Astley is a village, and a civil parish (with Dunley) in

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, about two miles outside

Stourport-on-Severn Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, a few miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Bewdley. At the 2011 ce ...

and seven miles south-west of

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...

. A range of English

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...

s including

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

s have been produced in Astley since 1983. The wines have won over 100 awards, and are now Quality Wine status, three of which have received

International Wine and Spirit Competition The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by t ...

(IWSC) awards.Astley Vineyards

History

There is evidence in the village of Norman heritage. The house Astley Towne has a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

cellar. Near St Peter's Church are the remains of a priory built in 1088. The priory was founded by Ralph de Todeni who was given the manor of ''Eastlie'' (Astley) following the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

. It was an alien Benedictine House, belonging to a parent monastery in Normandy. The prior's well remains, but is overgrown. To the East of the priory, well-defined earthworks of a medieval village have been found. Astley was in the lower division of

Doddingtree The Hundred of Doddingtree was granted to Ralph Todeni, or ''Ralph de Toni'', a relative of the Duke of Normandy, in 1066 by William the Conqueror as a reward for his services as Standard bearer during the Norman Conquest. It consisted mainly of ...

Hundred.''Worcestershire Family History Guidebook'', Vanessa Morgan, 2011, p20 The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire.Open Domesday: Astley, Doddingtree Hundred
accessed March 2020. Following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relief ...

Astley Parish ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred to

Martley Poor Law Union Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 individual parishes ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in their parish. Poor law unions were established. In west Worcestershire the Martley Poor Law Union was established to take the po ...

. St Peter's church is of possible c12 century originsPevsner, Nikolas and Brookes, Alan ''Worcestershire'' 2007 Yale University Press p114-115 although its origins may have been based on an existing priory. There are several memorials within the church to the Winford family.

Education

Astley

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

is a small, rural CoE

Voluntary Aided school A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In mo ...

with about eighty pupils between 4 and 11 years old. Although the school is isolated, it is popular with children travelling some distance each day. On leaving Astley school the 11 to 16s go on to

The Chantry School The Chantry School is a mixed gender secondary school with academy status located in Martley, Worcestershire, England. The school has about 700 students on roll who come mainly from small villages around the edge of Worcester, The school has ...

Martley Martley is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills district of the English county of Worcestershire. It is approximately nine miles north-west of Worcester. The population of the village is approximately 1,200 people. The mixed farming of ...

.The Chantry School Admissions Map Accessed 8 June 2014

Facilities

Astley Burf contains an Outdoor Education centre, owned by

Dudley Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC. The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government ...

, and used by Dudley schools during the spring and summer

Glasshampton

Glasshampton means ''the home of clear water''.Ray Mace ''A potted History of Glasshampton Lodge'', n.d., manuscript, Shrawley, Worcestershire. Glasshampton was a separate manor from Astley, but like Astley, was in the lower division of

Hundred. The manor of Glasshampton and its associated estate was held by the Winford family. The house was said to contain 365 windows but was burnt down in 1917. The stable block survived and was converted in 1918 to accommodate a monastery for the Anglican Franciscan order.

Notable people

Frances Ridley Havergal Frances Ridley Havergal (14 December 1836 – 3 June 1879) was an English religious poet and hymnwriter. ''Take My Life and Let it Be'' and ''Thy Life for Me'' (also known as ''I Gave My Life for Thee'') are two of her best known hymns. She also ...

(1836–1879), poet and hymnist was born in the village, the youngest daughter of

William Henry Havergal William Henry Havergal (18 January 1793 – 19 April 1870) was an Anglican clergyman, writer, composer and hymnwriter, and a publisher of sermons and pamphlets. He was the father of the hymn-writer and poet Frances Ridley Havergal and the cler ...

, the Rector of Astley. Both are buried at Astley. * Major General Hill Wallace, CB (1823–1899), former

officer commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, ...

the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...

, buried at Astley. * Former Prime Minister,

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

lived at Astley Hall in his later years. His home has now become a nursing home. There is also a monument dedicated to him on the main road between

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

and

Stourport Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, a few miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Bewdley. At the 2011 ce ...

. After Baldwin's death, a national appeal failed to raise sufficient money for this memorial.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

personally made up the shortfall and attended the dedication of the memorial. * Winford baronets, of Glasshampton * Captain

Andrew Yarranton Andrew Yarranton (1619–1684) was an important English engineer in the 17th century who was responsible for making several rivers into navigable waterways. Biography He was born at Astley, just south of the town of Stourport-on-Severn in Worces ...

, engineer and agriculturalist

References

External links

* Astley and Astley Hall o
www.british-history.ac.uk
* Gordon Lovett, ''A history of the people and places of Astley'', 2000

* {{authority control Villages in Worcestershire