SARNESFIELD is a small parish situated at the intersection of the cross
roads from Hereford to Kington and from Leominster to Hay, distant 2
miles W. of Weobley, 7 S.E. of Kington, 10 S.W. of Leominster, 12 N.W.
of Hereford, and about 2½ N.E. of Kinnersley and 3 N.W. of
Moorhampton stations on the Hereford, Hay, and Brecon railway. It is in
Wolphy hundred, Weobley union, petty sessional division, and polling
district, and Kington county court district. The population in 1861
was 120; in 1871, 114; inhabited houses, 26; families or separate
occupiers, 28; area of parish, 1,220a. 2r. 4p.; annual rateable value,
£1,432. John Hungerford Arkwright, Esq., of Hampton court, who is
lord of the manor, Henry Salvin, Esq., and Thomas Croose Parry, Esq.,
of Birley court, are the principal landowners. The soil is a strong loam;
subsoil, clay; products, wheat, barley, roots, fruit, and a few hops.
Sarnesfield is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery
of Weobley; living, a rectory; value, £198, with residence and 48 acres
of glebe; patron, Henry Salvin, Esq.; rector, Rev. Joseph Dudley, B.A.,
of Worcester College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1846.
The church,
dedicated to St. Mary, is a very old stone edifice in the Early English
style of architecture, with tower containing two bells. It was restored in
1870 at a cost of £550, of which £360 was raised by subscription, £120
on loan (Queen Anne's bounty), £50 granted by the Diocesan Church
Building Society, and £20 by the Incorporated Church Building Society.
It has nave, chancel, side aisle, porch, and several monuments to the memory
of the Monington family. A new harmonium was presented by Miss
Browne-Clayton in 1872. The register begins with the year 1764. In
the churchyard is a tombstone to the memory of John Abel, the celebrated
architect, who is said to have rendered great service to the city of
Hereford during the siege in 1645, and who built the market-houses of
Hereford, Leominster, Kington, Brecon, and Weobley. He died in the year
1694, aged ninety-seven. This stone, which was designed and sculptured
by himself, displays his own effigy, kneeling with those of his two wives,
together with the emblems of his profession - the rule, the compass, and
the square. On the stone is the following singular epitaph, which was also
written by himself:-
"This craggy stone a covering is for an Architector's bed,
That lofty buildings raised high, yet now lyes low his head;
His line and rule, so death concludes, are locked up in store,
Build they who list, or they who wist, for he can build no more.
His house of clay could hold no longer,
May heaven's joy frame him a stronger.
JOHN ABEL.
Vive ut vivas in vitam æternam".
The children from this parish attend the school at Kinnersley. Sarnesfield
Court has been recently purchased by Major Worswick.
POSTAL REGULATIONS.- Letters arrive by messenger from Kington
about 10.30 a.m. The wall letter-box is cleared at 3.45 p.m. on week-days
only. The nearest post office is at Woonton (Almeley). Weobley
is the nearest money order and telegraph office. Post town, Kington.
Parish Church (St. Mary's).- Rev. Joseph Dudley, B.A., Rector;
William Smith, Parish Clerk.