Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Grimley Parish, of which Hallow was then part, ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred to Martley Poor Law Union.[4]
The hand axe discovered in 1970s in Hallow. Potentially the first Early Middle Palaeolithic artefact from the West Midlands.
There is evidence of human presence from the paleolithic period, roughly 700,000-500,000 years ago. Flint axe heads were found near Hallow in the 1970s.[5]
Toponym
In the 9th century the toponym was recorded as Halhegan, Heallingan and Halnegan.[6] In the 11th century it was recorded as Halhegan and Hallhagan, while in the 13th century it was Hallawe, Hallaye or Hallag.[6]
By the middle of the 11th century Worcester Priory had fishponds at Hallow and in 1256 permission was granted for a warren as well.[6] Both were still in use in 1346.[6]
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Hallow had two mills for grinding grain;[6] presumably watermills on the River Severn. Hallow Mill was still in use in 1913.[6]
Queen Elizabeth I came to hunt deer with bow and arrow at Hallow Park on 18 August 1575.[7] In October 1576, she granted John Habington of Hall and his wife Dorothy a lease of the manor of Hallow in return for supplying flour to bake manchet bread whenever she returned to Worcestershire.[8]
Parish church
Until 1876 Hallow was a chapelry of Grimley.[6] Hallow's original chapel of ease was demolished in 1830 and replaced by a modest Georgian chapel on a new site about 300 yards (270 m) south-east of the old one.[6]
The church is W.J. Hopkins' most notable work.[9] The nave and clerestory are of four bays and are flanked by north and south aisles.[9] The clerestory is supported by flying buttresses and, like a number of Hopkins' works, has round windows.[9] The chancel and its arch are impressively high.[9] 17th- and 18th-century memorial tablets from the old chapel were preserved and are mounted in the new church.[6][9]
The old chapel had three bells in 1552 and five in 1740.[10] A 16th-century bell from the old chapel hung in the new church until 1900, when a new peal of eight bells cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough was hung in the tower.[11]
Notable people
Colonel William Careless, who preserved the life of Charles II by hiding him in the Royal Oak (1651), was resident in Hallow during the 1680s.
The manufacturer and philanthropist William Morris (1877–1963), the future Viscount Nuffield, was born in Hallow and baptised at SS Philip and James.[10]
The diplomat, archeologist, explorer and historian Stewart Perowne was born in Hallow in 1901.
The distinguished physician Sir Charles Bell (1774–1842) died in Hallow en route from Edinburgh to London and is buried in the churchyard.[12]
^ abcdefghijklVictoria County History, 1913, pages 367-372
^John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1823), pp. 541-2.
^Brett Usher, William Cecil and Episcopacy, 1559–1577 (Ashgate, 2003): Ann Morton, Calendar Patent Rolls, 1580–1582 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 33 no. 151: Anna Somers Cocks, Princely Magnificence: Court Jewels of the Renaissance (London, 1980), p. 52.
