PEOPLETON. 297

tural. Wheat, beans, and barley, are grown. The soil consists of the Middle Keuper sandstone and marls of geologists, with an outlier of Lias at Berrow Hill, close by; indeed, part of this outlier is in Pendock parish. Pendock Portway is an ancient military road which ran from the Wall Hills Camp.

Peopleton.

THIS pariah, of 1,474 acreage, situate near Pershore, is owned by John Parker, Esq., lord of the manor, Colonel Scobell, Rev. J. Cook, W. Acton, and R. Varden, Esqrs. Mr. Cook and Mr. Varden are the only resident landowners. Wheat and roots are grown, and the employment is solely agricultural. The Church of Westminster was among the earliest owners of the manor, and it subsequently gave name to, the De Peoplintons. Afterwards the Russells and Dineleys held possessions here. Rector and patron, Rev. J. Cook; value of living, £300; population, 326 ; church seats, 200. The church, which was renovated in 1850, is mainly of Perpendicular work, but contains nothing notable.

In the seventeenth century, the rector of Peopleton (Richard Claridge) turned Quaker, resigned his benefice, and his works are quoted even to the present day when "The Friends" are engaged in vindicating their society from the charge of Socinianism.