WARNDON
Warmedon, Wermindun (xiii cent.); Warnington
(xvi cent.); Warnton (xvii cent.).
Warndon is a small parish in mid-Worcestershire,
about 2 miles east of the town of Worcester. It has
an area of 827 acres, of which in 1905 302 were
arable land, 385 permanent grass and 30 woods. (fn. 1)
The soil is clay with a subsoil of Keuper Marl, growing crops of wheat and beans. A road from Droitwich
to Worcester forms part of the southern boundary of
the parish, and from it another road runs north to
the village of Warndon, which lies in the centre of
the parish. In the village there is a cross. The
hamlet of Trotshill lies in the south. Most of the
land in the parish is flat, but there is a slight rise
towards the south, the highest point being 185 ft.
above the ordnance datum on the Worcester road in
the extreme south.
There is no Inclosure Act for Warndon.
The Worcestershire Naturalists' Club visited
Warndon on 18 June 1885, and its Transactions
contain a description of the present manor-house
erected in the 17th century on the site of that once
inhabited by the Lygons. Remains of the moat that
once surrounded the house and church were then
visible, as well as a cellar and a heavy large-hinged
iron-studded door, relics of the original house. (fn. 2)
MANOR
At the date of the Domesday Survey
Urse held WARNDON of the Bishop of
Worcester's manor of Northwick. (fn. 3) The
bishop's overlordship continued until the 13th century, (fn. 4)
but it is not mentioned afterwards, and it apparently
lapsed, Urse's descendants the Beauchamps, formerly
intermediary lords, (fn. 5) holding directly of the king.
The manor was held of the Beauchamps' manor of
Elmley Castle, (fn. 6) until the overlordship lapsed, (fn. 7) probably
soon after 1611, when the last mention of it occurs. (fn. 8)
The manor of Warndon was held in 1086 under
Urse the Sheriff by Robert. (fn. 9) There is some indication that the Poers held the manor in the time of
Henry II. Habington quotes a grant by Hugh Poer
to the priory of Worcester of 2s. yearly from his
chapel of Warndon, and assigns the date of this
charter to the time of Henry II. (fn. 10) Further, in
1284–5 John Poer held land of the manor of Northwick in Warndon and elsewhere, (fn. 11) but the manor of
Warndon was probably held by the Bracys (between
whom and the Poers Habington deduces some connexion from a similarity in their coats of arms) (fn. 12) as
early as the time of Henry I, for William de Bracy
in 1166 held half a knight's fee in Worcestershire of
William de Beauchamp, of ancient feoffment from
the time of Henry I (fn. 13) ; indeed, Robert, who held at
Warndon and Aston in 1086 under Urse the Sheriff,
was probably an ancestor of the Bracy family, who
held both at Warndon and Aston early in the 13th
century. (fn. 14)
In 1205 Robert Bracy gave up to the Prior of
Worcester all his claim to common of pasture at
Lippard in exchange for a similar quitclaim by the
prior as to common in Warndon. (fn. 15) From this time
the manor followed the same descent (fn. 16) as that of
Madresfield (fn. 17) (q.v.) until 1594, when Sir William
Lygon sold it to Rowland Berkeley. (fn. 18) Rowland acquired
the manor of Spetchley in 1606, and the descent of
Warndon has been identical with that of Spetchley
(q.v.) from that time, (fn. 19) the present owner being Mr.
Robert Valentine Berkeley, J.P., D.L.
In 978 Bishop Oswald gave to Aethelnoth I mansa
at SMITE. (fn. 20) This formed part of the manor
of Northwick, and was held of the Bishops of
Worcester as of that manor. (fn. 21) In the time of
Henry II, Godfrey the Archdeacon held half a hide
of land at Smite, (fn. 22) which had passed by 1299 to John
Washbourne, also known as John de Dufford, son of
Roger de Washbourne, who claimed to have held it
of John de Dossigh and his wife Salima, who was a
daughter of William de la Verne, though in 1299
he held it of the bishop in chief. (fn. 23) In 1327 Hugh
de Dufford complained that certain persons broke his
house at Smite and assaulted him. (fn. 24)
John Washbourne, by his will dated 1532, bequeathed the manor of Smite to his wife Margaret
for her life. She afterwards married John Kettleby,
and they were in possession of the manor at the time
of the death of John Washbourne's son Anthony, upon
whom they had settled the reversion in 1547. (fn. 25) John
son of Anthony Washbourne was dealing with the
manor in 1573, (fn. 26) and conveyed it in 1598 to his brother
Robert. (fn. 27) Robert and his wife Mary sold it in 1601
to Rowland Berkeley, (fn. 28) who died seised of it ten
years later. (fn. 29) An estate at Smite afterwards passed to
the Solley family. Humphrey son of John Solley
of Smite died unmarried about 1647, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas, from whom the estate
passed to his son Thomas. (fn. 30)
Habington gives the following account of Smite:
'there lyethe in the north east of Warndon half a
township called Smite, straungly divided, the one
part in Warndon, the other in Claynes, and wheare
the landes in theyre medowes weare yearely altered
from one to another: the tythes interchangeably
altered so theyre courses, thys yeere in Warndon the
next in Claynes.' (fn. 31)
Smite is now in the parish of Hindlip, Upper and
Lower Smite having been transferred from Warndon
in 1880 and Smite Farm from Claines in the same
year. (fn. 32)
The Grey Friars and Black Friars of Worcester
owned land in Warndon in the 16th century, but it
is not known at what date they acquired it or by
whom it was given. After the Dissolution it was
included in the grant of their possessions by
Henry VIII in 1539 to the bailiffs and citizens of
Worcester. (fn. 33)
CHURCH
The church of ST. NICHOLAS consists of a chancel and nave in one range,
with a north porch of brick, and a west
bell-tower constructed of timber. The earliest part
of the church is the nave, which dates from the 12th
century. Early in the 15th century the chancel was
rebuilt, and probably about a century later the belltower was added. The porch is probably of the
17th century.
