Dowles,

a small parish in the Cleobury division of the hundred of Stottesden, situated one mile north of Bewdley, contains 1080 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £1130. 10s., and gross estimated rental £1300. In 1841 there were nine houses and eighty persons; population in 1801, fifty-seven; 1831, sixty-two. The Misses Taylors are ladies of the manor and the principal landowners, Mr. James Taylor, Rev. Joseph Fletcher, and others are also proprietors. The word Dowles comes from the British Dôl, which signifies a bottom surrounded with hills, or perhaps from the Saxon Doelar, to divide, as it is on the extreme border of the county, a small brook dividing it from Worcestershire. It is situated on the bank of the river Severn and surrounded with beautiful scenery. The Bewdley Gas Works are in this parish, and the manufacture of bricks and tiles is carried on extensively here.

The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, stands in a sequestered situation near the Severn. It is built of brick and has a small turret; the interior consists of nave and chancel and the fittings are neat and appropriate. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £4, in the patronage of the Misses Taylor, and incumbency of the Rev. J. Fletcher, B.A. The tithes are commuted for £120. There are two acres of glebe land.

Charities.—An old parish book records benefactions to the poor between the year 1636 and 1710 to the amount of £13. 10s., which in the year 1786 was applied towards the rebuilding of the church, the rent of one of the pews thereof being given to the poor in consideration of this sum, which was regularly distributed till the year 1800, when a new minister of the parish opposed the further letting of any pews and ordered them to be thrown open to the public.

Directory.—Samuel Hill Crocket, farmer; William Downing, farmer; Rev. Joseph Fletcher, B.A., The Parsonage; Benjamin Jeffries, parish clerk and overseer and inspector of the Bewdley police; James Lawley, farmer; William Meredith, farmer; and Thomas Perry, farmer.