Birtsmorton, Worcestershire

Description
Birtsmorton, a village and a parish in Worcestershire, near the Malvern Hills, 5 miles SE of Malvern Wells station on the M.R., 6 SW of Upton-on-Severn, and 8 WNW of Tewkesbury, under which there is a post office of the name of Birts Street; money order office, Welland; telegraph office, Malvern Wells. Acreage, 1291; population, 244. The manor was long held by the ancient Cornish family of Nanfan, having been given by Henry VI. to John Nanfan, who was his esquire. The manor-house is a timbered moated mansion of the 16th century; the dining-hall is wainscoted with carved oak, and has a carved chimney-piece of the 17th century with the arms of the Nanfan family. It is now a farmhouse, and was the birthplace of the Right Hon. W. Huskisson. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester ; gross value, £375 with residence. Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham) was patron of it in the reign of Henry V. The church is a cruciform Gothic edifice with an embattled western tower. It was restored in 1877. It contains an interesting altar-tomb to Sir John Nanfan, and monuments to Admiral Caldwell (1718) and Catherine, Countess of Bellamont. There is some old stained glass in the windows, and the nave has open oak benches of the 15th century. There is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1844.