head, roll-moulded continuously with the jambs, and
is of early 13th-century date. Portions of the lower
courses of the nave and chancel walls appear to belong
to the former building. These are of red sandstone,
the material employed for the rebuilding which is designed in the mid-Victorian 13th-century convention.
There is one bell by Richard Sanders of Bromsgrove, 1733.
The plate includes an Elizabethan cup of 1571
with cover paten. The inscription on the cup is
'Poculum sacrum capellanae (sic) de Witley Parva
Humph. Hill Warden 1708.'
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) mixed
entries 1680 to 1753, burials to 1764, baptisms to
1812; (ii) marriages 1756 to 1811. Burials were
recorded at Holt after 1764.
ADVOWSONS
Holt was originally a chapelry belonging to the church of St. Helen,
Worcester. (fn. 107) It had become a
rectory before 1269, (fn. 108) the presentation belonging to
the lords of the manor. (fn. 109) The advowson has since
followed the same descent as the manor, (fn. 110) the Earl of
Dudley being the present patron.
During the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries it was the
practice for the rector of Holt to present a vicar or
curate to perform the services. (fn. 111) The church was valued
at £9 6s. 8d. in 1291 (fn. 112) and at £11 13s. 11d. in 1536. (fn. 113)
A chapel of St. Mary Magdalen in the church of
Holt was mentioned in 1366, when a relaxation of
penance was granted to those who gave alms and
visited it on certain days, (fn. 114) but there is no reference
to it after this date.
The chapelry of Little Witley was formerly
attached to Holt. It is mentioned in the 11th century
as being a chapelry of St. Helen, Worcester. (fn. 115) In
1375 the inhabitants of the village obtained licence
to erect a baptismal font in the chapel and to have a
cemetery near, as their parish church was 2 miles
distant and the road, especially in winter, watery and
muddy. (fn. 116) The chapelry was transferred to the parish
of Great Witley in 1904, but the advowson has
followed the same descent as that of Holt (fn. 117) ; it is
now the property of the Earl of Dudley.
CHARITIES
In 1620, as recorded on the church
table, Mr. Moscrop gave £10 for the
poor, and in 1683 the Hon. Beatrice
Bromley gave £20 for the poor.
These gifts were laid out in the purchase of 5a.
known as Hare Close. The land was sold in 1884,
and the proceeds with accumulations of income were
invested in £543 14s. 1d. consols with the official
trustees. The annual dividends, amounting to
£13 11s. 8d., are distributed in coal at Christmas to
about forty recipients.
The gifts for the poor of £20 by Mrs. Mercy
Walsh and £10 by John Bromley, also mentioned on
the church table, and of £5 by one Pillett, have been
lost owing to the insolvency of the holder.
In or about 1825 Mrs. Susannah Gabb, by her
will, gave £20 for the poor. The principal sum is
in the post office savings bank, the interest being
distributed in bread on Good Friday.
In 1863 Mrs. Elizabeth Cowell, by her will, left
£50 for the poor, which sum is also in the savings
bank; the interest is from time to time distributed
in money to the poor.