Humber, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1929

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1929

HUMBER.

HUMBER, is a parish, with scattered population, about 1 mile south of the Leominster and Bromyard road, and watered by the Humber Brook, a feeder of the Lugg, 3½ miles east-south-east from Leominster, with a station at Steens Bridge, 1 mile north-east of the church on the Leominster and Bromyard section of the Great Western Railway, in the northern division of the county, Wolphy hundred, Union, petty Sessional division and county court district, and rural deanery of Leominster, archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a building of stone; consisting of chancel, nave, north transept, south porch, and western tower 45 feet high with shingled spire 36 feet in height, and containing 2 bells; In the east wall, above the communion table, is a curious old bracket, and the east window is stained: The nave has been reseated with open benches and the interesting Jacobean pulpit has been restored as a memorial to the Rev. Allen Cowburn, a former rector by his widow and relatives: some ancient tiles remain in the sacrarium, and there are several stained windows: The north transept was built in 1878 at the cost of the late Major E. Nicholas Heygate, R.E., D.L., J.P. of Docklow (d. 1896) The chancel was restored in 1876 and the remainder of the church in 1878, under the direction of Mr. T. H. Wyatt, architect, of London, the cost of the whole amounting to about £900; The tower and spire were restored in 1884 at a cost of £300, from plans by Mr. Francis Bacon, of Newbury, as a memorial to the Rev. Philip John Scudamore-Stanhope M.A., J.P. rector, who died 2 June, 1882, the tower being raised 12 feet to its probable original height: In 1897 a mural cross of brass was placed in the church and a stained glass window inserted, both in memory of the Rev. C. R. A. Grant, rector of Humber 1887-1897: In 1903 the east end windows were given by the late rector and his friends: In 1912 a carved oak alter was presented by Col. Charles Knight Wood R.E. in memory of his wife: There are sittings for 130 persons. The register dates from the year 1585. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £250, with residence and 126 acres of glebe land, in the gift of the Hon. Mrs. Devereux, and held since 1922 by the Rev. Basil Guy Way, B.A. of Exeter College, Oxford. The Rectory House was built in 1870. The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel in this parish. Mrs. H. C. Heygate is chief landowner. The soil is clay and red loam; subsoil, rock. The chief crops are corn, hops and apples. The area is 1,836 acres; and the population in 1921was 193 in the civil and 143 in the ecclesiastical parish.

   RISBURY is a hamlet within this parish, 1-mile south-east, and has remains of a British Camp.

   Parish Clerk.- H. Hill.

   Post, T. & T.E.D. Office, Steens Bridge. Letters through Leominster. Stoke Prior is the nearest M.O. Office

   Railway Station, Steens Bridge (G. W.)

HUMBER
Way Rev. Basil Guy B.A. (rector), Rectory
COMMERCIAL
Marked thus ° farm 150 acres or over
Davies Elizabeth (Mrs.), shopkeeper, Post Office	Mason Richard Abel, farmer & hop grower, Lower Pridelton
° Edwards Aaron Price, farmer, The Court	Picken Wm., cottage farmer, Little Pridelton
Howes & Co. coal merchants, Steens Bridge	° Pritchard Edward, farmer, Upper Pridelton

RISBURY
COMMERCIAL
Marked thus ° farm 150 acres or over
Bemand Agnes M. & Kate L. (Misses), farmers, Low Brook	Hill George, farmer, New House
Bemand Robert Henry, farmer, hop, Risbury Court	Lawrence Wm. (Mrs.), shopkeeper
Bemand Walter Henry, farmer, Upper House	Riley George, farmer, Brickhouse
Bowcott John Henry, farmer, Buttoak	Ryall Albert G. G., hop pole P.H.
Burgoyne Albert. Miller (water)	Sirrell George E., cottage farmer, Gillhorn
° Evans Wm. Hy. farmer, Wood farm	Smith Thomas George, farmer, Turning Ways
Grosvenor Ellen (Mrs.), farmer, The Poplands

[Transcribed by Richard Lane in January 2003
from a copy of Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1929 in Hereford Central Library]