AYMESTREY is an extensive parish and picturesque village, distant 7 miles N.W. of Leominster, 11 S.W. of Ludlow, 13 from Knighton, 18 from Hereford, 8 from Presteigne, 3½ from Wigmore, and about 3 from Kingsland station on the Leominster and Kington railway. The river Lugg, celebrated for its trout and grayling fishing, runs through the village, and the neighbourhood abounds in rich and varied scenery. The parish comprises the townships above named, and is situated on the Great Watling Street turnpike road, in Wigmore and Stretford hundreds, Leominster union and county court district; Wigmore petty sessional division and polling district. The population in 1861 was 855; in 1871, 775; inhabited houses, 168; families or separate occupiers, 182; area of parish, 6,353a. 1r. 31p.; annual rateable value, £6,541 7s. The Right Hon. Lord Bateman is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are Lord Bateman, Thomas Dunne, Esq., and J.G. Rodney Ward, Esq. The soil is loose gravelly land; subsoil, limestone; chief crops, wheat, barley, fruit, &c. There are limestone quarries in the neighbourhood, possessing the peculiar strata for which Aymestrey is noted, and in the stone fossils are found.

The parish is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Leominster; living, a vicarage with Leinthall Earles annexed; value, £341, with residence and 123 acres of glebe; patron, the Lord Chancellor; vicar, Rev. Thomas Green, M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1866. The parish church is dedicated to St. John. It is an old stone structure in the Early English style, and has a square tower containing six bells. On the south side of the chancel is a fine specimen of herring-bone masonry. There is also an ancient monument, supposed to be to the memory of the founder and his wife. There is a national school for boys and girls; average attendance about 80. On an eminence to the S.W., above Aymestrey, is a small British camp, of a square form. In the neighbourhood is Mortimer's Cross, celebrated from a battle fought between the partisans of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, A.D. 1461; but the immediate site of the battle is in Kingsland parish. Covenhope is a township distant 1 mile from Aymestrey village. Leinthall Earles, a township and chapelry 2 miles N.E., will be found, fully described under a separate head. Lye is a township distant 2 miles from Aymestrey village. A Wesleyan chapel was erected at Lower Lye a few years ago. Yatton is a township almost adjoining the village of Aymestrey. Yatton Court, the property and residence of John George Rodney Ward, Esq., J.P., is a modern stone building, beautifully situated on the banks of the Lugg.