Croft, Herefordshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"CROFT, a parish in the hundred of Wolphy, in the county of Hereford, 4½ miles N.W. of Leominster station, and 18 from Hereford. It is situated on the river Lugg, and contains the township of Newton. There axe only a few scattered houses. The manor belonged to the Crofts from before the Conquest. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Hereford, value with the vicarage of Yarpole, £283, in the patronage of E. H. K. Davies, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a small structure, containing monuments to the Crofts and several brasses. There is a National school (partly endowed) in connection with Yarpole. Croft Castle, the seat of E. K. Davies, Esq., is a fine old building, formerly the residence of the Croft family; in the park belonging to which is Croft Ambury, supposed to have been a camp of the British king Ambrosius, of elliptical form, with double ditch and ramparts. E. K. Davies, Esq., is lord of the manor."

"NEWTON, a township in the parish of Croft, hundred of Wolphy, county Hereford, 3½ miles N.W. of Leominster, and half a mile from the Ford station on the Shrewsbury and Hereford railway. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on an eminence near the river Lugg, and to the W. of the turnpike road leading from Leominster to Hereford. The views from the village are varied and extensive. The land is partly in hop-grounds. The soil is of a rich nature, with a subsoil of gravel and limestone."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]