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Weobly, Herefordshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"WEOBLY, a parish and small market town in the hundred of Stretford, county Hereford, 11 miles N.W. of Hereford, and 8 S.W. of Leominster. It is situated in a district abounding in hop-grounds and orchards, near the main roads from Kington to Hereford and Leominster. It had formerly a castle, which was taken by Stephen from the Empress Matilda in 1141, and was surprised by the Welsh in 1207. It belonged to the Lacy, Verdon, and Devereux families, and returned two members to parliament occasionally from the reign of Edward I. till disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832.

It consists of two principal streets, containing a courthouse, police station, and union poorhouse. The population of the parish in 1851 was 972, and in 1861, 849. The trade is chiefly in agricultural produce and malting, and there are quarries of good building stone. It was formerly incorporated, and is under the charge of two constables, annually chosen at the manorial court held in October by the Marquis of Bath, who is lord of the manor. Petty sessions for the hundred are held at the court-house fortnightly on Monday.

The Poor-law Union, which comprises 25 parishes, is divided into two districts, Weobly and Dilwyn. The poor-law guardians meet every alternate Monday. Weobly gives name to a deanery in the archdeaconry and bishopric of Hereford. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Hereford, value £236, in the patronage of the Bishop of Worcester. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains an old font and a marble bust of Colonel J. Birch, who distinguished himself in the parliamentary wars of Charles I.

There are chapels belonging to the Roman Catholics and Primitive Methodists; the former, built in 1834, is dedicated to St. Thomas of Hereford. There are National schools in Broad-street, endowed with £22 per annum, left by William Crowther in 1655 for maintenance of a grammar school, which, having fallen into decay, has been removed. About a mile S. of the town is Garnstone Castle, the seat of the Rev. John Birch Peploe. The market was on Thursday, but is now nearly obsolete. A fair is held on 8th May for cattle, pleasure, and the hiring of servants."

"FENHAMPTON, a hamlet in the parish of Weobly, hundred of Stretford, county Hereford, 1 mile S.W. of Weobley."

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