EVESHAM - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"EVESHAM, comprises the parishes of All Saints, St. Lawrence, and Bengeworth; it is a market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, in the lower division of the hundred of Blackenhurst, county Worcester, 15 miles S.E. of Worcester, and 13 N.E. of Tewkesbury. It is a station on the West Midland railway. The town, which is situated on a bend of the river Avon, in the rich vale of Evesham, is a place of considerable antiquity, and was called by the Saxons Eofesham or Eovesham.

It owes its origin to the mitred abbey founded here in 709 by St. Egwin, who retired hither after he had resigned the bishopric of Worcester to the Pope. The abbots sat in parliament as spiritual peers till the reign of Henry VIII., when, at the Dissolution, the greater part of the buildings were sold for the materials, and the possessions of the abbey, valued at £2,076 1s. 4d., were forfeited to the crown. The clock tower, which served as the gate of entrance to the monastic cemetery, was purchased by the citizens, and was consequently preserved. It is 110 feet high, and about 28 feet square at the base, with panelled buttresses, and crowned with open battlements and pinnacles.

The most memorable occurrence in the history of the town was the decisive battle fought on the 4th of August, 1265. During the parliamentary war of Charles I. the town was taken by Massey (1643). It was incorporated by James I., and returns two members to parliament. Its limits, which were unaltered by the Reform Bill, include the two parishes of All Saints and St. Lawrence, as below, and Bengeworth on the opposite side of the Avon, here crossed by a stone bridge. This last-named parish is situated on the eastern bank of the Avon, and was added to the borough by the second charter of James I.

The municipal borough is governed under the new Act by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 18 councillors, with the style of the "mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Evesham". The greater part of the town, which is built on a sloping eminence rising from the bank of the river Avon, consists of old wooden houses. The High-street is very spacious, and the streets are paved and lighted with gas under a local Act obtained in 1824. It contains an old townhall, situated in the market-place, two banks, a savings-bank, and two ribbon manufactories. In the vicinity are several corn-mills and a mill for the manufacture of linseed oil.

Evesham is a polling-place for the eastern division of the county, a sessions town, and once an assize town; also the head of a Poor-law Union, embracing 28 parishes, 10 of which are in Gloucestershire, and 18 in Worcestershire. The union poorhouse is situated in Hampton parish. It is likewise the seat of a superintendent registry, and of a new County Court district. The limits of the municipal and parliamentary boroughs are co-extensive, comprising 2,150 acres, a great part of which is in gardens and orchards, letting at from £5 to £12 per acre.

The adjacent country is remarkable for its interesting scenery, and the whole of the Vale of Evesham, extending from Evesham to Tewkesbury, and from the Gloucestershire border to the Vale of Avon inclusive, is celebrated for the extreme richness and fertility of its soil. Horticulture constitutes the chief occupation of the labouring class, and asparagus and other vegetables are extensively cultivated for the supply of the principal towns in the surrounding district.

The parishes of All Saints and St. Lawrence were formerly in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Abbot of Evesham. The living of All Saints is a vicarage* [the asterisk denotes that there is a parsonage and glebe belonging to the living] in the diocese of Worcester, value with the perpetual curacy of St. Lawrence annexed, £208, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church of All Saints was built at the beginning of the 13th century as a chapel to the abbey. It is an irregular structure with a tower and spire, and has a western porch, surmounted by pinnacles at the angles. On the S. side is a chapel, built by Abbot Lychfield, the roof of which is finely groined and beautifully adorned with fan tracery.

The church of St. Lawrence was in ruins until 1837, when it was restored. It has a tower and spire of earlier date than the body of the building, and attached to it is a small chapel of great beauty. The charities produce about £190 per annum, exclusive of the parish of Bengeworth. The Wesleyans, Baptists, Society of Friends, and Unitarians, have places of worship.

There is a grammar school, founded in 1546 by Abbot Lychfield, which has an endowment of £13, of which £10 is paid out of the exchequer, under the settlement of Henry VIII., who assigned this sum in lieu of its former revenue on the dissolution of Evesham Abbey, to which it was attached. It was subsequently incorporated by James I., and placed under the government of the mayor and corporation. There is also a National school and a foundation school in the parish of Bengeworth.

Of the abbey, which had 15 altars and 164 marble pillars, nothing now remains except the clock-tower mentioned above, and an elegant gateway. The ancient castle belonging to the De Beauchamps in the parish of Bengeworth was entirely destroyed by the Abbot William de Andeville in the 12th century. Cardinal Hugh de Evesham, Bishop Watson, and Bernardi the Jacobite, were born here; Walter of Evesham, the chronicler, and John Feckenham, Dean of St. Paul's, were monks of Evesham. Earl Somers takes the title of baron from this place. The market is on Monday. Fairs are held on the 2nd February, Easter and Whit-Monday, and the 21st of September."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]