Pencombe, Herefordshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"PENCOMBE, a parish in the hundred of Broxash, county Hereford, 4 miles W. of Bromyard, its post town, and 6 W. of Dinmon railway station. The village, which is of small extent, is chiefly agricultural. The parish includes the hamlet of Marstone-Stannett. The land is partly in hop grounds. The soil is of a clayey nature, with a subsoil partly of stone. A court-leet is held every three years at the court-house. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Hereford, value £600.

The church is an ancient stone structure, with a tower containing three bells. The tower was rebuilt in 1840. There is also a district church at Maistone-Stannett, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £85. There is a day school for both sexes, also a Sunday-school. It has long been the custom of this parish for the lord of the manor to claim a pair of gilt spurs on the death of the mayor of Hereford while in office. John Arkwright, Esq., is lord of the manor and principal landowner."

"MARSTONE STANNETT, a chapelry in the parish of Pencombe, hundred of Broxash, county Hereford, 6 miles N.W. of Bromyard. The living is a perpetual curacy, value £85, in the patronage of the Rector of Pencombe. The church is a small edifice."

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