Clent is a hilly parish containing besides the village
of Clent the hamlets of Upper Clent, where is situated
the church, Lower Clent, Adam's Hill, Holy Cross
and Rumbold, divided from the rest of the parish by
Walton Hills, of which Holy Cross is the most
populous. Although surveyed in Worcestershire in
Domesday Book the parish was soon afterwards
annexed to Staffordshire, evidently owing to the fact
that it paid the farm it rendered to the king, through
the manor of Kingswinford in that county. It
remained part of Staffordshire until 1832, when it
was again annexed to Worcestershire for Parliamentary
purposes. (fn. 2) In 1844 it became part of Worcestershire
for all purposes. (fn. 3) The soil is gravel, marl and clay
and the subsoil clay and stone. Agriculture is the
only industry, the chief crops being wheat, oats and
potatoes, which latter have largely supplanted the
barley which used to be grown. In the 16th and
17th centuries the chief trade was scythe-making,
which was followed by nail-making, (fn. 4) and this in its
turn died out late in the 19th century. The parish
covers an area of 2,424 acres, which includes 755½
acres of arable land, 911½ of grass land, 81 acres of
woods and plantations (fn. 5) and 7 acres covered by water,
the last being made up by several ponds, two of
which work mills.
The whole of the eastern part of the parish is on
the Clent Hills, which at some points attain to a
height of over 1,000 ft. above the ordnance datum
and afford wide and beautiful views. The hills are
rounded in outline and covered with grass and gorse.
On these hills the Britons are said to have encamped before a battle thought to have been fought
on Clent Heath. The tradition is supported by the
fact that five tumuli formerly existed on the heath
and were opened by Bishop Lyttelton, who attributed
them to the Romans. In all of them he found the
remains of human bones and burnt wood, and one
contained an urn filled with bones. (fn. 6) There is a description of the Clent Hills and the country to be seen
from them in Drayton's Polyolbion. (fn. 7) The origin of
four upright stones on the summit of the Hills was
the subject of some discussion in 1865 and again in
1883. The statement that they were placed there
by George first Lord Lyttelton is the correct one,
but his successor Lord Lyttelton claimed for them a
much earlier origin and they are sometimes said to be
Druidical remains. (fn. 8)
According to tradition the Kings of Mercia had at
one time a residence in Clent and the parish was the
scene of the murder of St. Kenelm. The legend
states that on the death of Kenulf, King of Mercia,
in 819 his son Kenelm, then a child of eight, became
king. His sister Quendreda wishing to be queen
persuaded her lover Ascobert to take the child into
the woods and kill him and bury him under a thorn
tree. The body was miraculously discovered by the
appearance of a dove at Rome bearing a scroll on
which were the words.
'In Clentho vaccae valli Kenelmus regius natus,
Jacet sub spino, capite truncatus.'
Thereupon messengers were sent to England to remove
the body to Winchcombe Abbey and in the place
where it was found 'a sacred fountain (fn. 9) burst out from
the dry cave and flowed away in a stream, which
brought health to many who drank it.' (fn. 10)
The chief road in the parish is from Stourbridge
through Lower Clent and Holy Cross to Bromsgrove,
but the main road from Birmingham to Kidderminster bounds and passes through a small portion
of the western extremity of the parish. At Holy
Cross the Stourbridge road is intersected by a road
from Birmingham which passes through the village of
Clent. Clent House stands back on the east side
of the Bromsgrove and Stourbridge road to the
west of the church. The older portion of the
building dates from the early 18th century, but
the main structure was not erected till later in the
same century. The materials of both portions are
red brick and stone. The present owner is Mr. John
Amphlett.
In 1788 (fn. 11) the common of Lower Clent was
inclosed and certain roads appointed. (fn. 12)
A common called Calcot Hill is mentioned in a
survey taken in 1553 as containing 100 acres and
being able to keep 400 sheep. (fn. 13) The owners of
certain land in Clent still have rights of common on
the Clent and Walton Hills.
