Feckenham was already organised as a parochial unit at the time of the Domesday Survey, which lists Feckenham as having a Reeve and a Beadle as well as a Miller and a Smith. The tithes of the manor and the church with the priest were given by Earl William to the Abbey of Lyra. The Reeve was strictly speaking a deputy, who was elected by his fellow villeins to organise the daily business of the manor. The Beadle was a parish officer with various duties, such as town crier, messenger or even a constable, although not necessarily the same in each locality. In 1591 there were still a Reeve and a Beadle, who with the constable and other officers were elected by the tenants of the manor, and a bailiff, chosen by the lord from among the tenants and freeholders.
At some time -after the manor was sold by the crown in 1629 and subsequently bought by Thomas Lord Coventry in 1632 – the churchwardens looked after the day to day running of the parish, while the manorial courts continued, the last one being held in 1935 at the Rose and Crown, although by this time the manor courts were only ceremonial.
In 1894 as a result of the Local Government Act, Feckenham was divided into Feckenham Rural and Feckenham Urban; Feckenham Urban (Headless Cross, Crabbs Cross) became part of Redditch Urban District Council. Although originally the same, the boundaries of the civil and ecclesiastical parishes changed over time. As a result of the growth in population in the nineteenth century, other churches were built, which changed the boundaries of the ecclesiastical parish.
Feckenham Forest
Feckenham was once a significant site situated on the ancient Saltway between Alcester and Droitwich (now the B4090). Listed in the Domesday Book as ‘fecceham’, (Old English meaning Fecca’s Ham – a clearing by a stream, or an enclosure or homestead), Feckenham was the centre for lawsuits connected with forests south of the Trent, during the early part of the history of the forest. The courthouse has now disappeared but the site still exists as a moated site near the church.
Feckenham stood in the middle of the forest that bears its name. Around the middle of the twelfth century the forest covered most of Worcestershire -including Bromsgrove, Redditch, Evesham and Pershore. In one direction the forest spread all the way to the city gate (the fore gate) in Worcester and to the north as far as The Lickeys.
After 1300 the forest was reduced in size, until by the sixteenth century it had become little more than a park about thirty-four square miles in extent. Around 1608 the crown surveyed all its royal forests and decided to ‘disafforest’ the Forest of Feckenham. Twenty-one years after this decision, Feckenham ceased to be a royal forest and reverted to common land. The crown sold the manor (land) in 1632 to Lord Coventry and the people living in the forest were to be compensated for the loss of their rights under forest law.