Oddingley is surrounded by picturesque countryside
The Bowbrook Group of parishes is located in mid-Worcestershire in the heart of England. We take a great interest in all things rural and agricultural and celebrate the agricultural year. The group's name derives from that of the Bow brook that, with its tributary the Dean Brook, flows through all of the villages that make it up before, eventually, joining the River Avon. This is a spectacularly beautiful part of the country, composed of fields, woods (including Hanbury Woods and Trench Wood) and idyllic villages and hamlets. There are nine parishes within the group, centred on the villages of Oddingley, Tibberton, Crowle, Bredicot, Himbleton, Huddington, Bradley Green, Hanbury and Feckenham. All of these churches and villages are well worth a visit.
Crowle can be reached via a (sadly no longer manned) level crossing down Netherwood Lane
Oddingley is located towards the west of the group of parishes, close to the town of Droitwich Spa. This town was founded in pre-Roman times and was for centuries a site of salt extraction, leading to heavy subsidence of parts of the town including the main High Street as the surface above slowly collapsed into the mines underneath. Droitwich has several churches of its own, a number of shops, a library and a Tourist Information Centre and museum. Part of this museum is dedicated to the history of radio broadcasting in the area: Droitwich is famed for the nearby Long- and Medium-wave transmitting station, and can still be seen named on the dials of many older AM radio receivers.
The parish of Oddingley was annexed to the neighbouring one of Hadzor (to the north) in 1864. But since the closure of Hadzor church in the 1970s, St James has served as the sole parish church of Hadzor with Oddingley. The Oddingley church organ and Bible each originated in Hadzor church, where there was originally located a fantastic stained-glass window, though with the closure of the church this too was removed to a more accessible location. Oddingley nowadays shares its administration with the neighbouring parish of Tibberton (to the south).
Useful links:
Droitwich (Wikipedia)
Droitwich Transmitting Station
Oddingley History
Chaplaincy to Agricultural and Rural Life (CARL)
About our family
We are a friendly rural church that is part of the Bowbrook Group. If you would like to know more about the other churches in our group the links are below: