SPETCHLEY
Speacleatun (ix cent.); Spæclea (x cent.); Speclea
(xi cent.); Spechele, Spechelegh (xiii cent.); Spechesleye (xiv cent.); Speachley (xvii cent.).
Spetchley is a small parish about 3 miles east of
Worcester. It covers an area of 780 acres, of which
13 are covered by water, 189 are arable land, 539
permanent grass and 37 woods and plantations. (fn. 1)
Almost the whole of the south-west of the parish is
included in Spetchley Park, which contains 196 acres,
117 of which are in the deer park, where there are
herds of red and fallow deer. The mansion at
Spetchley Park, a house in the Grecian manner of the
early 19th century, is the seat of Mr. Robert Valentine
Berkeley. The village itself, though prettily situated,
possesses no buildings of architectural interest. The
main road from Worcester to Alcester forms the
northern boundary of the park and the chief street
of the village. There is a Roman Catholic chapel of
St. John the Baptist attached to the house at Spetchley
Park. It was registered for marriages in 1841. (fn. 2)
Agriculture is the only industry, the chief crops
being wheat, barley and beans. The soil is various,
the subsoil marl and clay.
The land varies in height from 138 ft. in parts of
the park to 207 ft. in the north of the village. The
nearest passenger station is at Worcester, 3 miles west.
There is a goods station on the Midland railway in
this parish.
MANOR
SPETCHLEY was among the manors
belonging to the church of Worcester
freed in 816 by Coenwulf, King of the
Mercians, from secular services. (fn. 3) Bishop Oswald
granted three 'manses' at Spetchley in 988 to the
monks of Worcester in exchange for other land which
he wished to give to his nephew Alfwin. (fn. 4) Bishop
Brihteah gave it to his brother Agelric, Ethelric or
Alric, who was deprived of it by William Earl of
Hereford. (fn. 5) It must, however, have been restored to
the church, and by the time of the Domesday Survey
was a member of the prior's manor of Hallow, being
assinged for the support of the monks of Worcester,
and in the possession of Roger de Lacy. (fn. 6)
The Prior of Worcester soon seems to have lost
all rights in the overlordship of Spetchley, which
was said towards the end of the 12th century to
be held of the bishop's manor of Kempsey, (fn. 7) and
in the 13th century was held of the manor of
Northwick. (fn. 8)
Roger de Lacy still owned Spetchley at the beginning of the 12th century, (fn. 9) but his descendant Hugh
Lacy, as at Himbleton, lost this fee, which passed
with Himbleton to Hugh Poer, who held it of
Walter de Meduana. (fn. 10) Walter de Meduana's
interest passed with the rest of his possessions to
William de Monchensey. (fn. 11) Warin de Monchensey
held the fee in 1245–6, (fn. 12) and it afterwards passed to
his son-in-law William de Valence. It then followed
the descent of Inkberrow (q.v.) until the death of
Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke in 1324, and
was assigned in 1325 to his kinswoman Elizabeth
Comyn. (fn. 13) After this time this mesne lordship seems
to have lapsed.
Hugh Poer's interest descended in the Poer family, (fn. 14)
and the fee became annexed to their manor of Battenhall, passing with that manor to the Prior of
Worcester. (fn. 15) The overlordship of the lords of Battenhall was recognized until 1579 or later. (fn. 16)
Under these lords the manor was held by the
Spetchleys. It is probable that Robert Spetchley,
who was one of the justices of assize in 1230, (fn. 17) was
lord of the manor. He had been succeeded before
1245–6 by Richard Spetchley. (fn. 18) Richard Spetchley
belonged to the household of Maud de Cauntelow
and went with her to Scotland in attendance on the
king's daughter Margaret in 1252, (fn. 19) and abroad in
1255. (fn. 20) In the summer of 1252 he obtained exemption for life from being put on juries and assizes. (fn. 21)
He seems to have left an only daughter Philippa,
wife of John de Everley, (fn. 22) king's yeoman, who
received a grant of free warren in Spetchley in 1271, (fn. 23)
and twelve years later licence to hunt foxes, hares,
badgers and cats in the king's forests in the counties
of Worcester and Hampshire. (fn. 24) In 1280–1 John
and Philippa settled Spetchley on their son John
with contingent remainders to Thomas and Agnes,
their other children. (fn. 25) It was probably this son
John who was made coroner for the county of
Worcester, but removed from that office in 1320 for
'insufficient qualifications,' (fn. 26) and who with many other
men of the county was compelled by the Despensers
to pay a large sum of money to the king for a
'certain trespass maliciously charged against them.' (fn. 27)
He was succeeded before 1346 by William de
Everley, (fn. 28) probably his son, who took part in the
riots of 1345 against William Beauchamp. (fn. 29) In 1346
a warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was found
to have fled the county. (fn. 30) In 1348 he was still in
possession of Spetchley, and was then concerned
in the riots between the men of Worcester and
the priory, (fn. 31) but he died in the following year, (fn. 32)
and his property passed to William Spetchley, a
descendant of the former owners, who was dealing
with tenements in the parish in 1363. (fn. 33) Another
William Spetchley presented to the living in 1419. (fn. 34)
and was succeeded before 1433 by John Spetchley, (fn. 35)
who may have been his son. The latter in 1454
sold the reversion of the manor after his death
to Sir Thomas Lyttelton of Frankley and Joan his
wife, (fn. 36) and with his wife Maud confirmed the sale
in 1459. (fn. 37) Sir Thomas Lyttelton settled Spetchley on
his younger son Thomas and Anne his wife. (fn. 38) The
younger Thomas died in 1524, (fn. 39) leaving three sons,
Thomas, who died without issue in 1535, (fn. 40) John and
Anthony. John succeeded his brother in the manor
and with Anthony sold it to Richard Sheldon in
1544–5. (fn. 41) By his will, proved in February 1562,
Richard left it to his wife Margaret for her life or as
long as she remained unmarried, with reversion to
Philip, his eldest son. (fn. 42) The latter with his wife
Elizabeth and son William sold Spetchley in 1606 to
Rowland Berkeley, a clothier of Worcester, (fn. 43) who left
it to his second son Robert in 1611. (fn. 44) Sir Robert
Berkeley was made serjeant-at-law in 1627 and
justice of the King's Bench in 1632. (fn. 45) He was
among the judges committed to the Tower for their
support of the ship-money tax and was fined £20,000,
the fine being afterwards reduced to £10,000. (fn. 46) He
was a Royalist, but in 1651 Spetchley was the head
quarters of Cromwell before and at the battle of
Worcester, and at that time Sir Robert Berkeley's
house was burnt down by some Presbyterian soldiers
in the king's army. He made his stables habitable
and lived there until his death in 1656. (fn. 47) A 'capital
messuage and buildings, with a moat about half-way
encompassing the same,' mentioned in an inquisition
taken soon after his death, (fn. 48) must evidently have been
this dwelling. A picture of the stables in which
Sir Robert lived, and which the family occupied
until the present house was built in 1821, is now
in the possession of Mr. R. V. Berkeley. (fn. 49) Robert
Berkeley, grandson of Sir
Robert, (fn. 50) married Elizabeth
daughter of Sir Richard Blake,
the authoress of A Method of
Devotion and other works. (fn. 51)
He died childless in 1694 (fn. 52)
and was succeeded by his
brother Thomas, who left two
sons John and Thomas. (fn. 53)
Thomas Berkeley, the only
son of John, died without
issue in 1742 and Spetchley
passed to his uncle Thomas. (fn. 54)
Robert Berkeley, son of
Thomas, died childless in 1804
and was succeeded by his nephew Robert. (fn. 55) The
manor now belongs to Mr. Robert Valentine Berkeley,
great-grandson of the last-named Robert. (fn. 56)
Berkeley. Gules a cheveron between ten crosses formy argent.
A mill at Spetchley was sold with the manor to
Rowland Berkeley in 1608, (fn. 57) but is not mentioned
in any other documents relating to the manor.
The PARK at Spetchley was made or enlarged by
Robert Berkeley, the judge, who in 1625 received
licence to impark any part of the parish for deer,
rabbits and pheasants. (fn. 58) It extends into the parishes
of Whittington and St. Martin, Worcester, and covers
an area of 196 acres.
CHURCH
The church of ALL SAINTS consists
of a chancel 24½ ft. by 15¾ ft., a south
chapel of equal length with the chancel
and 13 ft. in width, nave 29 ft. by 21¾ ft., inclosing
at its west end a tower 9 ft. wide by 9½ ft. deep.
Over the west doorway is a wooden porch. The
measurements here given are all internal.
The nave and chancel date from about 1330, and
there is no evidence of older work on the site. The
south chapel, dedicated in honour of the Holy
Trinity, was added by Sir Robert Berkeley in 1614,
as recorded on the tomb set up by him to his father
and mother. His own tomb stands against its south
wall, and his arms are carved above the doorway at
the west end of the chapel. The tower is also
attributed to him, but is very inferior in design to
the chapel, and a later date, 1714, for which there
seems to be some evidence, is on the whole more
likely to be correct.
