Holme Lacy, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1905

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1905

HOLME LACY.

HOLME LACY is a parish and scattered village, on the banks of the River Wye, with a station on the Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester section of the Great Western Railway, 139¾miles from London, 5south-east from Hereford, and 8 north-west from Ross, in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Webtree, Hereford Union, county court district and petty Sessional division, and in the rural deanery, archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. An iron bridge of three arches, with buttresses and piers of stone, crosses the river to the village of Fownhope, and was erected in 1850. Under Local Government Board Order (March 1884) a detached portion of this parish was transferred to Fownhope. The church of St. Cuthbert, standing near the River Wye, is a building of stone of Norman date, consisting of chancel, nave south aisle, north transept, south porch and a western tower, containing 8 bells: There are several ancient monuments to the Scudamore Family, including one to Frances, wife of Charles 11^th Duke of Norfolk K.G. daughter and sole heiress of Chas. Fitzroy Scudamore Esq. She died 22 Oct. 1820: a gallery was erected and an organ presented in 1833, by Lady Scudamore-Stanhope: the aisle is divided from the chancel by two pointed arches on clustered columns and from the nave by an arcade of four pointed arches and one round arch on square columns. The register, which includes many entries from Bolstone, formerly an attached chapelry, dates from the year 1562. The living, a vicarage, yearly value £300, including 12 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of The Earl of Chesterfield, and held since 1892 by the Rev. Robert Elton Lee, M.A. of Magdalen College, Oxford. The charities amount to about £15 annually. Near the vicarage house is a remarkable pear-tree, covering a large space of ground, and forming an orchard of itself, which, according to records dated 1776, yielded from fourteen to sixteen hogsheads of perry, of 100 gallons each, and is accounted for as follows: - A large branch having been broken by the wind, its head fell to the ground, the butt still adhering to the trunk; some time after it appeared to have struck into the ground, taken root, and formed a scion. Willing to encourage this lusus naturæ, the incumbent gave orders for other layers to be made from the tree, in a similar manner, which became rooted and bore fruit. Holme Lacy was for some centuries in the ancient family of the Scudamores, one of whom attended William the Conqueror in his expedition to England. Philip Scudamore, a descendent, settled here in the 14^th century, and his descendent, John Scudamore Esq., was created a baronet in 1620, and Baron Dromore and Viscount Scudamore, of Sligo, 2 July, 1628:. Holme Lacy continued to be the principle seat of the family till the year 1716, when the last Viscount Scudamore dying, Dec. 2^nd in that year, the estate vested in Frances, his only daughter and heir, who married as her second husband Charles Fitzroy Esq.; he thereupon assumed the name and arms of Scudamore, and had by her an only daughter and heiress, Frances, wife of Charles, 11^th duke of Norfolk K.G., mentioned above, to whom the property descended, and, together with other valuable estates in this county and in Gloucestershire, was added to the princely domains of the Howards: she died 22 Oct. 1820, but the Holme Lacy estate devolved upon Capt. Sir Edwyn Francis Stanhope Bart., R. N. who assumed the name and arms of Scudamore, and died 8 Feb. 1874, leaving several sons, of whom the eldest, Henry Chandos, succeeded in 1883 as 9^th Earl of Chesterfield; and another portion of the property was inherited by Daniel Higford Davall Burr Esq., of Aldermaston Court, Reading, who died in 1885. Holme Lacy, the seat of the Earl of Chesterfield P.C., D.L., J.P., was built by the last Viscount Scudamore, who was friend of Pope; its situation is quiet and retired, and commands a beautiful view from the principle front; the apartments are decorated with family portraits, by some of the best masters; and also retain some fine specimens of carving, by Grinling Gibbons; the old garden, on the south front, designed to imitate that of Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex, includes a very spacious terrace; the grounds and parks of this estate are most pleasantly situated. The Earl of Chesterfield is lord of the manor, and the chief landed proprietor. The soil is clayey loam; subsoil gravel and part clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The area is 3,195 acres of land and 66 of water; rateable value, £4,954; the population in 1901 was 305.

   Parish Clerk.- Thomas Morgan.

   POST.- T. & E.D. & postal orders office (at railway station). Letters through Hereford. - Mrs. Annie Hayes sub-postmistress. Letters arrive at 6.35 a.m.; despatched at 7.12 p.m. by rail; no delivery on Sunday. Fownhope is the nearest money order office

   Public Elementary School (mixed) built, with teacher's residence, in 1860, for 60 children, and enlarged in 1894 by a gift from the earl of Chesterfield; average attendance, 45; Miss Lucy March, mistress.

   Railway Station.- Charles Brooks, Station Master.

Chesterfield Earl of P.C., D.L., J.P., Holme Lacy; & Bachelors' & Turf Clubs W & Brooks' & Marlborough Clubs S W London	Lee Rev. Robert Elton, M.A., Vicarage
Hunt George Whitaker F. S. I.
COMMERCIAL
Dallow William, farmer, Canon Dale	Jones William, farmer, Middle Bogmarsh
Elliott James, farmer The bower	Matthews John, farmer, Hollanton
Harris John, farmer, Gannah Farm	Raymond Margaret (Mrs.), farmer, Billingsley
Hayward Thomas, head gamekeeper to the Earl of Chesterfield P.C.	Richards Mrs. Farmer, Upper Bogmarsh
Hodgkiss Henry, farmer, lower Bogmarsh	Rowberry Charles Henry, coal merchant & grocer
Humphries William, head gardener to the Earl of Chesterfield	Seymour John, shoeing & general smith & agricultural implement repairer
Hunt George Whitaker F.S.I., chartered surveyor & land agent; agent to the Earl of Chesterfield, Estate Office	Watkins David, farmer, The Tump
Innes James William, farmer & coal Merchant, The Folly

[Transcribed by Richard Lane in January 2003
from a copy of Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1905 in Hereford Central Library]