MANORS
Heming, the Worcester chronicler,
states, on the testimony of Bishop
Wulfstan, that the manor of CLENT
with Tardebigge and Kingswinford was purchased
from King Ethelred by Æthelsige (Ægelsinus), Dean
of Worcester, for the use of his monastery, but that
when he died during the war between Edmund
Ironside and Cnut, Ævic Sheriff of Staffordshire,
'because there was no one who would do justice to
the Holy Church,' seized them from the monastery, (fn. 14)
probably for the use of the king. Clent was still a royal
possession at the time of the Domesday Survey, when
the farm of £4 yearly was paid at the manor of
Kingswinford, in Staffordshire. (fn. 15) Its name occurs
regularly on the early Pipe Rolls of Staffordshire (fn. 16) as
part of the king's demesnes, 1 mark being rendered
from it, and in 1193 it was among the places from
which the annuity of £22 6s. 8d. granted to Emma
wife of David King of North Wales was to be paid. (fn. 17)
In 1204 King John granted it to Ralph de Somery to
be held by a rent of £4 13s. 4d., paid by the hands
of the Sheriff of Staffordshire. (fn. 18) Roger de Somery,
who was probably the son of this Ralph, obtained a
grant of a fair at Clent in 1253. (fn. 19) In the 13th century the Somerys held the manors of Clent and Mere,
co. Staffs., by rendering yearly 40 marks, and had in
Clent free warren and tallage when the king tallaged
his manors, and owed suit at two general hundreds. (fn. 20)
Since that date the manor followed the same
descent as that of Northfield (fn. 21) (q.v.) until about
1431, when the possessions of Joyce wife of Sir Hugh
Burnell were divided between Joan Lady Beauchamp
and Maurice Berkeley. (fn. 22) Clent was assigned to Lady
Beauchamp, (fn. 23) and passed to her grandson James
Butler, created Earl of Wiltshire in 1449. (fn. 24) On his
attainder in 1461 (fn. 25) Clent passed into the hands of
the king, and was granted in 1462 to Fulk Stafford, (fn. 26)
but on his death without issue male in the following
year two thirds of the manor and the reversion of
one third after the death of Margaret widow of Fulk
Stafford were granted to Sir Walter Wrottesley. (fn. 27)
The whole manor was confirmed in tail-male to Sir
Walter in 1466. (fn. 28) He died in 1473, (fn. 29) and though
he left a son Richard the manor was granted in 1474
to Humphrey Stafford of Grafton and his heirs male. (fn. 30)
Humphrey Stafford was executed for treason soon after
the accession of Henry VII, (fn. 31) and in 1485 the Earl
of Wiltshire's attainder was reversed in favour of his
brother Thomas Earl of Ormond, (fn. 32) Clent with the
earl's other property being granted to him. (fn. 33) Clent
has since followed the same descent as Hagley, (fn. 34) the
present owner of the manor being Charles George
Viscount Cobham.
The rent reserved to the Crown, when the manor
was given to Ralph de Somery, was granted in 1351
to Hugh de Wrottesley for life only, the grant being
confirmed in 1378–9, (fn. 35) and in 1442 to William
Burley for life. (fn. 36) It remained with the Crown for
more than 200 years, being sold by the Parliamentary
Commissioners to Christopher Howling in 1649, (fn. 37)
but returning to the Crown at the Restoration. Under
the Act of 1670 for the sale of fee-farm rents, (fn. 38) that
of Clent appears to have beer
sold to the Pagets of Beaudesert, afterwards Earls of Uxbridge, (fn. 39) and in that family it
remained until 1769, when
Henry Paget second Earl of
Uxbridge died childless. (fn. 40) He
apparently left it to his kinsman Sir William Irby, created
Lord Boston in 1761, (fn. 41) to
whom it was paid in the time
of Bishop Lyttelton. (fn. 42) Towards
the end of the 19th century
it was purchased from Lord
Boston by Lord Lyttelton. (fn. 43)
Irby, Lord Boston. Argent fretty sable a quarter gules with a chaplet or therein.
In the reign of Henry VIII
the inhabitants of Clent petitioned for a confirmation
of their rights as dwelling on ancient demesne of the
Crown and obtained a charter in 1566, which was
confirmed in 1625. (fn. 44)
The charter was granted to the inhabitants of
Clent alias 'Chenett' through a curious mistake which
arose from the transfer of the manor from Worcestershire to Staffordshire. When search was made for
Clent in Domesday Book, the fact that it had originally
been in Worcestershire was overlooked, and it was
identified with Chenet in Staffordshire, the only
place in that county to which its name bore any
resemblance. (fn. 45) By the charter the inhabitants were
exempted from the payment of toll, stallage, passage,
pontage, &c., from contributing to the expenses of
sending knights to Parliament, and from serving on
any juries except those in their own parish.
The four days' fair at the feast of St. Kenelm
(17 July), granted in 1253 to Roger Somery as lord
of Clent, (fn. 46) was always held in St. Kenelm's Chapel
Yard just within Romsley, (fn. 47) and was continued until
the middle of the 19th century. (fn. 48) In the middle of
the 18th century fairs were also held by prescriptive
right at Holy Cross on the second Wednesday in April
and the first Wednesday in September. (fn. 49) In 1868
Clent had a cattle and cheese fair 'at which the
inhabitants are allowed by an old charter to sell beer
without licence,' (fn. 50) but this fair with those at Holy
Cross has been discontinued.
Besides the Domesday manor of Clent there is in
the parish a manor known as CHURCH CLENT or
KINGS HOLT. There was a court baron, but as
regards view of frankpledge it was always under the
jurisdiction of the lords of the ancient manor. (fn. 51) At
the time of the dissolution of the monasteries this
manor belonged to the abbey of Halesowen. (fn. 52)
Clent Church: The Chancel
Charles I in 1633 gave this estate, with a tenement
called Calcot Hill, to William Scrivener and Philip
Eden. (fn. 53) They appear to have sold it to a Mr. Norrice,
from whom it was purchased in 1660 (fn. 54) by John
Underhill, whose father John Underhill and grandfather William Underhill had lived at Calcot Hill
House. (fn. 55) It passed successively from the Underhills to
Dr. Samuel Barton, Sarah French, John Wowen (fn. 56) and
Jane his wife and three maiden ladies, Jane, Ann and
Matilda Manning. (fn. 57) Before 1799 Ann Manning's
share had been sold to John Hollington, whose descendant William Hollington purchased the other two
thirds about 1878. (fn. 58) The Calcot Hill estate, 198 acres
in extent, together with the manor of Church Clent,
in which are contained other lands in the parish,
mostly glebe, (fn. 59) was sold by Mr. Hollington in 1893
to Thomas Jarvis Hodgetts for £4,200. (fn. 60)
Bishop Lyttelton gives a list of some of the customs
of the manor of Church Clent in the 16th century
from a manuscript formerly in the possession of a
Mr. Tyrer, steward of the court. (fn. 61)
At the time when Nash wrote his History of
Worcester (c. 1782) the manor comprised only three
cottages and four farm-houses, of
which Calcot Hill Farm was the
largest. (fn. 62)
CHURCH
The church of ST.
LEONARD consists of
a chancel 23 ft. by 15 ft.,
with an organ chamber on the north,
a nave 46 ft. by 15 ft., north and
south aisles, the latter 12 ft. wide, a
west tower 11 ft. by 10½ ft., the
ground floor of which is used as a
vestry, and a south porch. These
measurements are all internal.
The 12th-century church probably
consisted of a chancel and nave only,
to which a south aisle was added
about 1170. There is no evidence
of further structural alterations until
early in the 15th century, when the
tower was built and the south aisle
widened, the chancel being reconstructed about 1440. The north
aisle was added in 1837, but this,
together with the nave, was rebuilt
during the years 1864–5. The organ
chamber and porch were erected at
the same time.
The chancel axis inclines to the
south. In the east wall is an original
traceried window of five lights, with
a segmental-pointed head ribbed on
the inside and ornamented at the
apex with a small carved angel holding what appears to be a paten. The
external hood is finished with a finial.