The church had no rights of burial till 1561, and
the churchyard is very small, which is no doubt the
reason why it was found more convenient to block up
the west part of the nave with a tower than to
encroach on the very restricted area of the graveyard.
The east window of the chancel, which has three
lights with tracery of 15th-century style, is modern.
There were originally two north windows, the western
of which, a tall trefoiled single light, yet remains, but
only a few stones of the east jamb of the other are
now to be seen, it having been destroyed in the latter
part of the 16th century, about 1580, when the
existing rectangular bay window was inserted. It is
a curious and unusual feature, and was built by one
of the Sheldons to contain his tomb, though Habington records that he was not actually buried there.
It has a moulded cornice and a flat roof. On the
jambs inside are four shields; the upper on the
east face has three axes impaling a cheveron between
three stars and the lower three lions' heads razed
and a chief impaling three axes. The upper on
the west side bears a fesse between three eagles
impaling a cheveron between three stars in the chief,
and crusilly formy three lozenges fessewise in the
foot; the lower shield has a cheveron between three
stars impaling a fesse between three eagles. In the
bay is an altar tomb with no inscription; its base is
divided into three panels, the middle one of which
incloses an almost obliterated shield of six quarters of
which the first four seem to be three lions' heads,
three axes, a cheveron between three stars and a fesse
between three eagles. To the east of the bay are
the quoin stones of an earlier blocked window. The
other window at the western end of this wall is of a
single trefoiled light, the jambs and head being of two
chamfered orders. The large opening on the south
side into the chapel is spanned by a flat wood lintel,
moulded like the stone jambs, with a sunken halfround in the centre and chamfered outer edges. On
the top of the latter, below the lintel, are chamfered
cornices. The pointed chancel arch probably dates
from the 14th century, and is in red sandstone of
two continuous chamfered orders.
The chapel is lighted through its east wall by a
window of three trefoiled lights under a pointed
head. It is contemporary with the chapel and is
chiefly of white sandstone. The two windows in
the south wall are each of two trefoiled lights with
a feathered spandrel over in the pointed head. The
west doorway has a four-centred flat arch, and over it
is carved a Berkeley shield of fourteen quarterings.
The first window on either side of the nave is of
two lights with a pointed head. Both date from the
14th century, and below the southern is an old
piscina with a trefoiled pointed head and a sill cut
away flush with the wall. The second north window
is a single light with a plain pointed head, and is
probably an insertion of the 16th century or later.
The north doorway, which has a two-centred head,
has been blocked, but has a wood threshold in position. The third window is a single light, blocked
on the building of the tower. The second window
on the south is also a single light with a plain
triangular head, presumably a late reconstruction.
The south doorway, of a single chamfered order,
has a pointed head like that opposite, and is also
filled in, with its wood door retained in position.
The third window is similar to the blocked opening
opposite, the space between the tower and the nave
wall on this side being used for the stairway up to
the first floor. The doorway in the east wall of the
tower is a square plastered opening with a 'churchwarden' Gothic window of three lights over it. The
west doorway, now the only entrance to the nave, has
a round head of a single chamfered order and has
been partly renewed. The window over it is perhaps
of late 14th-century date; it has two lights with a
quatrefoil over in a two-centred head. The tower
passes through the nave roof, and has an embattled
parapet with a moulded string and square corner
pinnacles, enriched with crocketed finials. The bell-chamber is lighted by plain square-headed lights.
The walling generally is of rubble; that in the east
chancel wall is of very small slaty material with large
quoin stones. The embattled parapet of the chapel
has large square stones with tiles between. The roofs
are gabled, with plaster cradle-vaulted ceilings below
to the chancel and nave, and a flat ceiling also of
plaster to the chapel; the latter is divided into
panels by moulded wood beams. A few fragments
of 14th and 15th-century glass remain in the nave
windows.
In the chancel floor are nine old painted tiles of
red and white patterns bearing the Berkeley arms, the
same with a partly obliterated inscription 'adjuva nos
Deus,' an oak leaf, a rose, a lily and a sword with
cross keys. The altar table dates from the 18th century, and the east wall is panelled in oak of the same
date. The font is modern except the bowl, which
may be as early as the 12th century; it is cup-shaped
with a small roll around its lower edge and a modern
moulded rim.
