288 ODDINGLEY.

form building (fifteenth century), with tower at west end. It was repaired in 1851, and the chancel and roof restored at the expense of Mr. Galton; but an interesting part of the rood screen disappeared during the recent restoration. The hourglass stand for the pulpit and the holy-water stoup are still remaining; as likewise several un-Protestant inscriptions in the windows, as "Orate pro Animabus." There are 103 sittings, of which 53 are free.

Oddingley has for many years been infamous for the double murder done there in 1806, when the Rev. G. Parker, a rigid stickler for tithes, was shot dead by Richard Heming, a carpenter, of Droitwich, at the instigation of Captain Evans, a magistrate, and others; and the said Heming, hiding himself in the barn of one Clewes, a farmer, was there murdered by his employers, in the dead of the night, to avoid a discovery! It was believed that Heming had gone abroad, but nearly a quarter of a century afterwards, on taking down the barn at Netherwood Farm, his skeleton was found there, and identified by a carpenter's rule in his pocket and other circumstances. His actual murderers were then dead, but Clewes, Bankes, and Barnett, all farmers, were tried and acquitted, owing to the law not then allowing accessories to be convicted on the capital charge after the death of the principal. The last two persons concerned in this awful murder died only three or four years ago, at advanced ages. A new barn has been built on the site, and a stone inserted in the wall, bearing the dates 1806 and 1830, the former being the period of the murders, and the latter of their discovery.

There are many eminences in this parish covered with woods - Nether Wood and Trench Wood, where is the site of in old castrametation. Sale Green and Sale Way are close at hand, marking the track of the ancient saltways or roads leading from Droitwich.