Hallow, United Kingdom

The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Hallow had two mills for grinding grain; presumably watermills on the River Severn. Hallow Mill was still in use in 1913.

Queen Elizabeth I came to hunt deer with bow and arrow at Hallow Park on 18 August 1575. She was said to have praised the "dainty situation" of the manor house, on high ground and perfumed by mint. In October 1576, she granted John Habington of Hindlip and his wife Dorothy a lease of the manor of Hallow in return for supplying flour to bake manchet bread whenever she returned to Worcestershire.

Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Grimley Parish, of which Hallow was then part, ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred to Martley Poor Law Union.

Until 1876 Hallow was a chapelry of Grimley. Hallow's original chapel of ease was demolished in 1830 and replaced by a modest Georgian chapel on a new site about 300 yards (270 m) south-east of the old one.

In 1867 the second chapel was demolished and building began of the present Church of England parish church of Saint Philip and Saint James. It was designed by W. J. Hopkins and completed in 1869. Hallow was made a separate parish in 1876. The bell tower with its 150 feet (46 m) high broach spire were added in 1879.

The church is W. J. Hopkins' most notable work. The nave and clerestory are of four bays and are flanked by north and south aisles. The clerestory is supported by flying buttresses and, like a number of Hopkins' works, has round windows. The chancel and its arch are impressively high. 17th- and 18th-century memorial tablets from the old chapel were preserved and are mounted in the new church.

The old chapel had three bells in 1552 and five in 1740. A 16th-century bell from the old chapel hung in the new church until 1900, when a new peal of eight bells cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough was hung in the tower.