Salford Priors, Warwickshire

Description
Salford Priors, a village and a parish in Warwickshire. The village stands near the confluence of the rivers Arrow and Avon, 4 miles S by W of Alcester. It took the latter part of its name from an ancient priory, of which no traces exist, and has a station on the M.R. and a post office under Evesham; money order and telegraph office, Bidford. The parish contains also the hamlets of Salford Abbots, Dunnington, Cock Bevington, Wood Bevington, Parkhall, Pitchell, Rushford, and Irons Cross. Acreage, 4769; population, 780. There is a parish council consisting of six members. The Vineyard was the seat of Sir Simon Clarke, owner of the manor in the time of Elizabeth. Park Hall belongs to the Marquis of Hertford, and was rebuilt after having been destroyed by fire in 1879. Salford Abbots House, now called the Nunnery, was occupied by French Benedictine nuns after the French Revolution till about 1856, and is now partly a farmhouse, partly a Roman Catholic chapel. Roman relics have been found. The rocks are chiefly of the lias formation, and abound in fossils. There are extensive marl pits, a salt spring, and a petrifying spring. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; gross value, £154 with residence. The church is of Norman and later dates, has a spacious chancel, a S aisle separated by heavy arches, a flamboyant N window, and a tower 60 feet high; it was restored in 1874. There has since been added a spacious organ chamber and oak choir stalls. It contains numerous ancient monuments to the Clarke and other families. There are Reman Catholic and Baptist chapels.