The Victoria History of Herefordshire: Cradley

Anastasia Stylianou
University of London Press
2025-05-29

<p><strong>A gripping history of Cradley, displaying how its fragmented landownership and strong agricultural roots shaped its distinctive identity.</strong></p><p>Scenic and rural, the parish of Cradley stretches down westwards from the Malvern Hills, bordered by Worcestershire to the north and east. It is one of the largest parishes in Herefordshire, and from the medieval period to the nineteenth century was populous and prosperous. Cradley manor was a valuable holding of the medieval bishops of Hereford. The ecclesiastical benefice, Anglo-Saxon in origin, was equally lucrative, frequently passing nepotistically to well-connected young priests; however, such connections did not prevent one thirteenth-century rector being outlawed for murder! The expanding number of manors in the parish, from the thirteenth century onwards, resulted in a fragmented model of land ownership and the development of a powerful body of wealthy yeomanry, shaping the distinctive character of the parish and its governance in the early modern period.</p><p>Drawing extensively on local archival sources, this volume analyses, among other topics, the centrality of agriculture to the parish's story, charting Cradley's socio-economic growth from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, before its subsequent decline. As such, this book constitutes an important contribution to English local history, exploring the prosperity that could be enjoyed by parishes in fertile Eastern Herefordshire, and the impact of changes in the national economy upon rural, agrarian communities.</p>

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Keywords

  • 1.1.2.2.0.0.0
  • European history
  • European history
  • Historical geography
  • Social and cultural history
  • Herefordshire
  • 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599
  • 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699
  • 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799
  • Social and cultural history
  • Regional geography
  • Local history
  • History ⇒ Local History
  • agriculture
  • Anglo-Saxon
  • Bishops of Hereford
  • church
  • Cradley
  • Herefordshire
  • local history
  • Malvern Hills
  • rural
  • manor
  • parish

The Victoria History of Herefordshire: Cradley

Anastasia Stylianou

University of London Press

2025-05-29

<p><strong>A gripping history of Cradley, displaying how its fragmented landownership and strong agricultural roots shaped its distinctive identity.</strong></p><p>Scenic and rural, the parish of Cradley stretches down westwards from the Malvern Hills, bordered by Worcestershire to the north and east. It is one of the largest parishes in Herefordshire, and from the medieval period to the nineteenth century was populous and prosperous. Cradley manor was a valuable holding of the medieval bishops of Hereford. The ecclesiastical benefice, Anglo-Saxon in origin, was equally lucrative, frequently passing nepotistically to well-connected young priests; however, such connections did not prevent one thirteenth-century rector being outlawed for murder! The expanding number of manors in the parish, from the thirteenth century onwards, resulted in a fragmented model of land ownership and the development of a powerful body of wealthy yeomanry, shaping the distinctive character of the parish and its governance in the early modern period.</p><p>Drawing extensively on local archival sources, this volume analyses, among other topics, the centrality of agriculture to the parish's story, charting Cradley's socio-economic growth from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, before its subsequent decline. As such, this book constitutes an important contribution to English local history, exploring the prosperity that could be enjoyed by parishes in fertile Eastern Herefordshire, and the impact of changes in the national economy upon rural, agrarian communities.</p>