BREDON, a parish comprising the chapelry of
Norton, and the hamlets of Bredon, Hardwick with
Mittons, Kinsham, and Westmancote in the middle
division, and the chapelry of Cutsdean in the upper
division, of the hundred of OSWALDSLOW, county of
WORCESTER, and containing 1239 inhabitants, 3 miles
(N. E. by N.) from Tewkesbury. The living is a rectory,
in the peculiar jurisdiction of the rector, rated in the
king's books at £72.11. 0., and in the patronage of the
Rev. John Keysall. The church, dedicated to St. Giles,
has some specimens of Norman architecture, and contains,
among other monuments, one to the memory of
Dr. Prideaux, who was dismissed from the bishoprick
of Worcester during the parliamentary war. The river
Avon flows past this parish, and separates it from Gloucestershire
on the west. From the summit of Bredon
hill there is a pleasing, view of the vales of Evesham
and Cotswold, including the winding course of the
Severn. About the commencement of the present
century, a fissure opened in the rock in the side of this
hill, nearly two hundred yards long, fifteen feet wide,
and of unequal depth; the top of the hill is crowned
by a Roman encampment, with a double trench. William
Hancocke, in 1718, gave land, the rental of which
is applied in instructing, clothing, and apprenticing
twelve boys. There is an almshouse for eight poor females,
Bredon was given by Ethelbald, King of Mercia,
previously to the year 716, to his kinsman Eanulph, in
order that he might found a monastery here, in honour
of St. Peter, which, previously to the Conquest, was
annexed to the bishoprick of Worcester. At Mitton, in
this parish, are the ruins of a chapel.