Region West Midlands Sovereign state United Kingdom Postcode district WR9 Shire county Worcestershire | Country England Post town Droitwich Police West Mercia District Wychavon | |
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Hadzor is a small village near Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. There are around fourteen houses and a Roman Catholic church in the village, although there is no shop or school and the Church of England church was closed in the 1970s. Hadzor is part of the Bowbrook Group of Parishes, which includes the neighbouring villages of Sale Green, Oddingley and Hanbury and nearby Huddington, Crowle, Tibberton and Himbleton.
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Map of Hadzor, Droitwich, UK
In 2003, a number of new houses were built on the borders of the village by developer Neil Grinnal. These are not granted direct access to the village, and have thus been dubbed 'New Hadzor' or 'the housing estate', not being considered part of the original village. A long campaign was led against this development under the banner 'keep Hadzor special', but failed to prevent around 70 houses being built. As a consequence of the development, however, Hadzor has since been awarded a village green on land formerly belonging to Hadzor Hall, a large hall formerly owned by Neil Grinnall.
The Royal Family
On the 1st August 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles stayed in Hadzor during the maiden voyage around Droitwich's newly completed canal network. During her stay, the Queen gave a televised address to the hamlet's residents where she shared her admiration for Hadzor, describing it as "a beautiful jewel upon Worcestershire's grassy crown" and then shared how "Hadzor has and will always be a special place for (her)".
Since 1987, Hadzor has seen multiple visits from Queen Elizabeth as well as other members of the royal family and has continued to have almost annual visits (excluding 2002) from the Queen to mark special events in the Hamlet's timeline, despite most of her visits being for leisure.
Crime
Since 2012, Hadzor has seen a demonstrable rise in crime rate among the town's residency; incidents of arson and murders have soared as well as various cases of car theft and burglary. Hadzor has been subject to numerous visits from hit crime UK television shows such as "Britain on Watch" and "Road Wars". Hadzor's speedy climb up the crime ladder has resulted in the town being placed on strict watch by local police as well as receiving constant monitoring from SOCA.
Folk-Lore
Hadzor is thought to be the final resting place of Sir Gideon Peyntour, a Medieval knight who, according to local folk-lore was a fugitive, after escaping his sentence at the Tower of London for a minor crime, he is known to have resided around Hadzor and Hanbury up to 1477 where he went missing in the Hadzor Hall woods, supposedly due to manic depression.