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HEREFORD HEREFORDSHIRE. 



HEREFORD ; the capital city of Hereford- 

 shire, is situated in the middle of the county, 135 

 miles, W.N.W. from London, and is bordered on 

 the southern side by the river Wye. There are 

 Tarious probable derivations of the word Hereford ; 

 in Welsh, the word llen-ffordd signifies the Old 

 Road ; in Saxon, the word Hereford signifies the 

 Ford of the Army. But the ancient name was 

 Ereinuc : some derive it from Harold's Fort, hav- 

 ing been rebuilt and fortified by him after it had 

 been destroyed by the Welsh. Hereford must 

 have been a place of importance as early as 676, 

 for about that period a synod was held here for 

 the erection of a new see in Mercia, when Putta 

 was chosen first bishop of Hereford. It was the 

 capital of the Mercian kingdom, under the Hep- 

 tarchy, and had a magnificent church as early as 

 the time of Offa. In the time of Athelstan, the 

 city was fortified, and the walls may still be 

 traced. The cathedral of Hereford is a very ven- 

 erable structure, although the architecture in some 

 places is very incongruous with the general style 

 of the building. The city abounds in charitable 

 institutions.* Hereford has several good streets, 

 which are broad and well paved, with many others 

 of an inferior description. Great improvements 

 have taken place within the last half century ; the 

 buildings in general are handsome ; and the vicinity 

 of the city, especially near the banks of the Wye, 

 is extremely pleasant. The most important pub- 

 lic structures not noticed, are the bishop's palace, 

 the shire hall, a modern erection from the design 

 of Mr Smirke, having in front a Grecian Doric 

 portico ; the town hall, a curious wooden fabric ; 

 the guildhall, the county jail, a small but neat 

 theatre ; the infirmary, a handsome building, and 

 nn asylum for lunatics. The manufactures here 

 are those of gloves, formerly carried on to a great 

 extent, flannels, and hats ; several attempts have 

 been made to introduce the woollen trade, but 

 without success. Cider, hops, and tanners' bark 

 are the grand articles of commerce ; and the Wye 

 being navigable here for barges of considerable 

 burden, coal and other articles are brought from 

 the Forest of Dean. Hereford was the birthplace 

 of John Breton, who became bishop of this see, 

 and is supposed to have been the author of a Trea- 

 tise on the Laws of England, in the reign of 

 Henry III. ; of Dr Miles Smith, bishop of Glou- 

 cester, one of the translators of the Bible ; of the 

 famous Nell Gvvynne; and of David Garrick. 

 This city gives the title of viscount to the family 

 ofDevereux. Population in 1841, 11,367. 



HEREFORDSHIRE; an inland county in the 

 west of England, bounded on the north by Shrop- 

 shire, on the east by Worcestershire and Glouces- 

 tershire, on the south by Monmouthshire, arid on 

 the west by Brecon and Radnorshire. In length 

 from north to south it is about thirty-eight miles, 

 in breadth from east to west about thirty-five 

 miles, and its circumference is about 180 miles. It 

 includes one city (Hereford), two borough-towns, 

 five market-towns, 221 parishes, some statements 

 make only 176 parishes, and about 800,000 

 acres. This county is in the province of Canter- 



* The total number of charities in Herefordshire is 730, and 

 their abrogate annual income 13,153 3s. 6d. This revenue 

 is distributed among- 185 out of the 221 parishes of which the 

 county coututt ; thus spring- upon an average nearly four 

 charities, and -about 71 Is. lid. to each parish. See an ac- 

 count of the Epdowed Charities in Herefordshire, by Jami's 

 Wtahaw. Esq., in the Quarterly Juurnal of the Statistical So- 

 ciety, vul. II. part iv. July, 1839. 



bury, in the diocese of Hereford, and in the Oxford 

 circuit. The bishopric of Hereford contains the 

 greater part of Shropshire, four parishes in Mon- 

 mouthshire, six churches and chapels in Mont- 

 gomeryshire, eight in Radnorshire, twenty-one in 

 Worcestershire, the whole county of Hereford, 

 except eleven parishes : in all, 379 churches and 

 chapels, of which 166 are impropriate. 



The principal rivers are the Wye, Lugg, Mun- 

 now, Arrow, Frome, Teme, and Leddon. Of all 

 these, the Wye is the most celebrated for its pic- 

 turesque beauties ; it enters the county near Clif- 

 ford, and is navigable to Hereford in barges from 

 eighteen to forty tons, but, the navigation is some- 

 times interrupted by a scarcity of water, or by the 

 violence of the stream when swelled by the tor- 

 rents from the mountains. The Hereford and 

 Gloucester canal, begun in 1791, is not yet com- 

 pleted. There is another canal from Kingston to 

 Leominster and Stourport ; on it are two tunnels, 

 one of 125, the other of 3850 yards. A line of 

 Railway from Hereford connects that city with 

 Abergavenny and Monmouth ; another line from 

 Kingston goes to Brecon by the town of Hoy. 



The soil of Herefordshire is extremely fertile, 

 both in pasture and arable : it is generally a mix- 

 ture of marie and clay, with a large portion of cal- 

 careous earth. The substratum is mostly lime- 

 stone, of various qualities, some approaching in 

 hardness and beauty to marble. In the parts bor- 

 dering on Gloucestershire, iron ore has been fre- 

 quently met with ; although none has been dug of 

 late years; yet from the considerable quantities 

 that have been discovered imperfectly smelted, and 

 from the remains of hand bloomeries which have 

 been found, there is no doubt that iron-works 

 were established here in the time of the Romans. 



The air of this county is in general pure, and 

 consequently healthy, particularly between the 

 Wye and the Severn. 



The Herefordshire breed of cattle have long 

 been esteemed superior to most if not to every 

 other sort in the island : it certainly is a very su- 

 perior class, of great size and weight, but small- 

 boned ; its colour dark-red, or brown, with a 

 white streak' along the neck to the shoulder ; under 

 part of the belly and the throat white ; face, bald 

 or spotted ; horns, bright and spreading, but not 

 long ; the head, small; the race is active, tractable, 

 and useful for the general purposes of husbandry. 

 The show of oxen at Michaelmas Fair, at Here- 

 ford, cannot be exceeded by any annual collection 

 in England. The provincial breed of sheep is 

 termed the Ryeland, from a district in the vicinity 

 of Ross ; they are small, white, and without horns: 

 in symmetry of shape and in flavour, they are su- 

 perior to most flocks in England: in quality of 

 wool, they are unrivalled among the native breeds. 



Herefordshire shows plantations of fruit trees in 

 every aspect, on every quality of soil, and under 

 every culture ; but the soil best adapted to most 

 kind of apples is a deep rich loam, when under the 

 culture of the plough. The time for gathering 

 apples is generally the middle of October. In a 

 plentiful year (called a hit), the produce is almost 

 beyond imagination; the trees being loaded to 

 excess, frequently break under the weight of the 

 apples : at these times, indeed, the branches are 

 obliged to be supported on props, or forked poles. 

 This excessive fruitage occurs however but rarely, 

 and the following year is generally unproductive. 

 In years of abundance, twenty hogsheads of cider 



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