THE SHELSLEYS. 317

penetrated. The church lies low, and Severn floods have been known in it from two to three feet deep.

Severn Bank is the chief residence in the parish; it was built by one of the Earls of Coventry, and is now occupied by J. Smith, Esq.

The Shelsleys.

GREAT and Little Shelsley are situate on the banks of the river Teme, about midway between Worcester and Tenbury. Great, or Shelsley Beauchamp (so called from its former possessors, the Beauchamps, of Holt), including the hamlet of Shelsley Kings, is a parish of 2,209 acreage, and a population of 556, cultivating wheat, beans, barley, turnips, hops, and mangolds. Mr. Jones, recent purchaser of Abberley Hall, is lord of the manor, and the chief landowners are Earl Dudley, Mr. W. Cook, Mr. T. Bury, Rev. M. S. Wall, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Cameron Galton, and Mr. James Moore, the two latter being resident in the parish. The scenery hereabout is splendid, reminding one of Poussin's landscapes. The Teme Valley Railway, should it ever be made, will pass through the parish, from end to end. The reformatory, established some years ago by Earl Dudley for the county of Worcester, is in this parish, and the resident superintendent is the Rev. T. N. Flintoff. The cost per head of these boys is £23. 2s. per annum, reduced by their industrial earnings to £20; average number of inmates, thirty-five, so that the deficiency of room is greater than ever ; in fact, the discomforts of the place ought to be seen to be fully realised. The reformatory boys attend Shelsley Walsh Church, and swell the congregation considerably, besides forming a tolerably strong choir. Earl Dudley makes good any deficiencies in the annual resources of the institution, but if this and the neighbouring counties would form