Thomas Evans

O for Ombersley

Miss W. Evans , , , , ,

Ombersley is a small village in Worcestershire. In 706AD, it was named in a charter which was granted to the abbot of Evesham Abbey. The village remained the property of the abbey until the early 16th century. Ombersley was also part of a royal forest.

Ombersley Court is a grade 1 listed building in the parish which is also called Ombersley. Many of the Lords Sandys who owned the court are buried in a mausoleum in the St Andrews churchyard.

Ombersley court, Ombersley

This little village is part of my family history.

My 3rd great grandfather Thomas Evans, mentioned in the Norton post, married his wife Hannah Phillips in Ombersley. Norton is south of the town of Worcester while Ombersley is a little north of the town, so there is about 12 kilometres between them.

At some time Thomas’s son William had moved to Ombersley to live and had a child there also called William. At the time of the 1881 census, Thomas aged 69, Hannah aged 67, William aged 38 and William aged 6 were living together at Sytchampton in the Ombersley parish.

Thomas was a market gardener, and his son William who was a widower was a labourer. Many families with the surname Phillips were still living in the parish.

N for Norton

Miss W. Evans , , , ,

Norton is part of the parish called Norton-Juxta-Kempsey in the county of Worcestershire, England. As far back as the 1300, there were problems between the towns of Norton and Kempsey as the vicar at Kempsey had taken over the baptisms, marriages etc that were done at the Norton chapel. The bishop made the decision Norton should still have these celebrations. See the Advowson section of this digital book.

The original village is now on the eastern side of the M5 motorway. The Midland railway is near Norton but there is no station there. One thing to visit while at Norton is the Norton Barracks which were built in the 1870’s and was the depot for the 29th and 36th regiments of foot for Worcestershire and Herefordshire. They are now apartments.

Norton Barracks - now converted to apartments

How it relates to my family tree.

The Evans family were born and married in the Norton-Juxta-Kempsey parish from the early 1800’s. William Evans, my 4th great grandfather was born in Pershore, Worcestershire in 1781 and married  Mary Farley in 1809 at Norton. Their eldest son Thomas, was born there and most of his children were also born in N-J-K.

I haven’t yet thoroughly researched this side of my family other than birth, death, marriage and census records.