ODDINGLEY. 287

Grange. The Great Western Railway runs through the parish and has a station in the centre of it.

There is a Wesleyan Chapel at Littleworth. The Dissenters, however, are not bigoted, as most of them frequently attend church on Sunday mornings, and their children are almost invariably baptised in the church. Much good is now being done unobtrusively in the parish, which possesses many good institutions, including a parochial Church of England School, lately enlarged at a cost of upwards of £200 ; coal and school clubs, &c.

Oddingley.

PARISH of 869 acres, all belonging to Mrs. Howard Gallon, and situate between Worcester and Droitwich. There is a population of 202, who get their living mainly by growing wheat and beans and cultivating a large brickyard. There was a great heath, or common, here in ancient times, on which two Saxon giants (Odd and Dingley) are said to have fought, till the first-named, receiving quantum suff., shouted out -

"O, Dingley, Dingley, spare my breath!

It shall be called Od-Dingley Heath."

So says the legend, and it may really have reference to a dispute between Oddo and Doddo, two noted chieftains in the Mercian kingdom. The common, which belonged to several parishes, is, I believe, now entirely enclosed. A canal and railway pass through the parish.

Mrs. Howard Gallon is lady of the manor and patroness of the living, which is worth £173. Rev. J. Porter is the rector, but, through illness, has obtained a license for non-residence, and the parish is now in charge of the Rev. J. Bearcroft, of Hadzor, as curate. The church is a good example of a cruci-