BALLINGHAM is a parish bounded on the east and south by the beautiful
river Wye, distant 7 miles N. from Ross, 9 S.S.E. from Hereford, and about
3 from Holme Lacy, and 2½ from Fawley railway stations. The parish is
intersected by the Hereford; Ross, and Gloucester branch of the Great
Western railway. It is in Wormelow hundred (upper division), Fownhope
polling district, Ross union and county court district, and Harewood
End petty sessional division. The population in 1861 was 168; in 1871,
172; inhabited houses, 40; families or separate occupiers, 45; area of
parish, 840 acres; annual rateable value, £1,397. Chandos Wren
Hoskyns, Esq., is lord of the manor, and with Sir Henry Edwyn Chandos
Scudamore-Stanhope, Bart., owns the land. The chief crops are wheat,
barley, hops, &c. The soil is mixed; subsoil, clay. The living is a
vicarage in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of
Archenfield. The parishes of Ballingham and Bolstone are now united
for ecclesiastical purposes (under 1 and 2 Vict., c.106), and a new
vicarage has been recently erected. The living is worth about £260 yearly
(including the rent of 63 acres of glebe); patron, Sir Henry E.C.
Scudamore-Stanhope, Bart.; vicar, Rev. Alexander G. Jones, B.A., of Queen's College,
Cambridge, who was instituted in 1872. The earliest register is dated 1588.
The church, dedicated to St. Dubricius, is a small Gothic edifice, with
tower containing three bells, surmounted by a very neat and proportionate
spire. Here is a national school for the children of Ballingham and
Bolstone; average attendance, 31. The scenery in this neighbourhood is
very fine, and a most commanding prospect is obtained of the winding
course of the Wye, from an eminence called Ballingham hill.
POSTAL REGULATIONS.- Miss Mary Ann Tyler,
Sub-Postmistress.
Letters arrive by messenger from Ross at 9 am.; despatched thereto at
5.15 p.m. Hoarwithy and Fownhope are the nearest money order offices.
Ross is the telegraph office and post town.
Parish Church (St. Dubricius).- Rev. Alexander G. Jones, B.A., Vicar;
Mr. William Till, Churchwarden; John Williams, Parish Clerk.
National School (boys and girls).- Mrs. Annie Williams, Mistress.