Pembridge, Herefordshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"PEMBRIDGE, a parish in the hundred of Stretford, county Hereford, 7½ miles W. of Leominster, its post town, 6½ from Kington, and 15 N. by W. of Hereford. It is a station on the Leominster and Kington branch of the West Midland railway. The village, which is large, is situated on the river Arrow, and is chiefly agricultural. The parish comprises the hamlets of Marston and Weston. It was formerly a borough and market town under a grant of Henry I. It anciently belonged to the Mortimers, and gave name to the Brydges, ancestors of the late Duke of Buckingham. The land is partly in hop grounds. The soil is of an alluvial and clayey nature, upon a subsoil of Old Red sandstone. Courts leet and baron are held annually.

The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Hereford, value £975, in the patronage of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient stone structure, with a detached wooden steeple containing a clock and three bells. The parochial charities produce about £180 per annum, including the endowment of the Free school for both sexes, founded and endowed in 1650 by William Carpenter. Here are Trafford's almshouses for six aged females, which building was finished and endowed according to his will by his relict Alice in 1686. The Independents and Wesleyans have each a place of worship. The Rev. F. Evans and J. K. Smithies, Esq., are lords of the manor. Annual fairs for hiring servants and for sale of live stock are held on the 13th of May and 22nd November."

"NOKE, a hamlet in the parish of Pembridge, hundred of Stretford, county Hereford, 15 miles N.W. of Hereford. It is situated near the small river Arrow."

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