DILWYN, or CHURCH DILWYN, is a large parish and village situated on the main road between Leominster and Hay, distant 2 miles N.E. of Weobley, 6 S.W. of Leominster, 12 N.W. of Hereford, and 16 N.E. of Hay; is in Stretford and Wolphy hundreds, Weobley union, petty sessional division, and polling district, and Leominster county court district. The population in 1861 was 1,069; in 1871, 1,099; inhabited housed, 235; families or separate occupiers, 246; area of parish, 6,067 acres; annual rateable value, £8,655. Major Daniel Peploe Peploe, M.P., of Garnstone castle, is lord of the manor and a considerable landowner. The other principal landowners are Lacon Lambe, Esq., John W. Wilson, Esq., Henry Moore, Esq., Mrs. H. Evans, Messrs. Thomas Bowen, George Bray, Samuel Griffiths, Henry H. Hope, &c. The soil is clayey and loamy; subsoil, clay and gravel; hops are much cultivated, with wheat, beans, barley, roots, and some fruit of a superior quality. There is good pasture, and the land generally is very fertile. Dilwyn lordship formerly belonged to the De Gamages, one of whom gave the right of dispasturing on Midsummer meadows to the inhabitants of Leominster.

The parish is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Weobley; living, a vicarage; value, £440, with residence and 45 acres of glebe; patron, the Lord Bishop of Hereford; vicar, Rev. Thomas Morgan, M.A., of Jesus College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1873. The present church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was erected during the last quarter of the 13th century, and is therefore nearly 600 years old. It consisted of nave with north and south aisles, chancel, sacristy, a western tower and spire, and north south porches. About a century later, the north transept was added, and the existing fine south porch replaced the previous one. During the next century (the 15th), the Early English roof of the nave gave place to the now existing, and the church was enriched by the setting up of several screens of carved wood. In the course of the intervening three centuries, the fabric, one of the finest and best proportioned in Herefordshire, fell into a state of dilapidation and decay.

In 1867 it was thoroughly restored under the superintendence of G. C. Haddon, Esq., architect, of Hereford and Malvern. The restoration included the opening out of the chancel and aisle roofs, the restoration of the nave roof, the cleansing the walls and stonework from plaster and whitewash, the lowering the nave floor, open benches upon the model of the ancient ones, new pulpit, lectern, reredos, altar-table, font-cover, chancel stalls, the opening of arch between chancel and sacristy for the reception of organ, flooring church with Godwin's encaustic tiles, the restoration of screens, with the addition of new fans, cornice, and cresting to central one, a warming apparatus, &c. The chancel is a singularly well-preserved specimen of 13th-century work, for the roof and walls have not suffered in the least, either from the effect of time or injudicious repairs.

The windows, again, are intact; and so is the sacristy, rather a rare instance of an original erection, at any rate in Herefordshire. The total cost of all the work done in church (fittings, &c., included) was about £2,500, raised chiefly through the exertions of the late Rev. Dr. Heather. The east window was filled with painted glass in 1867 by Messrs. Heaton, Butler, & Bayne, as a memorial to the late Rev. J. Powell. There are some remains of ancient glass in the single lancet on the south side of chancel. In 1733 the six bells now in use were placed in the tower; they bear the following inscriptions:- 1, "Prosperity to all my benefactors, A. R., 1733"; 2, "Peace and good neighbourhood, 1733"; 3, "A. R. Rudhall, of Gloucester, cast us all, 1733"; 4, "A. R., 1733"; 5, "Richard Bradford and Thomas Sheward, Ch. wardens"; 6, "I to the church the living call, And to the grave do summons all". The parish registers commence with the year 1558, and are continued without a break.

At the entrance to the church is a lych-gate, which is called here the "Scaniels". There are charities of £14 yearly value. A new national school-room, with accommodation for 78 children, was erected in 1872 at a cost of £400. The old room has been converted into an infant school and classroom. The master's residence has been improved and harmonised with the new building. School accommodation is now provided for upwards of 180 children. Ebenezer Primitive Methodist chapel was erected in 1835 and rebuilt in 1857; Salem Primitive Methodist chapel, at Stockmore, was erected in 1864. At Upper Chadnor court in this parish was a chapel dedicated to St. Helen. It has long since been destroyed, though the site can still be identified. Luntley court, a farmhouse in the occupation of Mr. John Burlton, is an interesting timber-framed structure, with pigeon house bearing date 1673.