King's Caple, Herefordshire

Extract from Littlebury's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire, 1876-7
with Private and Commercial Residents

Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie, © Copyright 2004

KING'S CAPLE is a parish and small village situated in a peninsula formed by the river Wye, which renders the scenery very picturesque in this part of the county. It is distant 5 miles N.W. of Ross, 9½ S.S.E. of Hereford, and about 1 mile S.W. of Fawley station on the Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester branch of the Great Western railway. It is in Wormelow hundred (upper division), Ross union and county court district, Fownhope polling district, and Harewood End petty sessional division. The population in 1861 was 320; in 1871, 327; inhabited houses, 61; families or separate occupiers, 71; area of parish, 1,697 acres; annual rateable value, £3,850. Chandos Wren Hoskyns, Esq., of Harewood, is lord of the manor or hundred of Wormelow. The principal landowners in King's Caple are Robert Wyndham Smith, Esq., Sir Edward Cludde Cockburn, Bart., Richard Jones, Esq., and George Ratcliffe, Esq. The soil is a rich loam on a red sandstone formation; chief produce, wheat, barley, beans, roots, and excellent pasture. A pretty grove of trees on a tumulus called "Caple Tump", was formerly the scene of a festival held annually, which was attended by the inhabitants from the adjacent neighbourhood, and is still kept up by the peasantry.

From Hoarwithy the river Wye is crossed by a new iron bridge at Ruxtone, in this parish, there being no other public bridge crossing the river between Fownhope and Ross. There is a ferry across to Sellack. The river and the railway bound this parish in the shape of a horse-shoe. King's Caple is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Archenfield; living, a chapelry, united to Sellack vicarage; value, £170, with 2 acres of glebe; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford; vicar, Rev. William Henry Ley, M.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1841. The Rev. Augustin Ley, M.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, is the curate. The church of St. John the Baptist stands on an eminence, and is a neat building with nave, chancel, porch, and square tower (containing five bells) surmounted by a spire, which is a pleasing feature in the landscape. There is a national school for boys and girls, erected in 1840 by subscription. It is a stone building, situated a short distance from the church. Aramstone, the seat of R. Wyndham Smith, Esq., is a red brick mansion, in Queen Anne's style, delightfully situated on the banks of the Wye. Pennoxtone Court is the seat of Sir Edward Cludde Cockburn, Bart., M.A., J.P., D.L., who served the office of high sheriff of the county in 1866. This, mansion is situated on rising ground and commands some beautiful views. Poulstone Court, the property and residence of Richard Jones, Esq., of London, is situated near the river.

POSTAL REGULATIONS.- Letters arrive by messenger from Ross about 9 a.m. The wall letter-box is cleared at 5.15 p.m.; that at Fawley railway bridge at 4.30 p.m. on week-days only. Hoarwithy is the nearest money order office. Ross is the telegraph office and post town.
Parish Church (St. John the Baptist's).- Rev. William Henry Ley, M.A., Incumbent; Rev. Augustin Ley, M.A., Curate; R. Wyndham Smith, Esq., and Mr. Isaac Hart, Churchwardens; William Nicholas, Sexton.
National School (boys and girls).- Miss Louisa Graves, Mistress.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
Cockburn Sir Edward Cludde, Bart., M.A., J.P., D.L, Pennoxtone court
Jones Richard, Esq., Poulstone court
Jones Mr. Thomas, Shieldbrook house
Smith Robt. Wyndham, Esq., Aramstone
COMMERCIAL.
Brisland George, whlwright. & carpntr.
Davis James, blacksmith and maltster
Graves Miss Louisa, schoolmistress
Hart Isaac, farmer, Upper Ruxtone
Hillier William, farmer, Lower Penalt
Lewis Matthew, farm bailiff for Richard Jones, Esq., Upper Poulstone
Mailes Andrew Richard, farmer and butcher, Little Ruxtone
Nicholas William, shoemaker and parish sexton
Paine William, farmer, Upper Penalt
Ratcliffe George, farmer and landowner, King's Caple court
Symonds Thomas Henry, British Lion Inn, near Fawley railway station
Turnbull Mr., agent for Sir Edward C. Cockburn, Bart., Green farm

OCR/Transcription by Rosemary Lockie in May 2004.

This is a Genealogy Website
URL of this page: https://texts.wishful-thinking.org.uk/Littlebury1876/KingsCaple.html
Logo by courtesy of the Open Clip Art Library