Shelsley Walsh

Shelsley Walsh
Shelsley Walsh
	St Andrew's church, Shelsley Walsh, c.1900
	Shelsley Walsh Location within Worcestershire
Civil parish	Shelsley Walsh;
District	Malvern Hills;
Shire county	Worcestershire;
Region	West Midlands;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Worcester
Postcode district	WR6
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance	West Midlands
UK Parliament	West Worcestershire;
	List of places UK England Worcestershire 52°15′51″N 2°24′36″W / 52.26427°N 2.4100°W

Shelsley Walsh is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, on the western side of the River Teme. For administrative purposes it is presently located in the Teme Valley ward of the county’s Malvern Hills district.^[1] In the 2011 Census there was an estimated population of 28 people in 12 households.^[2] The site has been farmed since Anglo Saxon times and there are also vestiges of former industry, but it is now best known for its association with the Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb.

History

The name of the settlement was recorded as Celdeslai in the Domesday Book, ^[3] with the meaning of "Sceald's clearing": from Old English Sceald (a personal name) and leāh (wood, clearing). Other spellings were used in the following centuries, and the location was also known as Little Shelsley to distinguish it from Great Shelsley (Shelsley Beauchamp) on the opposite side of the River Teme.^[4] The village was described in 1831 as being within the upper division of Doddingtree hundred in Worcestershire and having 57 inhabitants.^[5] In 1868 John Noake gave the additional information that it consisted of two farm houses and nine cottages, and that its 410 acres were used for growing hops, fruit and corn.^[6]

The addition of Walsh to the village's name followed when members of the family became lord of the manor, the first of them being Sir Henry le Waleys in the time of King Edward I. They were to remain at Shelsley and in the surrounding district until the start of the eighteenth century, with as arms a fesse between six black martlets on a silver shield, the crest being a griffin's head with the motto veritas et virtu vincunt (truth and probity triumph).^[7] Later tenants of the manor included Joseph Smith, a notable breeder of Hereford cattle,^[8] and Montagu Taylor, whose fascination with modern technology led him to offer the use of one of his farm tracks as the earliest hill-racing venue for cars in 1905.^[9]

Buildings

St Andrew's church

St Andrew's church is the oldest existing building on the site and is of a simple design, having a Norman nave to which a chancel was added in the 13th century. Mainly it was built of a tufa known as travertine, available locally from along the ridge behind the church at Southstone Rock. The spectacular woodwork inside the building dates from the 15th century and is notable for the very rare chancel screen which extends into a squire's pew.^[10] Also to be found there is a circular Norman font, a floor of mediaeval tiles and the 1596 wooden tomb of Francis Walsh and his wife, carved to resemble stone.^[11]^[12] What Nicholas Pevsner described as a "distinctively quirky restoration" was made by George Truefitt in 1859, which resulted in the exterior addition of the pyramid-roofed wooden bell-turret and a north porch.^[13] Fortunately his interior additions of a font, pulpit and fireplace of his own mediaeval design were discarded in 1908 and the old font restored from its exile in the churchyard.^[14]

Having belonged during part of the 19th century to the Archdeaconry of Salop and Diocese of Hereford, the parish was later transferred to the Archdeaconry of Ludlow and Diocese of Hereford (1876–1905) before reverting to the Archdeaconry and Diocese of Worcester (1905–1972). ^[15] After 1972 the separate parish of St Andrew's was merged with four others in the area to form the united benefice of the Teme Triangle.^[16]

Court House

On the site of what was formerly the Walsh's moated manor is now the Grade II listed building known as Court House. The older parts of this date from the 16th century, to which additions were made in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.^[17] It used to be said that the house was haunted by the ghost of Lady Lightfoot, who drove a carriage with flaming horses through the rooms before disappearing into the moat with fearful shrieks.^[18]

The house once functioned as the estate's home farm, near which was a mill recorded from the start of the 14th century. The present brick building dates from about 1800, with its wheel turned by water conducted from a pond in the grounds of Court House, itself fed from the steep dingle behind it. The mill is associated with a double range of buildings downslope, refurbished by Montagu Taylor as a model farm. Today the site functions as a tourist attraction and was Grade II listed in 2008.^[19] The mill, which was used to grind animal feed until 1923, was restored by volunteers during 2006-10.^[20]

Lying to the north of the site is a half-timber and plaster two-story house, recorded as the rectory on the 1883 Ordnance Survey map,^[21] and adjoining it the rectory farm, a combination of barn and dwelling.^[22]

Former industry

There are indications of former industries in the names of two farms in Shelsley Walsh parish. One is Forgemill Farm, after which the nearby Newmill Bridge over the River Teme is also named.^[23] Somewhere in the vicinity there was a water-driven iron forge which in 1635 was sold with a parcel of ground called the Coal Yard to a local owner. The forge once produced 100 tons of iron a year and was recorded as still operative in 1779.^[24] On the corner of the turn to Newmill Bridge there is an old milestone with an iron plate recording the distance from Worcester Cross as ten miles.^[25]

