Parish Church

 

 

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No history of the parish would be complete without mention of the small chapel at Little Witley.  The site is ancient - in later Anglo Saxon times the chapel was served from St. Helen's Church in Worcester - and some of the present structure dates from the 13th Century.

For many centuries, until 1904, the chapelry was attached to the parish of Holt.  Its dedication, formerly to the Holy Trinity was then changed to St. Michael and All Angels, and is now part of the United Parish of Shrawley and Witley.

By the mid-nineteenth century the unpretentious little building was said to have become almost ruinous and it was re-built in 1867 in the then correct "Early English" style to the designs of the Worcester architect Perkins.  The new nave walls were built on the lower red sandstone courses of those of the old church, but the tiny chancel was extended by means of an apsidal east end and a vestry added.  The stone carvings - corbels, capitals, font and pulpit - were the work of the wife of the then Rector of Holt, Mrs. Sale.  The Rector himself laboured on some of the building work.  The only original detail remaining is the blocked north doorway of the nave which has a two centred head vault, moulded continuously with the jambs and is of the 13th century.  The bell is by Richard Sanders of Bromsgrove and is dated 1733.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

   Brief history of Little Witley Parish Church