Crutch / Croiche / Crouch / Crouch next le Wich / Crouche / Croyche / Cruch

The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes: "Crutch probably became extra-parochial in 1178, when the tithes were assigned to the nuns of Westwood in exchange for their claim on the church of Dodderhill, [...] and remained so until 1857, when it was formed into a civil parish. [...] The date at which the chapel of Crutch was built is not known, but it was certainly before 1335 [...] The chapel was dedicated in honour of St. James, and was numbered among the possessions of Westwood Priory at the Dissolution. [...]It was granted with the manor to Robert and Charles Acton in 1538. [...] It descended with the manor until 1621, [...] but is not mentioned, and was probably disused, after that date." The Dodderhill Parish Project [www.dodderhillhistory.org.uk/dodderhill-parish-survey-project-churches-the-lost-chapel-of-st-james-crutch.php] [accessed 16 September 2014] informs: "There is no sign of a chapel in Crutch now, and its site is completely unknown. The brook bordering Crutch on the east is called Capel Ditch which may be a hint, and a farm which stood until the early 1900s just over the brook was said to have ancient sandstone blocks in its foundations. But we have no definite knowledge of the last four hundred years of the story of St. James’s chapel in Crutch."