Ombersley

The first known reference to the village[1] was the granting of a Charter to Abbot Egwin, later Saint Egwin, of Evesham Abbey in 706 AD. This was the Charter of King Æthelweard of the Hwicce, which granted twelve cassates in Ombersley to the Benedictine Abbey at Evesham.[2]

During the reign of William the Conqueror, the Domesday Book indicates the village was within an exclave of the ancient hundred of Fishborough in 1086 and remained the property of the Abbey of Evesham (Saint Mary).[3] It remained the property of the abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the early 16th century. By 1848 the village was within the parish of Ombersley (St. Ambrose), in the hundred of Oswaldslow.[4]

Ombersley Court

Ombersley Court is the traditional home of the Lords Sandys, many of whom are buried in the family mausoleum in the churchyard of St Andrew's parish church. When St Andrew's was built in its current form between 1825 and 1829, the chancel of the old church was adapted for use as mausoleum for the lords of the manor.[6] The architect of the church was Thomas Rickman; the cost of building was £18,000 of which two-thirds was contributed by Mary Sandys, dowager Marchioness of Downshire.[7]

It is a Grade I listed building.[8]

St Andrew's church

Churchyard of Saint Andrew's church

Ombersley is 6 miles north of Worcester, 4 miles west of Droitwich, and 10 miles south of Kidderminster on the intersection of the A449 & A4133.

• 'Parishes: Ombersley', A History of the County of Worcester: volume 3 (1913), pp. 460-468.
• Staff. Ombersley Conservation Area Appraisal Wychavon District Council, June 2005

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ombersley.

• Photos of Ombersley and surrounding area on geograph
• Saint Andrew's Church website