In the west end of the north wall a
modern arch opens into the organ
chamber. The chancel is lit from the
south by two square-headed two-light windows, the
inner jambs of which are splayed below, but shouldered at the head. Under the sill of the easternmost
is an ogee-headed piscina. The basin appears to have
been quatrefoiled, but has been broken off flush with
the wall face. Between the windows is a very flat
ogee-headed doorway of the same date as the chancel,
the external label of which returns on itself. Cut on
the eastern inner jamb is a black-letter inscription
reading, 'Juxta hunc lapidem jacet corpus johannis
cleye.' In the opposite jamb is a large groove cut
to receive a wooden bar. The chancel arch, of three
chamfered orders, is 15th-century work. The chancel
walls are built of sandstone with a moulded plinth,
stepped to the fall of the ground from east to west,
and diagonal buttresses at the east end. The coping
of the eastern gable is finished, at the apex, with a
crocketed pinnacle and with carved grotesques at the
eaves.
The nave arcades are in three bays. That on the
north is entirely modern, but portions of 12th-century masonry have been retained in the southern.
The pointed arches of two square orders rest on
circular piers with scalloped capitals and moulded
bases raised on square plinths. Parts of the capitals
of both piers are old, and a few stones in the piers
and arches appear to have been re-used. The west
respond, with the exception of the abacus, is original
12th-century work. The two-light east window in
the south aisle is contemporary with the widening,
but the tracery and mullions have been restored.
At the east end of the south wall is a small piscina,
with a pointed head and broken bowl, and in the
same wall are two 15th-century windows of two
lights each. The pointed south door between them
has been much restored, and the south porch is
modern. Externally the walls of this aisle have a
double chamfered plinth, with a diagonal buttress at
the south-west angle and a second in a line with the
east wall.
The tower, divided into three stages by moulded
strings, has an embattled parapet and a moulded
plinth, with diagonal buttresses at the angles. In
the south-west corner is a small vice. The tower
arch is pointed and of two orders, the outer continuous but the inner interrupted by a moulded cap.
The south wall is pierced by a modern doorway,
but the three-light traceried west window is original.
The ringing stage is lit from the north and south by
a single square-headed light, and in each wall of the
bell-chamber is a two-light pointed opening of the
early 15th century. Projecting from each face of
the tower below the parapet is a much-weathered
gargoyle, carved in the form of a grotesque beast.
The nave roofs are modern, but that over the chancel
is of early 15th-century date and of the trussed
rafter type. Each pair of rafters is trussed by a
collar and two curved braces, which spring from the
moulded wall-plates and form a series of semicircular
arches.
There is a peal of eight bells, two of which were
added in 1902 by Taylor of Loughborough. The
old bells are inscribed as follows: (1) 'M' John
Waldron de Field, Mr Wm Cole, Zeph Creswell
1718'; (2) 'Cantate Domino Canticum Novum.
1681'; (3) 'Henricus Bagley mee fecit 1681'; (4)
'Henry Bagley made me 1681'; (5) 'Henry Bagley
made me 1681'; (6) 'John Perry vicar, John Cresswell
John Waldron Churchwardens, John Amphlett
Esquire' and on the lip of the bell 'John Gopp,
Abraham Hill, Richard Wight, Joseph Waldron,
Thomas Waldron, Richard Hill. Richard Bagley
made mee 1743.'
The plate consists of a mid-16th-century silver
cup unstamped, a silver salver of 1693 inscribed
'Donum Mariae Amphlett Ecclesiae Clent 1750,' a
modern silver flagon of 1907, an electro-plated paten
and an electro-plated flagon.
