Darrow School - Shaker Post Yearbook (New Lebanon, NY)

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The Peg Board 1936 bread and ale at Chadwick, and unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his suit at Bromsgrove. Successive Masters of St. Wulfstan's held the manor until the hospital was dissolved in the 16th century. Henry VIII sold the manor to Richard Morrison in 1540, adding in 1544 a rent reserved in 1540. In the following year Richard Morrison released it again to the king, receiving other lands in exchange, and in 1546 Chadwick was given to the Dean and Canons of Christ Church, Oxford. The whole of the Chadwick estate was sold by the Dean and Canons in 1904 to the Chadwick Estate Ltd., with the exception of the site of the reservoir, which is on lease to the East Worcestershire Waterworks Co. for 99 years from 1902. A John Lacey, writing in 1778, states that the ancient mansion-house had belonged in the 17tl1 century to the Lowe family, from whom it came by marriage to Henry Vaughan Jeffries. His son Humphrey sold the lease of it in 1777 to John Hutton of Birmingham. In 1813 the manor-house was put up for sale. It afterwards came into the hands of John Carpenter, a gentleman farmer, the author of a treatise on agriculture, who mortgaged it to Mr. Penn. On the bankruptcy of the latter it was bought by Mr. Wilcox, who left it to his nephew John Osborne, the owner in 1826. In 1849 Manor Hall was the property of Francis T. Rufford. Chadwick Manor is now a farm-house. In addition to the extract just quoted we have these notations graciously submittedto us by Mr Harry E. Palfrey of Stourbridge, England: The manor house of Chadwick is a square brick-built residence, situated in a valley, and so surrounded that it cannot well be seen, until close to it. It has a fine stream of water running close by it, and extensive pools of water in the rear. It is now tenanted by Mr. D. Stevenson and forms a commodious farm-house. Near the house there was once a chapel, dedicated to St. Chad, but it has long since disappeared. Chadwick, probably so named from its numberless springs and wells, was one of the twelve manors which formerly existed in the parish Cof Bromsgrovej. By some it was called Chadwells, and is now sometimes called Chaddeswick. A portion of this manor be- longed to Dodford Priory and was called Willingwick, the value of which in 1485 was three pounds, seventeen shillings, sixpence per annum. In this manor was the Lickey Beacon and a spring, called Chadwick Holy Well. This well probably gave the name to the farm known as Holy Well Farm. The manors of Chadwick and Willingwick were parts of the barony of the Castle of Worcester in the time of Henry III, and were held in fee form of the King by William de Beauchamp, the heir of D'Abetot. Ralph, son of Roger de Lench, had a wood in Chadwick, which he gave, for perpetual alms, to the prior and con- vent of Worcester, and afterwards William de Abyston, with the consent of his wife, Isabelle de Lench, resigned to the prior and convent all the title which he had in the right of his said wife to their wood, called Southwood, given him by Ralph de Lench. The manor fell to the Crown by the attainer of Edward Plantaganet, Earl of Warwick, the heir of the Beauchamp family, 1499, fifteenth year of Henry VII, and Henry VIII by patent dated October 1, A.R. 37 granted the manor of Chadwick and Priory, with the Parsonage of Clanes, and various other lands, parcel of the possessions which his majesty had, by exchange with Richard Morrison Esq., amounting in the whole to fifty- seven pounds, two shillings per annum, to the college of Christ Church, Oxford, to which the manor of Chadwick now belongs. By them it was leased to the Lowes, from whom it passed, by marriage, to Henry Vaughan Jeffries of Worcester, whose son Humphrey sold the lease ofit to john Hutton, the historian of Birmingham, in 1776, who thus refers to the purchase:- I bought the manor and estate of Chadwick 4500 pounds, upon a promise, from an attorney, of supplying me with what money I should want. I let it for 300 pounds a year and kept it one year, when it appeared that I could not fulfill my bargain, because my attorney had deceived meg nor the seller his, because in some places he had charged me near twice as much land as there really was. He was pleased that I had secured a tenant at an advanced rent, and we mutually agreed to dissolve the contract. My family re- joiced, but I lamented. The lease is now held by Francis Tongue Ruffor Esq. fof Stour. bridgej. 70

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1936 The Peg Board CHADWICK HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND THE BOYHOOD HOME OF ELDER FREDERICK W. EVANS Courtesy of Tha National Trust. 69

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1936i TheiPeg Board l' l .Al ANOTHER VIEW OF CHADWVICK HALL Courtesy of Mr. Hurry E. Palfrey In I803, Mr. Carpenter, ofChadwick Manor, published a treatise on Agriculture It was printed for the author by Heming of Stourbridge and dedicated to the Hon. Edward Foley and William Lygon Esquires, representatives in Parliament for the County of Worcester: To you, Gentlemen, well known as friendly encouragers of that most ancient and noble art of agriculturegl' and contains a long list of Subscribers, many of whom were gentlemen of this town and neighborhood. The work contains engravings of a plow, called The Worcestershire Plough, a model farm-house Cnot unlike two barns side by sidel with ground plan, and a model barn fvery similar to the housel with ground plan. In this work Mr. Carpenter states that he has sown a considerable quantity of flax, for many years, and recommends the sowing of the best Riga flax seed. The bounty then al- lowed by government, after being dressed in the stone, was of some consideration, as he received sixty pounds at one time, for flax and hemp, by an order from Sessions at Worcester! From the Birmingham Por! fAbout August l930,Z-- The Manor or reputed manor of Chadwick came into prominence a few years ago when a portion of it, 414 acres in extent, was presented by Mr. Edward Codbury and his brother to the National Trust with the object of preserving an agricultural and pastoral oasis in the midst of what may become a merely urban or suburban district. This intention presupposes that the farms will remain farms and will not become parks or playgrounds. The capital messuage a large handsome house of late seventeenth- century date, brick built with stone dressings, lies in a hollow to the right of the main road from Birmingham to Brumsgrove about a mile beyond Ruberg, and may be approached by a public footpath. Immediately above it are Spring Pools, a beauty spot which claims the attention of every passer+by. The site of the house is snug and sheltered, but by no means one which would be chosen by early builders for defensive purposes. 1 William Cotton, Chadwick Manor, 1881. Mr. Palfrey appends the following note: Contemporary with the above named J. Carpenter of Chadwick, the Rev. Benjamin Carpenter was minister at the Dissentmg Know Ullltlfllhl Chapel at Stourbridge. I have seen a reference to this Rev. B. Carpenter in connection with Bromsgrove. but at present am un able to trace same. It will be seen, however, that Stourbridge, Chadwick, and Bromsgrove were associated in various instances and this probably would have some bearing on Frederick Evans' association with Chadwick if it could be investigated. 71