HEREFORD 



England against the Welsh, and 

 putting down rebels elsewhere. His 

 younger son, Roger Fitzwilliam, 

 succeeded to the earldom, but in 

 1075, for conspiring against the 

 Conqueror, he lost his lands and 

 his freedom. Miles of Gloucester, 

 a powerful baron in the reign of 

 Stephen, and a stout partisan of the 

 Empress Matilda, was made earl of 

 Hereford in 1141. 



When his last son died childless, 

 his lands passed to his daughters, 

 one of whom, Margaret, was the 

 wife of Humphrey Bohun. Their 

 grandson, Henry, was made earl of 

 Hereford in 1199, and his descen- 

 dants held the title until the last 

 male Bohun died in 1373. In 1397 

 Henry, afterwards Henry IV, who 

 had married an heiress of the Bo- 

 huns, was made duke of Hereford, 

 and when he became king this title 

 was merged in the crown. 



Hereford, VISCOUNT. English 

 title, the oldest of its kind, borne 

 since 1550 by the family of 

 Devereux. Walter Devereux, 10th 

 Baron Ferrers of Chartley, a title 

 dating from 1299, was made Vis- 

 count Hereford in 1550. He had 

 fought in France for Henry VIII. 

 His grandson and successor was 

 made earl of Essex and the vis- 

 county was held by the earls until 

 Robert, 3rd earl of Essex, died in 

 1646. The titles were then distri- 

 buted and Sir Walter Devereux, 

 a baronet, a descendant of the 1st 

 viscount, became Viscount Here- 

 ford. His descendants still hold 

 the title, Robert Devereux becom- 

 ing the 16th viscount in 1855. 



Hereford. Hardy breed of cattle 

 raised in Herefordshire and neigh- 

 bouring counties. The body is red, 

 while the face and mane, chest and 

 abdomen are white ; the legs are 

 often white up to the hocks. Pure 

 Herefords are of small esteem for 

 dairying purposes, but they are fine 

 beef-producers and are in favour 

 on the cattle-ranches in Canada, in 

 Australia (especially Queensland), 

 and in the U.S.A. See Cattle. 



Herefordshire. County of Eng- 

 land. With an area of 842 sq. m., 

 it is almost circular in shape. It is 

 fairly level in the centre, but on its 

 borders are hills, the Malverns on 

 the E. and the Black Mountains 

 in the S. The chief river is the 

 Wye, which flows across the county. 

 Other rivers, tributaries of the Wye, 

 are the Lugg, Arrow, Dore, and 

 Frome. The Teme is a tributary of 

 the Severn. The county town is 

 Hereford ; other towns are Leo- 

 minster, Ledbury, and Ross. 



Hereford is an agricultural 

 county, chiefly famous for its cider 

 and its cattle, while the usual Eng- 

 lish cereals are grown. Orchards 

 abound and hops are grown, and 



3957 



HEREFORDSHIRE 



Herefordshire. Map of the border county, famous for its agriculture and 

 orchards, showing the course of the river Wye 



the sheep have a high reputation. 

 The chief railway in the county is 

 the G.W., but it is also served by 

 the Midland. It is in the diocese of 

 Hereford and the Oxford circuit; 

 it is divided into 12 hundreds, and 

 sends two members to Parliament. 



Having been a border county, 

 Hereford is full of castles, the chief 

 being Richard's Castle, Clifford, 

 Weobley, Hereford, Wilton, Good- 

 rich, and Wigmore. There was a 

 good deal of fighting here in the 

 centuries after the Norman Con- 

 quest, and Hereford was an. im- 

 portant place, much of the land 

 being held by the lords marchers, 

 families such as the Cliffords and 

 Mortimers. Later, as the district 

 became more peaceable, fine 

 churches and houses were built. 

 Holme Lacy is perhaps the finest 

 seat in the county. There was a 

 monastery at Abbey Dore. 



Herefordshire is noted for its 

 fishing. The population is 113,118, 

 making the county one of the least 

 densely peopled parts of England. 



LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS. Richard 

 Whittington, Lord Mayor of Lon- 

 don, is supposed to have been born 

 at Sellers Hope in the mid- 14th 



century. Richard Hakluyt, the geo- 

 grapher, belonged to a family long 

 established at Yatton, near Ross. 

 The Elizabethan poet John Davies 

 of Hereford took his name from 

 his birthplace. John Philips, author 

 of The Splendid Shilling, is buried 

 in the N. transept of Hereford 

 Cathedral. Nell Gwynne is said to 

 have been born in Pipe Well Lane 

 (later Gwynn Street), Hereford. 

 John Kyrle, the Man of Ross, made 

 famous by Pope, belonged to the 

 county. 



David Garrick was born at 

 the Angel Inn, Hereford ; Sarah 

 Siddons passed her early life in the 

 county, and her brother, Stephen 

 Kemble, was born at Ross. Sir 

 Uvedale Price, celebrated writer 

 on the picturesque, lived and died 

 at Foxley in the parish of Yazor. 

 Brinsop, which was the home of 

 his wife's people, has a memorial 

 window to Wordsworth. Elizabeth 

 Barrett Browning passed much of 

 her early life at Hope End, near 

 Ledbury ; in 1894 a clock tower 

 was erected at Ledbury to her 

 memory. 



Bibliography. Collection towards 

 the History and Antiquities of 



