Stanford Bishop, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1929

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1929

STANFORD BISHOP.

STANFORD BISHOP is a parish, consisting entirely of scattered dwellings, on the road from Bromyard to Malvern, on the Worcestershire Border, 3 miles south-east from Bromyard Station on the Worcester and Leominster section of the Great Western Railway, 14 north-east from Hereford and 10 north from Ledbury, in the Northern division of the county, Broxash hundred, Bromyard union, petty Sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Bromyard and archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. The church of St. James, standing on an eminence in the centre of the parish, is a building of stone in the Early English style, with some portions of Norman date, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a large but low western tower containing 2 bells: the chancel was restored by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1867 and the church was restored in 1884-5: the work of restoration included the rebuilding of the nave and south porch, the opening of the tower arch and the repair of the tower itself and the general re-flooring of the church; on the north side of the church is a huge yew tree supposed to be over 1,000 years old, and which, at 6 feet from the ground, is 24 feet in circumference. The register dates from 1699. The living is a vicarage, consolidated with that of Linley Green, net yearly value £300 and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Hereford, and held since 1927 by the Rev. Henry Evans L. Div of St. David's College, Lampeter. The Vicarage House, situated about one mile from the church was built in 1903. Linley Green Mission Church, erected in 1893, is a structure of brick containing chancel, nave, north entrance, south vestry and western turret containing 1 bell. A portion of the ecclesiastical parish of Bromyard was attached by an order in Council to the parish of Stanford Bishop, and this portion of the township of Linton being part of the ecclesiastical parish of Bromyard is now legally attached to the parish of Stanford Bishop; the parish of Stanford Bishop was originally a chapelry of Bromyard: by this attachment the living of Stanford Bishop, which was only worth £75 per annum, has now become augmented by the sum of £120 per annum granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners out of part of the rectorial tithes and lands of Bromyard. The Church Hall was built in 1903. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. William Theodore Barneby esq. D.L. J.P., the Trustees of the Worcester Municipal Charities, and Mrs. Childe-Freeman,. are the chief landowners. The soil is clayey and loamy; subsoil, clay and rock. The chief crops are corn, hops, and fruit. The area is 1,514 acres; the population in 1921 was 195 in civil and 330 in the ecclesiastical parish (which comprises parts of Stanford Bishop and Linton civil parishes).

   Parish Clerk.- Herbert Summers.

   Letters from Worcester, via Bringstye. Acton Beauchamp is the nearest money order & telegraph office.

CLERGY
Evans Rev. Henry, L. Div. (vicar), The Vicarage
COMMERCIAL
Marked thus ° farm 150 acres or over
Badham Jn., shoe maker Woodford Common	Holloway Edwd. G. farmer & hop grower, Lower House
Buckle Jn. Shoe ma. Wofferwood Common.	Jones Caleb R. beer retailer, Herefordshire House, Bromyard Road
Bydawell Thomas, farmer, Hill Oak	° Potter John E., farmer, Stanford Court
Delahay Edwd. farmer & hop grower, Hope House	Roebury Allan, cottage farmer, Stone Cottage
Green Leonard, farmer, The Hawkins	Rosser Edenzr, farmer & hop grower, Boyce Farm
Hill William, cottage farmer, Three Springs	Simcock Wm., farmer, Silcroft Farm.

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