Alvechurch

The bishop’s landscape

The Bishops of Worcester made Alvechurch a seat of ecclesiastical government. The parish neighbourhood plan places the creation of a palace, moat, gardens and fishponds in the twelfth century, alongside enclosure of land on Newbourne Hill for deer hunting. Bishops continued to live and conduct business here into the sixteenth century. ^[3]

In 1239 Alvechurch received a weekly market and an annual fair, with borough status following later. The fair was tied to the feast of St Laurence, the dedication of the parish church. The connection between the bishop’s household, religious life and trade helps explain the planned settlement whose form the conservation-area assessment recognises. ^{[3] [2]}

The palace was demolished in the seventeenth century, but its moat survived in the grounds of the Moat House in Radford Road. The former deer park was converted to farmland before 1700, with much of its boundary bank and ditch remaining visible. These earthworks preserve parts of an estate that is less obvious than the village streets. ^[3]

Reading Bear Hill and the Square

Timber framing and Georgian brick buildings together shape the centre. The council’s conservation account explains the long use of timber construction partly through available oak and the movement of clay and marl soils. Its account identifies 24, 26 and 28 Bear Hill as buildings dating from around the fifteenth century, although subsequently altered. ^[2]

The Old House on Bear Hill dates from the early seventeenth century and retains a more complete timber-framed character. Looking at it alongside later brick buildings reveals successive periods of rebuilding within the older layout. The conservation area was designated in November 1968, recognising the importance of the ensemble as well as individual buildings. ^[2]

Canal, railway and village employment

The canal reached Tardebigge in 1807 by way of Alvechurch, passing through this stretch without locks. In the parish it connects Alvechurch with Withybed Green, Hopwood and Lea End. The neighbourhood plan describes the waterway’s later role in walking, cycling, boating and fishing, alongside its surviving bridges and other historic structures. ^[3]

Alvechurch station dates from 1859. The railway subsequently became a link with Birmingham and Redditch, while improvements in 2015–16 formed another stage in its transport history. ^[3]

Industrial work also formed part of village and parish life. A brick factory at the neighbouring hamlet of Withybed operated from the nineteenth century into the middle of the twentieth; nailmaking and needlemaking were other local trades. Between 1949 and 1956 Dellow cars were manufactured in Alvechurch, a short motor-industry episode within a much longer history of work. ^[3]

Village and parish

The neighbourhood plan covers a wider area than the compact historic centre, including such settlements as Hopwood, Rowney Green and Bordesley. Its distinction between Alvechurch Village and the parish is useful when reading local history: a building, industry or population observation from the wider parish should retain its own location. ^[3]