Peterchurch, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1858

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1858

PETERCHURCH.

PETERCHURCH is a parish and populous village, 12 miles west from Hereford railway station, 9 miles north-west from Pontrilas railway, 7 north-west from Abbey Dore Union, and 9 east from Hay, in Webtree Hundred, Hereford County Court, Abbey Dore Union and Petty Sessions, Hereford archdeaconry and bishopric. It is situated very pleasantly on the river Dore, in the Golden Valley, on the Ross and Hay road. The Church of St. Peter is a handsome old stone building, with spire and tower, in the Norman style; it has nave, chancel, porch, aisle, six bells, and several monuments. The living is a vicarage, worth £327 yearly, with residence, in the gift of the Rev. W. J. Thomas. There are chapels for Baptists, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans, and there is a National School for boys and girls, which is new and neat building. The population, in 1851, was 730; and the acreage is 5,089. The soil is rich loam; the sub-soil is clay and sandstone: T. Delahay, Esq., is lord of the manor, and, with Sir V. Cornwall, is chief landowner. At Urishay Castle is a disused chapel, and portions of the moat which formerly surrounded the building, which is now a farm house, in the occupation of Mr. Garrett. Snodhill Castle, of which only a few ruinous fragments remain, is mentioned in a record of the time of Henry III., as belonging, in the 30^th year of the reign of Edward I., to Robert, Lord Chandos, who was fourth in descent from Robert Chandos, who came with the Conqueror. Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, in the time of Henry VI. Held it in right of his wife Anne, who after his death at Barnet Field, settled it on King Henry VII. Queen Elizabeth granted it to Sir Robert Dudley, Knight of the Garter; it subsequently came into the possession Thomas Prosser, Esq., in whose descendants it still continues. There are charities of about £15 yearly value. The church contains a rude piece of stone sculpture representing a trout with a gold chain round its neck, and which it is said to have been taken in the river Dore.

   SNODHILL, 2 miles north-west, is a hamlet of four farms.

   Letters through Hereford, which is the nearest money order office.

MISCELLANEOUS
Armitage Rev. Braithwaite	Jones Rev. Morgan, Crossway
Davis Thomas, Blacksmith	Langley Mrs. Frances, Ladies boarding and Day school, The Cottage
Davis William, shoemaker	Maddox William, miller, Trenant Mill
Evans William, miller, Snodhill Mill	Merrick Charles, Blacksmith
Gwynn John, Bolton Arms Inn	Morgan Geo., shopkeeper & wheelwright
Hancorn W., grocer & Timber merchant	Page Joseph, Saddler
Howard John, sen., beer retailer	Powell James, shopkeeper
Hughes Thomas, shoemaker	Powell John, carrier
Jenkins John, chemist & druggist, Crossway	Price Thomas, shopkeeper
Jenkins Wm., draper & grocer, Crossway	Prosser Thomas, Crown Inn
Jones Jeremiah, shoemaker	Winter Elizabeth, shopkeeper
FARMERS
Bishop, John; Lower Willbrook	Maddox James
Clelan William, Trenant	Maddox W
Davies John, Penland and Hinton	Matthews Samuel, Wellbrook
Dodd William, New Lodge	Medlicot John, Hinton Court
Garrett William, Urishay Castle	Pearce Thomas, Snodhill Court
Goodwin Thomas, Wilmastone	Preece Charles & Wm., New Lodge
Howell Matthew	Prosser William
Howell R	Serrall John Gilbert, Dragon's Pool
Jenkins Thomas, Snodhill	Williams George
Jones George	Williams William, Snodhill
Lenwarne John

[Transcribed by Richard Lane in December 2002
from a copy of Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1858 in Hereford Central Library]