Community groups and information
Literary Connections
Information about literary connections to the parish
P.G. Wodehouse: Severn End House was the model for Brinkley Manor, the setting for several Jeeves stories. Hanley Castle Grammar School was the model for Market Snodsbury Grammar School. PG’s aunt Lucy Apollonia Wodehouse was married to the Rev. Edward Isaac, vicar of Hanley Castle. In Meet Mr Mulliner, Buck-U-Uppo tonic was based on a concoction given to Rev Isaac by the Upton chemist.
Charles Dickens: The protracted Jennens inheritance disputes gave Dickens the inspiration for Jarndyce v Jarndyce in Bleak House.
Evelyn Waugh: Said to have modelled Brideshead Revisited on life at Madresfield Court. The Hon. Richard Lygon lived in the parish from 1937.
David Mitchell: Hanley Swan forms the backdrop to Black Swan Green. Jason’s home in Kingfisher Meadows is based on the house in Westmere where Mitchell lived as a child.
Margaret Tufton: Wrote Granny Apple, an adventure story based in Hanley Castle, published by Penguin Books in the 1970s. It became a local sport to guess who was who.