The name Arley derives from the
Old English earnlēah meaning '
eagle wood/clearing'. Upper Arley used to be in Staffordshire, but was transferred to Worcestershire in 1895. The parish is unusual in being divided into two unequal parts by the river
Severn. Woodeaves (west of the river) was only linked to the rest of the parish by a foot ferry, which was replaced in 1972 by a footbridge. The
manor of Upper Arley had various owners before 1276, when it was bought by
Roger de Mortimer in 1276. It passed down his family, who held the title
Earl of March until 1448 when
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York sold it. It was bought by William Burley, whose daughter Joan married Thomas Lyttleton, whose descendants (spelling their name
Lyttelton) also owned
Hagley Hall and became
Barons Lyttelton until the death of
Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton in 1779, when it passed to his sister Lucy and her husband,
Arthur Annesley, 8th Viscount Valentia, later Earl of Mountnorris. The manor was held by the Woodward family from 1853 to 1959. Captain Robert Woodward was killed in
World War I in 1915. On the death of Sir Chad Woodward, on 2 February 1957, most of the estate was sold off for
death duties. His widow continued to retain the rights and duties of the Lord of the Manor. The village of Upper Arley was an estate village owned in the early 19th century by the
Earls of Mountnorris and the heirs, the
Viscounts Valentia, from whom the village's second (and now defunct) pub took its name. In the late 20th century, it was owned by the
philanthropist and
iron &
steel tycoon Roger Turner, who bought the estate after selling his family's
Staffordshire tubemaking businesses, called the
Wellington Steel Tube Co. Ltd. There are a number of subtle references or
in-jokes to this legacy on the estate — a large
redwood tree of the
Wellingtonia variety stands very much out-of-place at the entrance to the manor house of Arley House, as does one by the footbridge across the
River Severn in the village; and the estate buildings, be they commercial or residential, are coloured green and cream, the
corporate colours of the Wellington companies. By 2000 and the death of Roger Turner, part of his private park was opened to the public as Arley Arboretum. Symbolically, Turner lies buried in the
churchyard and next to the gate leading to the
Arboretum and Arley House. Arley Tower, a Grade II listed castellated
folly is on Arley Lane close to the river Severn. ==References==