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Spetchley is a hamlet and civil parish inWorcestershire,England, that lies in the district ofWychavon, half a mile fromWorcester, along the A44 road. Spetchley containsSpetchley Park, a country mansion with extensive gardens.
The name Spetchley derives from theOld Englishspēclēah meaning 'speech wood/clearing', i.e. a place where speeches were made at localassembly meetings.[1]
The Spetchley estate, once owned by the Sheldon and Lyttleton families, was bought in 1605 by Rowland Berkeley, a wool merchant and banker. His original Tudor house on the site was burned down on the eve of thebattle of Worcester, 1651, by disgruntled drunken Scottish Presbyterian Royalists to preventOliver Cromwell from using the house for his headquarters. All that remains of the Tudor house today is part of the moat.
This hamlet was the location for the first Railway Station forWorcester city. The station was built by theBirmingham and Gloucester Railway. The station opened on 24 June 1840 but closed for passengers on 1 October 1855 and goods 2 January 1961.[2] The passengers were conveyed bycoach fromThe Crown Inn, Worcester for a fare, inclusive of the train, being met by the Company.
