Alvechurch, Worcestershire

Description
Alvechurch, a village and a parish in Worcestershire. The village stands adjacent to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 3 miles N of Redditch, with a station on the M.R., and a post office (S.O.) It was formerly a borough, and had a palace of the Bishops of Worcester, the last occupant of which was Bishop Latimer. Fairs are held on the first Wednesday in May and the first Wednesday in October. There are a Baptist chapel, a reading-room and library, a grammar school, and a Convalescent Home for children. The parish is divided into the Yields or hamlets of Rowney-Green, Bamt-Green, Forrill, Hopwood, and Lea End. Acreage, 6800; population of the civil parish, 1774 ; of the ecclesiastical, 1633. The Bishop of Worcester is lord of the manor. Bordesley Park is 1 1/4 mile SE of the village. A tunnel of the canal, nearly 3 miles long, begins at Hopwood. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £500. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church, excepting the Perpendicular tower and part of the N aisle, was rebuilt in 1861 at a cost of £3200, portions of the old Norman structure being incorporated and the Norman doorway retained; the chancel was restored in the Early English style, has lancet windows, an alabaster reredos, a beautiful east window, and is divided from the nave by a fine Gothic arch. The church contains a beautiful font of Caen stone, and some ancient monuments and brasses. Dean Hickes, the author of "Thesaurus," was rector of this parish at the Revolution of 1688, and was deprived for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William III.