On the street where you live:
places in Badsey and Aldington

Wherever you live in Badsey or Aldington, whether it is a road with many old houses or a modern housing development, you will be able to find out information about who owned the land at the beginning of the 19th century and, where known, how the ownership has changed over the past 200 years. Here is an overview of Badsey and Aldington’s development, but to find out more about a specific road or house, follow the notes below. This resource was compiled as part of the Badsey Society Enclosure Map Project.

Specific Notes

• Please note that these addresses are correct as at May 2006. Every single house in the parish is listed with either its current number or name (some houses, primarily those built before 1960, may have had a different number in the past). Unless otherwise stated, the references are to house numbers as they are today.
• In 1921, a boundary change was made, bringing the eastern part of Aldington into the parish of Badsey. The following roads in present-day Badsey are sited on land which used to belong to Aldington and thus feature on the Aldington Enclosure Map: Bretforton Road (western part), Horsebridge Avenue, Manor Close (northern part), Packs Close, Synehurst, Synehurst Avenue and Synehurst Crescent.
• In 1949, a boundary change was made, bringing the southern part of Offenham (the area known as Blackminster, south of the railway) into the parish of Badsey. The following roads in Blackminster are sited on land which used to belong to Offenham and thus feature on the Offenham Tithe Map of 1841: Birmingham Road, Station Road. Here is information about the transfer from Offenham to Badsey.
• One of the largest landowners in Badsey and Aldington was Thomas Byrd. The correct spelling of his surname is Byrd, but the Commissioners in the Aldington Award Schedules spelt his name as Bird, so you will find him appearing as both Thomas Bird and Thomas Byrd.

How this information has been obtained

Information has been obtained from four main sources:

• The Enclosure Maps for Badsey and Aldington, and their accompanying award schedules, identify every piece of land in Badsey and Aldington. At the beginning of the 19^th century, some of the land (mainly in the centre of the village) was in private ownership whilst the rest of the land comprised "the common fields" where a feudal system of farming existed. After Enclosure, the existing major landowners, and Christ Church, who had previously owned no land but had received tithes, were allotted large amounts of land in compensation. This land remained in the same families, often for several generations, and it was only around the end of the 19^th century and beginning of the 20^th century that there began to be the break-up of some of the big estates.

The tithe map for Offenham. We are grateful to Worcestershire Historic Environment & Archaeological Service for granting permission for us to use part of the digitised Offenham Tithe Map which relates to Badsey; with particular thanks to Maggi Noke of WHEAS who transcribed the apportionment.

• Individual house deeds help to bridge the gap between the present-day and 200 years ago. Even deeds relating to houses built in the latter part of the 20^th century may have information going back to the early 20^th century or even earlier because a document called the "Abstract of Title" shows the entitlement to the land on which the house is built.
• Lastly, the expertise of local residents has proved invaluable.

Maureen Spinks

May 2006