Madresfield 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 authorit ...

in the administrative district of

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 aff ...

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 H ...

, England. It is located about two miles east of Malvern town centre at the foot of the

and is less than two miles from the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. Surrounded by farms and

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a ...

, it has a clear view of the entire range of the Malvern Hills, and is part of the informal region referred to as ''The Malverns''.

Etymology / Pronunciation

The name Madresfield possibly derives from 'Mather's Field' (though there are other theories to its origin) and is pronounced "Ma-d''er''s Field" or "Ma-d''re''s Field".

History & Amenities

Madresfield is not mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

, as it was part of the manor of

Powick Powick is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District, Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, England, located two miles south of the city of Worcester, England, Worcester and four miles north of Great Malvern. The parish include ...

. Madresfield is part of a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

which includes the neighbouring village of Guarlford. There is a

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, ...

in the village (dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin). There have been three churches, the first a small

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

that was mainly used by the Beauchamps. A second church, built on marshy ground to the designs of

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

, was demolished after only twelve years after becoming unsafe. The present church was built on land donated by the Earl Beauchamp and re-used many items from the earlier church. The church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, has a refurbished

peal of bells A "ring of bells" is the name bell ringers give to a set of bells hung for English full circle ringing. The term "peal of bells" is often used, though peal also refers to a change ringing performance of more than about 5,000 changes. By rin ...

which are on the visiting circuit of regional

campanologists Campanology () is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art. It is common to collect t ...

. The bells were rehung in December 2005 following recasting of 1 and 2 from the scrap metal of the old 4th and tenor and retuning the other bells., The village also has a

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 ...

. A

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

was discovered on ground near Northend Farm, and near to what is now called ''Roman Way''. There is an 800-year-old ditch alongside Townsend Way that was once the boundary to the ancient village of Madresfield. The main road though the village was re-routed in the early 19th century to move it away from Madresfield Court. Many of the village houses were built just after this period. The village boasted two

village green A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...

s, ''Mathersfield Green'' near "Byways" and ''Bunn's Green'' on the corner of Northend Lane and Rectory Lane. The first point-to-point racing amateur horseback race was held at Madresfield in 1836.

Madresfield Court

The stately home, near the village centre has been the ancestral home for several centuries of the

Lygon family The titles Baron Beauchamp and Viscount Beauchamp have been created several times throughout English and British history. There is an extant Viscountcy of Beauchamp, held by the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. Beauchamp family The nam ...

, whose eldest sons took the title of

Earl Beauchamp Earl Beauchamp () was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The peerage was created in 1815 for William Lygon, 1st Baron Beauchamp, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Elmley, in the County of Worcester. He had already been creat ...

from 1815 until 1979, when the last Earl died. Distinguished collections of furniture and art are housed in the Court, which was rated by Simon Jenkins to be among the 50 best in his book on 1,000 historic houses. The house is managed by the

Elmley Foundation Madresfield Court is a country house in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. The home of the Lygon family for nearly six centuries, it has never been sold and has passed only by inheritance since the 12th century; a line of unbroken family ownersh ...

, a British registered charity. In the event of a German invasion threatening London, a 1940 government plan was to move the Royal Family to Madresfield.

References

External links

Ofsted school report

British history online entry

{{authority control Villages in Worcestershire Malvern, Worcestershire Civil parishes in Worcestershire