GENUKI: Holme Lacy, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1929

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, 5 south-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. 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 Charles. Fitzroy Scudamore Esq. She died 22 Oct. 1820: a gallery was erected and an organ presented in 1833, by Lady Scudamore-Stanhope: extensive structural repairs to the roof, arcade and floors were completed in 1924 at a cost of about £1,000: the gallery had previously been removed and the old organ replaced by a pipe organ, presented by Lady Helen Lucas-Tooth: in 1924 a marble tablet was placed on the east wall in memory of Dorothea Countess of Chesterfield, widow of Henry, 9^th Earl of Chesterfield; she died 30^th April 1923. The register, which includes many entries from Bolstone, formerly an attached chapelry, dates from the year 1562. The living, a vicarage, with tithes restored, net yearly value £500, including 14 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the representatives of N. H. Wills Esq., and held since 1922 by the Rev. John Dent B. A. of Victoria University, Manchester, domestic chaplain to the Bishop of Hereford. The charities amount to about £150 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, and thus formed this singular orchard. Holme Lacy was for some centuries in the ancient family of Scudamore, 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 then in part 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; in 1909 the estate was purchased by the late Sir R. L. Lucas-Tooth Bart., this being the first time it has changed hands since the Conquest. Holme Lacy House is built of red sandstone and was largely reconstructed by the third and last Viscount Scudamore, who was friend of Pope; there are some fine moulded ceilings of the period: in the 19^th century Sir Edwyn Stanhope added the elm balustrade and dome portico, and rebuilt the west side: the large hall, in the 17^th century style, was added by Sir R. Lucas-Tooth Bart.: the house enjoys a beautiful view across the Wye Valley: the old garden, on the south front, designed to imitate that of Hampton Court Palace, contains magnificent yew hedges; the park of 350 acres is beautifully wooded. The owners of Holme Lacy House are lords of the manor, and principle landowners. The soil is clayey loam; subsoil gravel and part clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans, and oats. The area is 3,195 acres of land and 66 of water; the population in 1921 was 250.

Post. T. & T.E.D. Office. Letters through Hereford. Fownhope is the nearest money order office.

(For T.N.'s see general list of Private Residents at end of book)
Cole Albert Benjamin, Hill View	Hunt George Whitaker, Wilsley house
Dean Arthur, The Bungalow	Jones Thomas, New Cottage
Dent Rev. John B.A. (vicar & domestic chaplain to the Bishop of Hereford), The Vicarage	Murdoch John, Primrose Bank
Dixon Sydney	North Maj. Roger, The Cottage
Howard Charles Walter, Enderly

COMMERCIAL
Marked Thus ° farm 150 acres or over
Billing Jn. W. farmer, Canon Dale	Powell A. & Sons, coal merchants T.N.13
Dalley Leonard, shopkeeper & post Office	Preece Mary (Mrs.), shopkeeper
Gwynne Thos. Farmer, Melwyn Farm	Preece Wm., cycle repairer
Hunt George Whitaker F.S.I., chartered surveyor & land agent; agent to the Earl of Chesterfield, Estate Office	Price Geoffrey, farmer, Folly farm
Morgan William, blacksmith	° Raymond William, farmer, Billingsley
° Perkins Percival Edward William, farmer, The Bower Farm. T.N.2	Rowlands Geo. Farmer. Ramsden Farm
Perkins Thomas William Montague, farmer, Lower Bogmarsh	° Stoakes Jn., farmer, Upper Bogmarsh
Phoenix Coal Co. Limited (Geo. Biggs, agent).	Watkins David Wm., farmer, The Tump

Holme Lacy, Herefordshire

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1929

HOLME LACY.