Manor In AD 855 King
Burgred of Mercia granted a monastery at Blockley to
Ealhhun,
Bishop of Worcester for the price of 300
solidi. In 1086 the
Domesday Book recorded that the Bishop of Worcester held an estate of 38
hides at Blockley. built in about 1180. with the Team Vicar remaining responsible for Blockley and its outlying villages of Paxford, Draycott and Aston Magna, as well as the parish of
Bourton-on-the-Hill. The church is used as St Mary's Roman Catholic church in the
Father Brown television series and the vicarage as the presbytery, Father Brown's residence. The
Baptist Chapel was built in 1835.
Economic and social history In 1715 the Vicar, the Rev. Dr.
Erasmus Saunders, had a new school built for the parish. Much of the parish was farmed under an
open field system until 1772, when an
Act of Parliament provided for the enclosure of the remaining
common lands. ==Governance==