Hanley Swan is a small village in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. It lies in the

Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit affo ...

district, between the towns of

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

( away) and

Upton-upon-Severn Upton-upon-Severn (or Upton on Severn, etc. and locally simply Upton) is a town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Lying on the A4104 (formerly A440), the 2011 census recorded a population of 2,881 for the ...

(approximately away). Together with the nearby village of

Hanley Castle Hanley Castle is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, between the towns of Malvern and Upton upon Severn and a short distance from the River Severn. It lies in the administrative area of Malvern Hills District, and is part of ...

, its population is about 1500. The traditional English village centre includes a village green and pond, a pub, a Social Club and a village stores. Hanley Swan won the 2009 Calor Herefordshire and Worcestershire Village of the Year competition, a heat of the national Village of the year competition. Hanley Swan was an inspiration for the setting of the novel

Black Swan Green ''Black Swan Green'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by David Mitchell, published in April 2006 in the U.S. and May 2006 in the UK. The bildungsroman's thirteen chapters each represent one month—from January 1982 through January 198 ...

by David Mitchell."David Mitchell, The Art of Fiction No. 204"
The Paris Review

History

The Church of Our Lady and St Alphonsus was built, shortly after restrictions against Catholic churches were lifted in 1829, by descendents of Thomas Hornyold who had aided Charles II's escape. As elsewhere in Worcestershire, the continuing Catholic connections of the county meant that new Catholic churches were established with greater funding than in many other parts of the country.

References

External links

Benefice of Hanley Castle with Hanley Swan and Welland
Official web page of the Diocese of Worcester.
The Hanley Swan & Hanley Castle web site

Sources

* Villages in Worcestershire {{Worcestershire-geo-stub