ASTLEY, a parish in Martley district, Worcester; on the river Severn, 3 miles SW by S of Stourport r. station. Post Town, Stourport. Acres, 2,958. Real property, £6,862. Pop., 864. Houses, 198. A Benedictine priory, subordinate to the abbey of S t. Tanrinus in France, was founded here, in the time of William the Conqueror, by Ralph de Todeni; suffered frequent seizure by the Crown during the wars with France; passed, in the time of Richard II., to John Beauchamp, and in that of Edward IV. to the college of Westbury; and was given by Henry VII. to Sir Ralph Sadleir, the compiler of the state papers. A hermitage was cut out of the solid rock at Astley Cliff, near Redstone ferry; was a place of great resort for devotees in the Roman times; and is now an alehouse. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £623.* Patrons, the Trustees of the Rev. D. J. J. Cooks. The church stands on an eminence; is Norman; and has a font and some monuments. An endowed school has £20, and other charities £6.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))