The registers previous to 1813 are as follows: (i)
all entries 1562 to 1619, also for year 1626; (ii)
baptisms 1637 to 1642, marriages and burials 1637
to 1641, also all 1654 to 1729; (iii) baptisms 1729
to 1775 (no entries for 1738), also for year 1782,
marriages 1729 to 1754, burials 1729 to 1757, for
the year 1768, 1774 to 1776 and 1780 to 1782;
(iv) baptisms and burials 1783 to 1812; (v) marriages
1754 to 1787; (vi) marriages 1787 to 1798; (vii)
marriages 1798 to 1812. The earlier books have
been handsomely bound.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of Clent followed the descent of the manor, (fn. 63)
until John Botetourt granted it in
1340 to the abbey of Halesowen, (fn. 64) his gift being
confirmed in 1340 and 1393. (fn. 65) The rectory was
appropriated to Halesowen Abbey in 1343–4 and a
vicarage was ordained in 1344. (fn. 66) In 1291 the
church with the chapel of Rowley, which was annexed to Clent until 1841, (fn. 67) was said to be worth
£18 13s. 4d. (fn. 68) The advowson was granted with the
rectory in 1538 to Sir John Dudley, (fn. 69) and on his
attainder in 1553 it fell to the Crown, to which it
has since belonged. (fn. 70) In 1558 the advowson and
rectory were temporarily granted to the Bishop of
Worcester. (fn. 71) The rectory was granted in 1609 to
Francis Phillips and Richard Moore, (fn. 72) and thus
became separated from the advowson. Before 1726
it had been bought by Joseph Amphlett of Clent, (fn. 73)
and the great tithes have since remained in his family,
being now in the possession of Mr. John Amphlett
of Clent House. (fn. 74)
CHARITIES
The Church Lands, which were
originally derived from a surrender
in 1616 by Humphrey Penn at a court
baron, now consist of four cottages with gardens
producing £13 a year and a sum of £2,815 4s. 6d.
consols with the official trustees, arising from sales of
land from time to time. The dividends, amounting
to £70 7s. 4d. yearly, together with the rents, are
carried to the churchwardens' account to maintain the
services and fabric of the church.
In 1654 Hester Cordiwen at a court baron surrendered 4 a. 2 r. for some charitable purposes. The
trust property was sold in 1902 and proceeds
invested in £228 1s. 8d. consols, producing £5 14s.
yearly, which is applied under a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners 26 March 1897 for the benefit of the
poor.
In 1712 John Maris by his will devised several
parcels of land in Clent for the poor not in receipt
of parochial relief, and in 1713 William Cole by his
will devised other lands for the same purpose. In
1903 a piece of land known as Sandfield containing
2 a. 2 r. 31 p. was sold and the proceeds invested in
£1,192 8s. 3d. consols, leaving 11 a. 2 r. belonging to
the charity, producing about £32 a year. This rent
and the annual dividends, amounting to £29 16s., are
applied in the distribution of doles.
In 1843 John Harris, by his will proved in the
P.C.C. 26 August, bequeathed a legacy now represented by £501 18s. 7d. consols, the annual dividends,
amounting to £12 10s. 8d., to be applied in winter
in good warm clothing. In 1908–9 300 yards of
flannel were distributed.
In 1865 Miss Susanna Goodman, by her will
proved at Worcester 28 March, bequeathed £100,
now represented by £110 17s. 7d. consols, the annual
dividends, amounting to £2 15s. 4d., to be distributed
on 4 April among poor widows and old men over
sixty years of age, in sums of not less than 2s. 6d. each.
At the inclosure of Lower Clent Common in 1788
a sum of £15 was charged by the award on one of
the fields formed out of it, to go in ease of the poor
rates of persons who did not benefit by the inclosure,
those persons to whom lands were allotted being
excepted, and also tenants of the manor of Church
Clent. The field in question having come into the
possession of Lord Cobham, the charge was redeemed
by him in 1909 by the transfer to the official trustees
of £600 consols.
Educational Charities:
In 1704 John Amphlett by deed gave the site and
school building thereon for the use of the parish, and
endowed the same with a rent-charge of £8.
In 1797 Thomas Waldron bequeathed £500, the
income to be applied in maintaining a Sunday school
and for other purposes. The legacy is now represented
by £732 12s. consols, producing £18 6s. 8d. yearly.