All about our Parish
Here you can read a digital copy our Anniversary Magazine celebrating 160 years of Norton-juxta-Kempsey Parish Council 1866-2026
Link to the Magazine – Opens in new window
Published in January 2026 and distributed to all households in our Parish, it contains extensive information about our community, it’s people, places and history.
Parish Profile
(extract from the magazine)
The Parish of Norton-juxta-Kempsey is located to the south-east of the city of Worcester. It covers an area of 749 hectares (1850 acres) and is bisected north-south by the M5 motorway (near to junction 7) to the west and by the B4084 to the east. The B4084 provides direct road access into Worcester City and the wider road network to the north as well as access to the market town of Pershore just over five miles to the south east.
It is primarily rural in nature with a number of individual settlements dispersed within the open countryside; each having its own identity. It is home to a population of approximately 2500 (ONS 2022) people. The older settlements of Norton, Littleworth and Hatfield along with the smaller hamlet of High Park off the B4084 are long established and have a strong agricultural heritage with a number of farmsteads and open spaces. There are a few further dwellings developed in the 1990s around Norton Hall, now in use as a Care Home, at Woodbury Park. To the north of the parish near to the boundary with Worcester City is the substantial Brockhill Village development, a settlement that was constructed in the 1990s on and around the site of the decommissioned military Norton Barracks. This settlement is home to the majority of the parish’s population with over 60 percent of residents living within it. Most of the residents work in Worcester or Wychavon.
The parish has a rich agricultural heritage and a number of operational farms and farmsteads remain today. The area also has strong military ties as Norton Barracks was home to the Worcestershire Regiment from 1881 – 1962 and prior to its closure was a large local employer. Prominent buildings from this era have been converted into residential accommodation and many of the roads are named after the battle honours of the Regiment.
On the edge of the Parish is the Worcestershire Parkway Station, the County’s first new train station to open for around 100 years. Built on the site where the north-south and east-west lines cross at Norton Junction and where there once was a station, Norton Halt, which closed in 1966. It opened on the 23rd February 2020 with the arrival on Platform 3 of the 8.29am to London Paddington train. The station provides direct rail links to London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham & Bristol with further connections to the North-East and Scotland and to Plymouth and the South-West.
The parish is home to several business premises covering a range of sectors from catering, haulage, education, leisure pursuits, architects, retail and reclamation amongst others; these businesses range in size with some employing 100 or more, whilst some employ fewer than five people. There is one business park at the site of the former Morganite Crucible Works on Woodbury Lane and a number of individual premises dispersed through the parish.
Despite its large population the parish is not home to vast array of community facilities but there are some very important ones that contribute to the quality of local resident’s lives. There is a primary school and a separate pre-school in Littleworth, along with a special needs college off Woodbury Lane catering for pupils from both within and outwith the parish.
Local leisure facilities include, a Community Hub in Brockhill (The Sergeants’ Mess) and a Sports Club (Shooting, Cricket & Croquet). Situated on the edge of Norton on the way to Littleworth is The Retreat public house and adjoining the settlement of Brockhill Village there is St Peters Garden Centre that has a café and stocks a limited range of basic provisions along with specialist produce.
The Parish Hall at Littleworth provides indoor facilities for local groups, a coffee shop and bar and also has extensive grounds and outdoor recreational facilities including play equipment, a football pitch and a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA).
There are two places of worship in the parish, the Church of St James in Norton with its adjoining meeting room, and the former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Littleworth now occupied by the Plymouth Bretheren. Littleworth has two areas dedicated to allotments and the whole community benefits from access to an extensive network of public rights of way providing direct and easy access to the open countryside.
The Parish Council continues to seek ways to improve the quality of life for residents of the Parish by promoting appropriate housing, access to healthcare, education, transport and leisure facilities, and to maintain the identities of the villages in the Parish within a rural environment.