Tenbury Worcestershire Family History Guide

Tenbury or Tenbury Wells is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Worcestershire.

Other places in the parish include: Kyrewood, Berrington, Tenbury Foreign with Kyrewood, and Sutton.

Parish church: St. Mary the Virgin

Parish registers begin: 1653

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Trade: hops, cider and perry, malting and tanning

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Tenbury Parish Registers

Search online indexed transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials. Taken from the original parish registers, these entries may include names, dates, family relationships, residences, occupations and other details noted by the minister, with earlier records naturally offering fewer details.

Marriage and Banns Records

These records include indexed transcriptions of Church of England parish registers of marriages.

Tenbury, St Mary the Virgin, Herefordshire Marriages 1694-1837

Tenbury Parish Records

School Records

The National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870–1914 collection offers a rare glimpse into the educational journeys of children across England and Wales during a transformative era. These records often capture names, dates of birth, parental occupations, and school attendance patterns – making them invaluable for family historians, local researchers, and anyone tracing Victorian or Edwardian ancestry. You can view them free with a Findmypast Trial.

St Michael’s College 1870-1889 Admissions

Tenbury Church Of England School 1911-1914 Admissions

Tenbury Infants School 1899-1911 Admissions

Tenbury National School 1906-1911 Admissions

Tenbury Wells School 1874-1899 Admissions

Historical Directory Transcriptions

Tenbury Pigot’s Directory of Worcestershire 1842

Tenbury Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820

Tenbury (Foreign) Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820

Berrington Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820

Sutton Lewis Worcestershire Directory 1820

Parish History

Tenbury

Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

TENBURY, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Worcestershire. The town stands on the river Teme, and on the Tenbury railway, 22 miles NW by W of Worcester; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; has, of late years, been much improved; attracts notice by the recent discovery of mineral waters at it, and by the erection of a pump-room and bathrooms; and has a head post-office, a r. station, a banking office, several inns, a new corn exchange, a market house, an old church restored in 1865, a Baptist chapel, a handsome national school, a workhouse, charities £80, a weekly market on Tuesday, and five annual fairs. Considerable trade is done in hops and cider; and some malting and tanning are carried on-Pop., 1,171. Houses, 234.

The parish includes Kyrewood, Sutton, and Berrington hamlets; and comprises 5,060 acres. Real property, £11,836. Pop. in 1851, 1,786; in 1861, 1,947. Houses, 386. The church and college of St. Michael are near the town; and the college is devoted to music, classics, and mathematics, and has foundation-scholarships. The head living is a vicarage, and that of St. Michael is a p. curacy, in the diocese of Hereford. Value, of the former, £754; of the latter, £60. Patron, of the former, the Rev. T. A. Smith: of the latter, the Rev. Sir F. A. G. Ouseley, Bart.

The sub-district contains 5 parishes. Acres, 18,164. Pop., 4,320. Houses, 875. The district includes also Bockleton sub-district, and comprises 35,941 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £3,744. Pop. in 1851, 7,047; in 1861, 7,366. Houses, 1,523. Marriages in 1863, 43; births, 215,-of which 22 were illegitimate; deaths, 140, of which 53 were at ages under 5 years, and 7 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 436; births, 2,060; deaths, 1,243. The places of worship, in 1851, were 18 of the Church of England , with 3,741 sittings; 1 of Baptists, with 120 s.; 3 of Wesleyans, with 228 s.; and 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 170 s. The schools were 8 public day-schools, with 475 scholars; 14 private day-schools, with 195 s.; and 11 Sunday schools, with 573 s.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845

Tenbury (St. Mary the Virgin), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Upper division of the hundred of Doddingtree, Hundred-House and W. divisions of the county of Worcester; containing, with the hamlets of Berrington, Sutton, and Tenbury-Foreign with Kyrewood, 1849 inhabitants, of which number 1177 are in the town, 22 miles (N. W. by W.) from Worcester, and 134 (N. W. by W.) from London.

This place, originally called Temebury, derives its name from the Teme, which is here a considerable river, separating Worcestershire from Salop, and crossed at the northern entrance into the town by a bridge of six arches. The town consists of two streets, intersecting nearly at right angles, and partially paved; the houses in general are indifferently built, but some improvements have been effected, and a company for lighting the town with gas was established in 1841. Races are held in June, on a good course about a mile south.

A mineral spring was discovered in July, 1839, by some workmen sinking a well on the premises of S. H. Godson, Esq., and appears likely to raise Tenbury to a high rank among British watering-places. The water, which sprang up suddenly from a bed of limestone lying under a massive stratum of old red sandstone, was found to be about 32 feet below the surface, and exhibited a bright sparkling appearance. Several analyses of its contents have been made, differing in some respects from each other, but all exhibiting chloride of sodium, and chloride of calcium (muriate of lime), as the principal ingredients. The proprietor has built a pump-room over the spring, which was opened on the 1st of June, 1840, and baths on the most improved principles have been erected, which have been visited by numerous families of respectability and distinction; a band attends on the promenade, and every attention is paid to the accommodation of visiters. Another well for mineral water has lately been sunk to the depth of 62 feet.

