Elmley Castle

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Elmley Castle is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, in England. It is located on the north side of Bredon Hill in the local government district of Wychavon. It had a population of 497 in 2001 and retains public amenities such as a bus route, public house, post office, primary school and church.

The public house is called "The Queens Head", after Queen Elizabeth I who is supposed to have stopped there.

The church of St Mary dates from the end of the 11th century, and was much added to in succeeding centuries. It contains the tombs of Thomas, 1st Earl of Coventry and members of the Savage Family. The decline in local Christian worshippers has led to a reduced service schedule at the church.

The ruins of an important medieval castle, from which the village derives its name, are located in the Deer Park, one kilometer to the south on Bredon Hill. The castle is supposed to have been built by Robert le Despenser, Steward to William the Conqueror. It descended to the Beauchamp family, who later became Earls of Warwick, and was for a time their chief stronghold. The castle became property of the crown in 1492, on the death of Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick (the wife of Warwick the Kingmaker). In 1544, Henry VIII sold it to Sir William Herbert and Christopher Savage, by which time it had fallen into complete disrepair. Leland writing at about this time says, "Ther stondithe now but one Tower, and that partly broken. As I went by I saw Carts carienge Stone thens to amend Persore (Pershore) Bridge about ii miles of. It is set on the Tope of a Hill full of Wood, and a Townelet hard by."

[edit] References

Page, W. ed. (1913). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Worcester, Vol. III, pp. 338-46.
Leland, John (Hearne, T. ed.). (1745). The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary.