KEMPSEY, a parish in the lower division of the
hundred of OSWALDSLOW, county of WORCESTER, 4
miles (S.) from Worcester, containing 1129 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at
£6. 18. 9., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Worcester.
The church is dedicated to St. Mary. The village
is agreeably situated near the eastern bank of the
river Severn, and contains several genteel dwellinghouses.
There is an unendowed free school, in which
ten boys are taught to read and write. A monastery
which existed here so early as 799, -was subsequently
united to the church of Worcester. At this place
Henry II. held his court; and in 1265, shortly before the
battle of Evesham, Simon de Montfort was quartered at
the Bishop's palace here, with his prisoner, Henry III.
Near to the church are the remains of an ancient encampment.