OMBERSLEY, a village, a parish, and a sub-districtin Droitwich district, Worcester. The village stands 1¼mile E of the river Severn, and 3¾ W of Droitwich r.station; is a pretty place; was once a market town; and has a post-office‡ under Droitwich. The parish contains also the hamlets of Borley, Chatley, Cumhampton, Dunhampton, Hadlay, Holt Fleet, Lineholt, Old field-Powers, Suddington, Sytchampton, and Uphampton. Acres, 6, 962. Real property, £17,085. Pop. in 1851, 2, 364; in 1861, 2, 463. Houses, 520. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to Evesham abbey; passed to the Mores and to Archbishop Sandys; and, with Ombersley Court and much of the land, belongs now to Lord Sandys. O. Court was built about 1740; is a pleasant mansion, in a beautiful wooded park; contains some interesting portraits and other paintings; and was visited, in 1807, by the Prince Regent and the Duke of Sussex. Fruit and potatoes are extensively grown. The parish is a meet for the Worcestershire hounds. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £400.* Patron, Lord Sandys. The church was built in 1829, at a cost of £1, 600; is in the decorated English style; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and lofty spire; and contains about 900 sittings. The chancel of the old church stillstands, and is used as the Sandys burial-place. The churchyard contains an ancient cross. There are endowed schools with £112 a year, and charities £82.—The sub-district contains also four other parishes, and an extra-parochial tract. Acres, 18, 867. Pop., 5, 181. Houses, 1,093.

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