Further along the road, near Furnace Farm, were three small lime kilns once fed with rock from hillside quarries in locations still named 'Hell Hole' and 'Devil's Den'. Two workers' cottages nearby were added to and rebuilt by Montagu Taylor, although they were abandoned by the mid-20th century.^[26] Southstone Rock was just over the parish boundary along the quarried ridge, from which stone was supplied not only for the church of St Andrew but also to build or repair others in the vicinity.^[27]

References

^ City Population
^ Shelsley Walsh parish postcodes
^ Open Domesday
^ Thomas Habington, A Survey of Worcestershire, edited for Worcestershire Historical Society (1895), Volume 1 pp.358-60
^ Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England (London 1831), vol IV, p.52
^ Noake's Guide to Worcestershire (1868) pp.318-19
^ Henry Sydney Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire (London, 1873), pp.602-4
^ The Herd Book of Hereford Cattle, Volumes 1-2, (Hereford 1862)
^ "Shelsley Walsh Parish History"
^ Photo at Geograph
^ Photo at Geograph
^ "Church of St Andrew" at Historic England
^ Mawer, A; Stenton, F M (1969). The Place-Names of Worcestershire. Cambridge University Press. p. 76, 78.
^ Geograph
^ Worcester BMSGH
^ Teme Triangle
^ British Listed Buildings
^ Edwin Lees, Pictures of Nature in the Silurian Region Around the Malvern Hills and Vale of Severn, Malvern 1856, pp.240-242
^ British Listed Buildings
^ "Shelsley Walsh Mill, Refurbishment of Great Spur Wheel", Hwiccian Archaeology 2017
^ National Library of Scotland
^ Geograph
^ Geograph
^ A History of the County of Worcester, Volume 4 pp. 335-337
^ Geograph
^ Hwiccian Archaeology, 2019
^ "Southstone Rock", geology and landscape trail guide

External links

Media related to Shelsley Walsh at Wikimedia Commons

Shelsley Walsh hillclimb

[1] City Population

[2] Shelsley Walsh parish postcodes

[3] Open Domesday

[4] Thomas Habington, A Survey of Worcestershire, edited for Worcestershire Historical Society (1895), Volume 1 pp.358-60

[5] Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England (London 1831), vol IV, p.52

[6] Noake's Guide to Worcestershire (1868) pp.318-19

[7] Henry Sydney Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire (London, 1873), pp.602-4

[8] The Herd Book of Hereford Cattle, Volumes 1-2, (Hereford 1862)

[9] "Shelsley Walsh Parish History"

[10] Photo at Geograph

[11] Photo at Geograph

[12] "Church of St Andrew" at Historic England

[13] Mawer, A; Stenton, F M (1969). The Place-Names of Worcestershire. Cambridge University Press. p. 76, 78.

[14] Geograph

[15] Worcester BMSGH

[16] Teme Triangle

[17] British Listed Buildings

[18] Edwin Lees, Pictures of Nature in the Silurian Region Around the Malvern Hills and Vale of Severn, Malvern 1856, pp.240-242

[19] British Listed Buildings

[20] "Shelsley Walsh Mill, Refurbishment of Great Spur Wheel", Hwiccian Archaeology 2017

[21] National Library of Scotland

[22] Geograph

[23] Geograph

[24] A History of the County of Worcester, Volume 4 pp. 335-337

[25] Geograph

[26] Hwiccian Archaeology, 2019

[27] "Southstone Rock", geology and landscape trail guide

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v t e Settlements in Malvern Hills District
Towns	Malvern Tenbury Wells Upton-upon-Severn
Villages	Abberley Alfrick Pound Alfrick Astley Bank Street Barnards Green Baughton Bayton Berrow Green Berrow Birts Street Birtsmorton Bockleton Bowling Green Bransford Broadwas Bushley Callow End Castlemorton Clevelode Clifton upon Teme Clifton Cotheridge Croome D'Abitot Crowcroft Doddenham Draycott Dunley Dunstall Common Eardiston Earls Croome Eastham Eldersfield Frith Common Frog Pool Great Witley Grimley Guarlford Hallow Hanley Castle Hanley Child Hanley Swan Hanley William Harpley High Green Hill Croome Hillhampton Holdfast Hollybush Holt Heath Horsham Kempsey Kenswick Kerswell Green Knighton on Teme Knightwick Kyre Leigh Sinton Leigh Lindridge Little Malvern Little Witley Longdon Lower Broadheath Lower Sapey Lulsley Madresfield Malvern Wells Mamble Martley Newland Newnham Bridge Noutard's Green Oldwood Orleton Pendock Pensax Poolbrook Powick Queenhill Ripple Rochford Rushwick Ryall Rye Cross Sankyns Green Severn Stoke Shelsley Walsh Shelsleys Shrawley Stanford on Teme Stockton on Teme Stoke Bliss Suckley Upper Broadheath Upper Welland Welland West Malvern Wichenford Wyche
Civil parishes	Civil parishes in the Malvern Hills district