The church contains numerous ancient monuments,
including several to members of the Berkeley family;
the most prominent is that of Rowland Berkeley, who
purchased the Spetchley estate, and Katherine Haywood his wife, which stands between the chancel and
chapel. It is an altar tomb with diagonal pedestals,
on which are obelisks surmounted by balls. It bears
the effigies of the pair in the dress of the period, with
dogs at their feet, and above is a half-round canopy
supported on each side by square fluted columns with
Ionic capitals. The soffit is coffered, and at the
springing on each side is a shield with Berkeley impaling Haywood. Rowland was buried in 1611 and
his wife in 1629, and a slab in the floor of the chancel
with their arms marks their grave. On the upper
edge above the canopy are Gothic crockets, and in the
middle of the arch on both sides are draped cartouches
bearing the arms and crest.
Against the south wall of the chapel is the altar
tomb of the founder, Serjeant Robert Berkeley, who
died in 1656. The tomb is of black and white marble,
and on it is his recumbent effigy in white marble robed
in a judge's gown and holding a scroll. The epitaph
is on the wall above, and over it is the shield of
Berkeley with thirteen quarterings and thirteen
shields around it, one for each quarter. In the
north-west corner of the chapel is another large
monument in white marble to Thomas Berkeley,
who died in 1693, and his wife Anne, who died in
1692. Over the tomb is the shield of fourteen quarters
and two lozenges, one with the arms Azure a sleeve
or with a crescent for difference, for Elizabeth
Conyers, his mother, and the other Azure a lion
or, for Anne Dayrell, his wife. In the opposite
corner is the monument of his son Robert, who died
in 1694, and Elizabeth his wife, who died in 1708.
The arms over are Berkeley impaling Argent a
cheveron between three wheat sheaves sable, for Blake.
The other Berkeley monuments in the chapel are
modern. In the chancel is a mural monument on
the south wall to Anne daughter of Rowland and
Katherine Berkeley, and wife of William Smyth, who
died in 1638. In the floor are slabs of various dates,
one with a brass inscription to Dr. William Smyth,
rector of Tredington, Warden of Wadham and Vicechancellor of Oxford, who died in 1658. Other
slabs commemorate Thomas Berkeley, who died in
1719, the wife of Roland Crosby, who died in 1689,
and Anna Smyth (undated).
In the Berkeley chapel is a 15th-century chest
with a good lock plate.
There are four bells: the first, second and fourth
with no inscription, the third with the inscription
partly gone; it is in crowned Lombardic capitals and
reads 'Sancte Petre ora pro nobis.' (fn. 59)
The communion plate consists of a silver cup with
no date mark, but apparently of about 1640, the
maker's initials being R. T., a cover paten, a tankard
flagon of the same make, and two stand patens of
1688, with the maker's initials D.B.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
all entries, containing baptisms, burials and marriages
1539 to 1745 (with one baptism of 1784); (ii) baptisms
and burials 1746 to 1812, marriages 1748 to 1753;
(iii) marriages 1764 to 1810. There is also an
account book with entries of gifts to the poor from
1801.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of the church of
Spetchley has always belonged to the
lords of the manor, (fn. 60) and the present
patron is Mr. Robert Valentine Berkeley.
The rectory of Spetchley was united with Warndon
in 1874. (fn. 61)
Spetchley was originally a chapelry, (fn. 62) dependent
upon the cathedral church of Worcester. The date
at which it became parochial is not known, but it is
called a church in 1291. (fn. 63)
From the 13th century the priory of Worcester
had a pension of 2s. from the church or chapel of
Spetchley, (fn. 64) probably as a recognition of the rights of
the mother church. This rent was granted after the
Dissolution to the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. (fn. 65)
Right of sepulture was granted to the inhabitants of
Spetchley in 1561. (fn. 66)
In 1397 the rector of Spetchley obtained licence
from the pope to let the rectory while he was
studying at any university or in the service of any
prelate in England or living at the Roman court. (fn. 67)
In 1574 an acre of land at Spetchley held by the
churchwardens, formerly given for the maintenance
of lights in the church, was granted to John and
William Marsh. (fn. 68)
CHARITIES
In 1767 Moses Hyett, by his will,
gave £80, the interest thereon to be
distributed to the poor. An unknown
donor, as mentioned in the Parliamentary Returns
of 1786, gave £30 to the poor. A sum of £110,
representing these two gifts, was in 1872 invested in
£119 4s. 10d. consols with the official trustees. The
annual dividends, amounting to £2 19s. 4d., are
distributed in coal on St. Thomas's Day to about
ten recipients.