The surrounding country is rich and beautiful, and very productive of hops and apples; great quantities of cider and perry are made, forming a principal source of trade, and returning large profits to the farmers. From the years 1829 to 1835, the average number of acres of hops in cultivation was 330; the average quantity of hops grown is 63,115lb., and of duty paid £529. There are also a considerable malting trade and a tannery.

A canal, commenced in 1794, and originally intended to extend from Leominster to the Severn near Stourport, but not carried through the whole distance, passes within half a mile of the town. The market granted by Henry III. in 1249 is on Tuesday ; the building for the corn-market is an ancient structure, but the butter-cross is more recent. Fairs are held on the Tuesday before the 25th of March, on April 22nd, May 1st, Sept. 26th, and Dec. 3rd; petty-sessions take place once in two months, and a court leet and court baron are held.

The parish comprises 5179a. 2r. 9p. The living is a vicarage, with Rochford annexed, valued in the king’s books at £21, and endowed with a portion of the rectorial tithes; net income, £607; patron and incumbent, the Rev. George Hall; impropriators of the remainder of the rectorial tithes, R. Bagnall, Esq., and others.

The church, erected in the 11th century, was rebuilt in 1777, the old structure having been swept away by a flood in November 1770; it is a spacious and neat edifice, and had formerly a chantry attached to it, which; was valued at the period of the suppression at £5. 0. 6. per annum. The church belonged to the monastery of Lyra, in Normandy, till the year 1414, when Henry V. transferred its rights and revenues to the monastery of Sheen, in Surrey, with which it was connected till the Dissolution. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.

Worcestershire Delineated C. And J. Greenwood 1822

Tenbury – a small market town in the hundred of Doddingtree, upper division, 22 miles N.W. from Worcester, and 134 from London; containing with the Foreign 255 inhabited houses. It is situated in a pleasant country, on the bank of the river Teme, which divides this part of the county from Salop. The town is well paved, and kept very clean, but cannot boast of many good houses. A small river, which rises in Kyre Park, flows with a rapid course under a bridge at the S.W. end of the town, and falls into the Teme.

Tenbury, from its low situation, is very subject to floods. On the 17th November, 1770, the great flood which then took place threw down the side and middle aisles in the church, swept away the windows, injured several of the monuments, and destroyed the organ, which has since been replaced. There is no manufacture carried on in the town, but considerable business is done in hops and cider, of which large quantities are grown in the neighbourhood. The market is on Tuesday, and there are three fairs annually, viz. 26th April, 18th July, and 26th Sept. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford, and archdeaconry of Salop; Rev. Thomas Rocke, D.D. incumbent; instituted 1785; patroness, Mrs. Hill. Population, 1801, 1143 – 1811, 1562 – 1821, 1268.

Source: Worcestershire Delineated: Being a Topographical Description of Each Parish, Chapelry, Hamlet, &c. In the County; with the distances and bearings from their respective market towns, &c. By C. and J. Greenwood. Printed by T. Bensley, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, 1822.

Berrington

Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BERRINGTON, a hamlet in Tenbury parish, Worcester; on the river Teme, 2 miles WNW of Tenbury. Pop., 234. Houses, 48.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland 1833

Berrington, co. Worcester.

P. T Tenbury (130) 2 m. W b S. Pop. 195.

A township in the parish of Tenbury and hundred of Doddingtree.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. I; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833.

Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822

Berrington – a hamlet in the parish of Tenbury, Doddingtree hundred, upper division, 136 miles from London, on the borders of Shropshire, containing 40 inhabited houses. Population, 1801, 189 – 1811, 192 – 1821, 195

Kyrewood

Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

KYREWOOD, a hamlet in Tenbury parish, Worcester; on the river Teme, in Tenbury Foreign, near Tenbury. Pop., 27.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Sutton

Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

SUTTON, a hamlet in Tenbury parish, Worcester; 2 miles SE of Tenbury. Pop., 170. Houses, 29.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Worcestershire Delineated C. And J. Greenwood 1822

Sutton – a hamlet in the parish of Tenbury, hundred of Doddingtree, upper division, 2 miles S. from Tenbury, and 136 from London; containing 39 inhabited houses. Population, 1801, 214 – 1811, no return – 1821, 205.

Tenbury Foreign

Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845

Tenbury-Foreign, a hamlet, in the parish of Tenbury, Upper division of the hundred of Doddingtree, Hundred-House and W. divisions of the county of Worcester; containing, with Kyrewood, 279 inhabitants, and comprising 1522 acres, of which 69 are common or waste land.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.

Historical Maps

British National Grid Ref: SO 59509 68265
BNG Eastings, Northings: 359509, 268265
Latitude, Longitude: 52.310989, -2.595342

View detailed 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps from the National Library of Scotland Maps – includes OS 25 inch 1892-1918 maps, a vast range of other historical OS maps and land use maps. These maps reveal old street layouts, parish boundaries, and landmarks long since vanished.

Ludlow, Tenbury and District 1897: One Inch Sheet 181 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps - Inch to the Mile) This One Inch to the Mile map covers the area on the Shropshire - Herefordshire boundary, stretching from Leintwardine eastward to Tenbury Wells, and from Bromfield southward to the outskirts of Leominster. Woofferton Junction is in the centre of the map and there is included a detailed map of this on the reverse, also including part of Brimfield. View Map Details*