Place:Bredon, Worcestershire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bredon is a large village and civil parish in Wychavon District at the southern edge of Worcestershire in England. It lies on the banks of the River Avon on the lower slopes of Bredon Hill, at “the beginning of the Cotswolds”.

Bredon is located 3 miles (5 km) north of the Gloucestershire town of Tewkesbury on the B4080 road. The River Avon forms the western boundary of the parish, and two of its tributaries, the Carrant Brook and Squitter Brook form the southern boundary.

The parish (including Bredon's Norton, formerly a separate parish to the north) extends from the Avon valley floor at an elevation of 32 feet (10 m) in the south-west to the upper slopes of Bredon Hill at an elevation of 820 feet (250 m) in the north-east. At its greatest extent the parish measures approximately 4.8 miles (7.7 km) long by 2.2 miles (3.5 km) wide, and covers around 4,125 acres (16.7 km2).

Bredon parish includes the hamlets of Bredon's Hardwick, Kinsham and Westmancote. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,542 (Source:UK 2011 census). The parish is now combined with that of Bredon's Norton, which had a population of 247 at the 2011 census.

History

From the Norman Conquest (1066) to the end of the Late Medieval Period (1500), the parish was governed under the feudal system. The manor was held by the Bishop of Worcester, who maintained a summer residence, park and fisheries on the site of the first monastery, and the medieval village developed around these church buildings. Following the Reformation in the 16th century, the manor passed to the Crown.

In 1718, wealthy resident William Hancock (a descendant of William Hancock?) founded Bredon Hancock's Endowed Church of England First School. Bredon’s Act of Inclosure was passed in 1811, and among those gaining large consolidated holdings were the lord of the manor, Rev. Richard Darke, and the rector, Rev. John Keysall.

The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, one of the world's oldest main line railways, was constructed during the 1830s and 1840s through the village, with Bredon station opening in 1841. This remained in operation until 1965, when it was closed under the Beeching Axe. In February 1971, a new section of the M5 motorway was opened, cutting through the parish to the west of the village.

Registration Districts

• Tewkesbury Registration District (1837-1931)
• Tewkesbury Registration District (1931 - 1935)
• Evesham Registration District (1935-1974)
• Hereford and Worcester Registration District (1974 - 1998)
• Evesham (post-1998) Registration District (1998 - 2006)
• Worcestershire Registration District (2006 - )
• Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales - Revised: Worcestershire illustrates the parish boundaries of Worcestershire when rural districts were still in existence and before the West Midlands came into being. The map publication year is 1931. The map blows up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. Maps in this series are now downloadable for personal use.
• British History Online has a large collection of local maps from the Ordnance Survey 1883-1893. These blow up to a size that permits viewing of individual hamlets, farms, collieries, but there is no overlapping of one map to the next, and no overall map to tie the individual ones together.
• British History Online also has three volumes of the Victoria County History of Worcestershire online. Volume 3 (published in 1913) deals with the Halfshire Hundred; Volume 4 (published in 1924) deals with the City of Worcester, as well as parishes in the hundreds of Pershore and Doddingtree. Volume 2 covers religious houses in the county. The remainder of the county is not represented in the British History Online series.
• GENUKI makes a great many suggestions as to other websites with worthwhile information about Worcestershire as well as leading to a collection of 19th century descriptions of each of the ecclesiastical parishes.
• The FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI which may be more up-to-date. An index of parishes leads to notes and references for each parish. The auxiliary website English Jurisdictions can also be helpful.
• Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, The Hive, Sawmill Walk, The Butts, Worcester WR1 3PD (Telephone: 01905 822866, e-mail: archive@worcestershire.gov.uk) The Archives Collections Catalog Summary outlines the contents of the Archives Collection and also notes on what has been transferred to the national online service Access to Archives
• The Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry has a branch in Bromsgrove which deals in Worcestershire family history. There are also branches at Stourbridge and Worcester.
• The Midlands Historical Data project produces searchable facsimile copies of old local history books and directories of interest to genealogists. It specialises in the three counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, working closely with libraries, archives and family history societies in the area. Digital images are made freely available to participating organisations to improve public access. Free search index on its web-site to all its books. In many cases payment will be required to see the extract.
• A Vision of Britain through Time has

1. organization charts of the hierarchies of parishes within hundreds, registration districts and rural and urban districts of the 20th century
2. excerpts from a gazetteer of circa 1870 outlining individual towns and parishes
3. reviews of population through the time period 1800-1960

• Brett Langston's list of Worcestershire Registration Districts and parishes within each registration district from 1837 to the present can indicate where to find details of civil registration entries since the process began in England.
• More local sources can often be found by referring to "What Links Here" in the column on the left.

• Victoria County Histories, Worcestershire, Volume 3 on Bredon, provided by British History Online.