Place:Holt, Worcestershire, England

Watchers
NameHolt
Alt namesHoltsource: from redirect
Holt Heathsource: hamlet in parish
Holt Fleetsource: hamlet in parish
TypeChapelry, Parish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates52.265°N 2.271°W
Located inWorcestershire, England
See alsoBlackenhurst Hundred, Worcestershire, Englandcovering part of the parish
Oswaldslow Hundred, Worcestershire, Englandcovering part of the parish
Martley Rural, Worcestershire, Englandrural district of which it was part 1894-1974
Malvern Hills District, Hereford and Worcester, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area 1974-1998
Malvern Hills District, Worcestershire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area from 1998 onward
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Holt is a parish in Worcestershire, England. It contains two villages: Holt Heath and Holt Fleet. The nearest towns are all about 9 km away: to the north is Stourport on Severn, to the east Droitwich Spa and to the south Worcester.

Holt Heath is near the west bank of the River Severn. Holt Fleet has a church dedicated to St. Martin which dates from about the 12th century. Holt Bridge, over the River Severn, was designed by the famed engineer, Thomas Telford, and opened in 1830.

John Marius Wilson notes that Little Witley was a chapelry within Holt parish. It did not become a civil parish until 1866.

Holt was originally a chapelry in the ancient parish of Worcester St. Helen, but became a ancient parish in its own right in 1269. It was located partly in the Blackenhurst Hundred and partly in the Oswaldslow Hundred of Worcestershire, England. From 1894 until 1974 Holt was a parish in the Martley Rural District. Since 1974 it has been part of the Malvern Hills District, first in the county of Hereford and Worcester, and then, since 1998, in Worcestershire again.

There is a sketchmap of the parishes of Martley Rural District on the rural district page.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Holt from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"HOLT, a village, a parish, and a [registration] sub-district in Martley [registration] district, Worcestershire. The village stands on the river Severn, 3 miles NW of Fearnall-Heath [railway] station, and 5½ NNW of Worcester; and has a post office under Worcester.
"The parish includes also Holt-Heath hamlet, and Little Witley chapelry; and comprises 2,911 acres. Real property: £4,764. Population: 503. Houses: 110. The property is divided among a few. The manor and nearly all the land belong to Earl Dudley. Holt Castle is a fine ancient baronial mansion, with lofty embattled tower; was formerly the seat of the Warwicks, the Beauchamps, the Bromleys, and the Foleys; and is now occupied by a farmer. A piece of Roman pavement, 3 feet by 2, was found here in 1848. The living is a rectory, united with the [perpetual] curacy of Little Witley, in the diocese of Worcester. Value: £579. Patron: Earl Dudley. The church is Norman; was recently restored; consists of nave, S aisle, and chancel, with a low tower; and contains a few ancient monuments. There are a national school, and charities £16.
"The [registration] sub-district excludes Little Witley chapelry, but includes five other parishes, and an extra-parochial tract. Acres: 13,997. Population: 3,509. Houses: 763."

Research tips

  • 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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Holt. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.