KIMBOLTON is a large parish comprising the townships above named, and situated on an eminence on the main road between Leominster and Tenbury. It is distant 2½ miles N.E. of Leominster, 15 N. of Hereford, 7 S.W. of Tenbury, and 10 S. of Ludlow; is in Wolphy hundred, Leominster union, petty sessional division, polling district, and county court district. The population in 1861 was 723; in 1871, 705; inhabited houses, 157; families or separate occupiers, 163; area of parish, 4,061 acres; annual rateable value, £5,294. George Henry Bengough, Esq., and the trustees of Lord Rodhey are the principal landowners. The soil is clayey, producing wheat, beans, hops, and fruit. In this parish is the site of a small Roman encampment, distant about one mile and a half east from the church. Kimbolton is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Leominster; living, a vicarage, annexed to, that of Middleton-on-the-Hill; joint value, £150; patron, the Lord Bishop of Hereford; vicar, Rev. Thomas Hutchinson, M.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1841. The tithes are received by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and amount to £320 yearly.

The church, dedicated to St. James, was built in the 12th century, and, with the exception of the east window (Norman), is an excellent specimen of Early English architecture. It consists of nave, chancel, ladye chapel, south porch, and low western tower (containing four bells), with shingle spire, which, from its situation on an, elevated site, forms a picturesque object from several adjacent points. It underwent complete restoration at a cost of £l,200, from the designs of Messrs. Haddon Brothers, architects, of Hereford and Malvern, the builder being Mr. Charles Edwards, of Leominster, and was reopened for divine service, October 13th, 1875. The restoration of the chancel has been executed from plans furnished by Ewan Christian, Esq., of London, architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, at a cost of about £350. All the exterior stonework is of Luston stone. A new chancel arch of bold design, with polished granite responds, having carved caps and bases, and a new arch between the nave and ladye chapel, have been erected. The archway between the nave and tower has been opened out, and across it is, placed an oak arcaded screen. The ground-floor of the tower thus forms a vestry. The chancel floor, passages, vestry, and porch have all been laid with encaustic tiles.

The exquisite south window in the ladye chapel has been filled with stained glass by Messrs. Heaton, Butler, & Bayne, the subject being "Christ blessing little children", and erected by Mrs. Hutchinson as a memorial to two daughters. A handsome brass tablet underneath bears a suitable inscription. The pulpit and font are of Painswick stone, with tracery similar in design to the above-named window. Open benches of pitch pine have been substituted for the old pews. The chancel stalls have been formed out of some very good 16th-century panelling. A perforated screen wall of freestone separates the nave from the chancel. The altar, credence table, lectern, and fald stool are all of oak. The windows are glazed in lead quarries with cathedral tinted glass. The spire has been reshingled, after having been three times struck by lightning - the first time being in 1735, when but slight damage was done; and then on September 12th, 1735, when the electric fluid set the top of the spire on fire; and lastly on August 7th, 1875, when the lightning ran down for a distance of about 13 feet, scattering the shingles in all directions. The parish registers commence with the year 1565:

There is a school for boys and girls, conducted on the national system, and under government inspection. It is a plain brick building, erected in 1856 at a cost of £260, and a class-room for 34 children was added in 1871 at an expenditure of £120, making a total accommodation for 114 children. The present average attendance is about 50. The Primitive Methodists. have a small chapel, erected in 1850. Stockton is a township and scattered village about 2 miles from Leominster, and near the junction of the roads from Ludlow and Tenbury. The church is situate in this township. Hamnish Clifford is a township distant 3 miles E. of Leominster and about 1½ miles S.E. of the parish church. It lies between the main roads from Leominster to Bromyard and from Leominster to Tenbury. The views from here, in a western and southern direction, are extensive and very pleasing. Hennor House, the residence of Captain Charles Benjamin Stevenson, J.P., stands in the out-parish of Leominster, but the estate is partly in Kimbolton parish. The house was rebuilt on au enlarged plan in 1874.