Pendock is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

Malvern Hills district Malvern Hills is a local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in the town of Malvern, and its area covers most of the western half of the county, including the outlying towns of Tenbury Wells and Upton-upon-Severn ...

in the county of

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 ...

, England, situated about halfway between the towns of

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Riv ...

and

Ledbury Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills. It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Street ...

. The name is probably from old Welsh, possibly ''penn heddioc'', meaning 'head of the barley field. The civil parish constitutes two detached parts, with Lower Pendock containing the main (present-day) village with its church, shop and school situated at or near Pendock Cross(roads), and Upper Pendock containing the hamlet of Sledge Green and the old

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

(see below); the parish of Berrow cuts between the two parts of Pendock parish. The population was recorded at 341 at the 2011 census and was 329 at the previous census in 2001. Pendock has two churches, a shop, and a primary school — the Pendock CE Primary School is a small voluntary-controlled school with full healthy school status and a bronze eco award. The M50 motorway passes through the parish, with the nearest junction being number 2, to the west of Pendock.

History

Pendock Church dates from the 12th century. Alterations and additions were made to it in the 14th century, and again in the 15th century when the west tower was built. The church was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Churches Conservation Trust on 1 November 1987. To its north are the earthworks of a former

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

village. The prolific nineteenth-century writer on Worcestershire

John Noake John Noake (1816–1894) was an English journalist and antiquary, known for his writings on Worcestershire. Life The son of Thomas and Ann Noake, he was born at Sherborne, Dorset on 29 November 1816. He came to Worcester in 1838 to work on ''Be ...

, in his 1868 ''Guide to Worcestershire'' notes that: " Rev. W. S. Symonds, the eminent geologist, is lord of the manor, patron and incumbent of the living." Pendock Cross church, also known as The Redeemer Church, was built in 1899 as a temporary mission church, but is still in use. It has an outdoor

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

which is stacked up on bricks.

Gadfield Elm Chapel The Gadfield Elm Chapel near the village of Pendock in Worcestershire, England, is the oldest extant chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The structure was built in 1836 as a religious meeting house by the ...

, the oldest chapel of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

in the world, is in the parish.

Pendock Church

Pendock Church is a redundant

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church standing to the southeast of the hamlet of Sledge Green. It is designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. It stands in an isolated position overlooking and to the north of the motorway.

References

Sources

External links

Pendock CE Primary School web sitePendock Parish Council web site
{{authority control Villages in Worcestershire Civil parishes in Worcestershire