186 THE HAMPTONS.

parish which was formerly devised by a Mr. John Martin. Thanks to the zeal and exertions of the Rev. John Marshall, late vicar of Evesham, and of B. Workman, Esq., his successor as treasurer, the property has been rescued from a mortgage debt, and by the patient efforts of the latter an appointment of new trustees and a scheme for the better administration of the funds have been obtained, but not without strenuous opposition.

And now for Hampton Lovett, a parish with a population of 185, and an acreage of 1,827, and which derived one-half its name from the Lovets, who were its proprietors before the Blounts and Fakingtons. The last-named family first came into Worcestershire by the marriage of John Pakington with a daughter of the ancient house of Washbourne, of Stanford, temp. Henry VI. Sir John Pakington is now lord of the manor and patron of the living, and there are no other landowners except T. G. Smith, Esq., and Mrs. Croft, who own two small farms. Soil, a strong clay; crops, wheat, barley, and beans. Agriculture the almost entire pursuit. The church, though possessing no striking architectural feature, is eminently a picturesque structure, owing in a great measure to the variety of outline occasioned by the somewhat unusual position of the tower, the sanctus-bell cot (still remaining), and the large chapel on the north side. In the church are monuments to the learned Dr. Hammond and many of the Pakingtons. The building was restored in 1858, but an interesting rood-screen was then carried away. There are 220 seats, of which 100 are free. Rev. J. Amphlett is the rector; value of living, £335 net.

The original Court-house stood near the church, and there is a view of it in oil preserved at Westwood, representing it as a square block of building, with a turret in the centre, and gabled wings forming three sides of a quadrangle. It was built in the reign of Henry VII, and nearly destroyed in the civil wars, whereupon the lodge and banqueting-house, which had been erected on a distant part of the estate at Westwood in Queen Elizabeth's time, was enlarged by the addition of