The east window of the chancel is of three lights,
and has been considerably restored. In it are inserted
some interesting fragments of 15th-century glass,
including a beautifully coloured figure of the Virgin
and Child and figures of St. Peter, St. Paul and
St. Andrew. The north and south walls of the
church contain five windows, three on the north and
two on the south, all of two lights, with four small
lights and flowing tracery above them under a square
head. The 12th-century north and south doors
(the latter blocked) have each a roll-moulded round
head and jambs. There is a brick porch, apparently
of the 17th-century, with wooden sprockets forming
an arched entrance to the south door. The font at
the west end of the nave is of 15th-century date,
heptagonal in form and has a stem of the same
thickness as the bowl, both being moulded and treated
as a single member. The tower is of half-timber
construction with hewn oak studding from 7 in. to
10 in. square and lath and plaster filling and is
probably of 16th-century date. On the west is a
two-light window with a plain square head.
A curious feature of the church is a chamber
formed between the flat ceiling over the western
part of the nave and the roof, and entered from the
tower. The rest of the nave and chancel has a barrelshaped plaster ceiling. The seating of the church is
of 18th-century date, but the lower part of the posts
of the rood screen remain in the back of one of the
pews, and above this is a single tie-beam with struts
rising to the ceiling, the spaces between the struts
being filled in with lath and plaster. The oak altarrails, of 17th-century date, are supported on turned
balusters, and there is an oak communion table of
the same date. There are also some carved cherubs,
of the Grinling Gibbons type and a pelican in piety
preserved in the tower, which are said to have come
from the Cathedral at Worcester.
The belfry contains two bells and space for a third.
The treble bears the name 'John Brook c w 1710'
and the mark of Richard Saunders, the second is a
pre-Reformation bell inscribed 'Sancte [Nicholas ?]
Ora Pro nobis.' The original treble was sold in the
middle of the 19th century, and, according to Prattinton, who visited the church in 1818, (fn. 34) bore the inscription 'Ave Maria Ora Pro nobis.'
The church plate consists of a chalice, hall marked
for 1669, inscribed as the gift of Thomas Wilde, and
a modern paten of 1893.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1561 to 1812, burials 1563 to 1812, marriages
1567 to 1757; (ii) a marriage-book 1759 to 1812.
ADVOWSON
The chapel of Warndon was
originally annexed to the church of
St. Helen Worcester. After the
death of Bishop Wulfstan the monks committed the
care of St. Helen's vicarage and all its members, in
which the chapel of Warndon in Northwick was
included, to Frithericus, priest of St. Helen's, for their
use. (fn. 35) The chapel seems later on to have passed to
Hugh Poer. (fn. 36) The first recorded institution is
dated 1300, and the chapel had by that time
become a church. (fn. 37) The presentation was made by
Robert Bracy, lord of Warndon, and from that time
the advowson has followed the same descent as the
manor. (fn. 38)
The rectory was united with that of Spetchley in
1874. (fn. 39)
In 1374 the Prior of Worcester warned Thomas
Feld, the rector, to return to his duties, which he had
neglected. He, however, exchanged his living for
St. Clement's, Worcester, in the following year. (fn. 40)
In 1542 Henry Holbeche, last Prior and first
Dean of Worcester, (fn. 41) consecrated the church and
churchyard, which were dedicated in honour of
St. Nicholas. (fn. 42) This may have been when the tower
was added to the church.
CHARITIES
The legacies of £5 and £10 mentioned on the church table as having
been left for the poor by the will of
Richard Berwick, proved 1663, and by the will of
Robert Berkeley, proved 1693, respectively, to be
used as a permanent stock, appear to have been
expended for some parochial object.
Charities of George Wingfield and Mrs. Anne
Sumner.
—In or about 1813 Mrs. Anne Sumner,
in pursuance of the will of George Wingfield, her
first husband, bequeathed £100, the interest to be
applied in gowns to clothe poor women, no woman
to have a gown for two years together. The legacy
is represented by £141 10s. 9d. consols, producing
£3 10s. 8d. yearly. In 1909 fourteen gowns at
5s. 6d. each were distributed.
In 1822 Colonel Henry Barry, in fulfilment of
the wishes of his sister Elizabeth Barry, by deed,
gave £50 for the poor. This gift is represented by
£54 0s. 4d. consols, the annual dividends of which,
amounting to £1 7s., are distributed in bread.
The church table stated that a piece of meadow
ground in the parish of Claines of about one-third
of an acre, known as Church Meadow, was given to
the poor. The land was sold in 1878, and the
proceeds invested in £64 13s. 4d. consols, since
augmented by accumulations to £76 10s. 9d. consols.
The interest, amounting to £1 18s. yearly, is applied
towards the maintenance of the church. The several
sums of stock are held by the official trustees.