Bromyard has long been wanting in railway communication, but there is now a station at Yearsett, 32 miles from the town, and in the ensuing year (1877) the railway will be completed to Bromyard, and an extension line to Leominster will shortly be commenced. The new line is worked by the Great Western Railway Company. The town contains several irregular streets, which are lighted with gas. There are two hotels and posting houses, a branch of the National Provincial Bank of England, and several good shops and private houses. A small trade is done in tanning and malting. The market is held on Mondays, and is tolerably well attended by the agriculturists of the neighbourhood. Fairs are held as follows: great market, last Monday in January; Thursday before March 25th; March 25th (hiring); May lst (hiring) May 3d; Whit-Monday; Thursday before July 25th; September 29th (hiring); Thursday before October 29th, and the second Monday in December. The population of Bromyard, according to the census returns in 1861, was 2,995; in 1871, 2,978; inhabited houses, 635; families or separate occupiers, 658, which are thus divided:-

The parish of Bromyard comprises an area of 8,611 acres - viz., Bromyard and Winslow townships, 3,368, Linton and Norton with Brockhampton townships, 5,243. The annual rateable value is £17,135 - viz., Bromyard, £3,696; Linton, £3,908; Norton with Brockhampton, £4,407; Lower Brockhampton, £163; Winslow, £4,961. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. Plans for the drainage of the town of Bromyard have been prepared by Mr. T. Curley, C.E., of Hereford, and new sewage works are to be immediately commenced at a cost of about £1,760. An improved supply of water, by the formation of new waterworks, is also proposed. The river Froome passes within a short distance to the E. of the town, and several smaller streams flow on the N. and W. sides.

Bromyard union comprises 32 parishes, three of which are in Worcestershire. The district extends over an area of 61,659 statute acres, and contained in 1861 a population of 11,811; and in 1871, 11,934, with 2,521 inhabited and 127 void houses. The rateable value of the union is £91,577. The union workhouse is situate in the township of Linton, and will accommodate about 160 persons. The guardians meet at the board-room every alternate Monday. The magistrates for Bromyard petty sessional division meet at the police court every alternate Monday. A new police station was erected in 1875 on an eligible site adjacent to the public hall in Church street. Bromyard is included in circuit 23 of the county court judges; the court is held at the public office every alternate month. The manor courts are held here annually.

The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient structure chiefly in the Norman and Early English styles of architecture. It stands on an eminence, and consists of nave, chancel, aisles, and square tower containing six bells and a clock. It will accommodate about 760 persons. Handsome stall-seats (designed by F. R. Kempson, Esq., of Hereford) fill the chancel, being the result of a subscription raised in 1867 to perpetuate the memory of the Rev. John Palmer, M.A., the late vicar. The whole of the chancel is about to be thoroughly restored and decorated by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: the representatives of the three portionists, the lay impropriators of the great tithes. There are several mural marble monuments and tablets. In the north transept is an incised stone in memory of a knight of the Baskerville family, whose effigy is sculptured on the slab. At the east end is a tomb to the memory of Phineas Jackson, vicar of Bromyard, who died in November 1681, having made various large bequests for charitable purposes in the town and neighbourhood. There are some stained glass windows (one to the memory of Mrs. Cooke, the wife of a former vicar). The parish registers commence with the year 1538.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of North Froome; net value, £430, with residence; patron, the Lord Bishop of Worcester; vicar, Rev. Thomas Nash Stephenson, M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1867, and is also a surrogate for the diocese of Hereford. The Congregational chapel, situated in Sherford street, is supposed to have been erected as early as the year 1693. In 1868 the chapel was renovated, and new Sunday-schools were erected at a cost of upwards of £200, defrayed by subscription. In 1874, the minister's house, which is adjacent to the chapel, was partially rebuilt. The Rev. John Peter Jones is the minister. The Primitive Methodist chapel, a small building on Tower hill, was erected in 1835. The Wesleyan chapel in the New road was built in 1857.

There is a free grammar school in Church street, founded by Queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1567. Its endowment of £16 was augmented with a sum of £20 per annum by Mr. John Perryn, a native of Bromyard, who died an alderman of London, A.D. 1656. The present schoolroom was rebuilt in 1835, when the Rev. W. Cooke, vicar of Bromyard, was headmaster; and in 1851 the school was put on its present footing, the appointment of the master being placed in the hands of the Worshipful the Goldsmiths' Company of London, who add to the former endowments. The education given to the scholars is of a mixed kind - viz. classical, when required, and, in the majority of cases, commercial. Boys resident in the parish pay £1 a year, and others £3. There are no university scholarships, and boys seldom remain beyond the age of fifteen. The present head master is the Rev. Henry William Weltch, B.A., of London University, who was appointed in 1851.

The national schools were erected in 1862, from the designs of F.R. Kempson, Esq., of Hereford, at a cost of £1,250. They form a handsome pile of buildings, and consist of boys' and girls' school-rooms, class-room, and master's house. They have a certificated master, and are under Government inspection. The number of children on the books is 160; average attendance, about 90. There are also British schools for boys and girls, situate in Bishell road; average attendance, about 120. The school buildings were erected in 1872 by Mr. James Jenks. A public elementary school has just been erected on Bringsty common. There are almshouses in Cruxwell street for seven aged women, who are allowed 2s. 6d. weekly.

The Bromyard Cottage Hospital was established in 1869, and is designed for the accommodation and treatment of suitable cases of sickness or accident amongst the poor of Bromyard parish, and of such other parishes as are within a radius of 7 miles of the town. It is supported by subscription. There is a rifle corps (the 4th Herefordshire), with an excellent band, and a Philharmonic society, which gives concerts occasionally. Races are held annually on Bromyard downs, and are well supported.

Linton is a township extending from the town of Bromyard to nearly 4 miles S. The area is. about 2,400 acres, and the rateable value £3,908. William Barneby, Esq., and the Rev. Arthur Childe, are the principal landowners. The soil is clayey and loamy; subsoil, rock and clay; chief produce, wheat, barley, beans, peas, hops, and fruit. The Stream hall property in this township, now owned by W. Finney, Esq., contains some most valuable beds of stone quite different in character from any in the neighbourhood, but exactly similar in colour, hardness, and general characteristics to the famed stone of Yorkshire. The slabs can be got in any size that can be used. When the railway now in course of construction is completed, the quarry will be placed in connection with the large towns of England, which are greatly in need of this kind of stone. The Bromyard Union workhouse is situate in the township. New schools, with accommodation for 66 children, have been recently erected, and are maintained at the cost of William Barneby, Esq., of Saltmarshe castle. Clater Park, the property of William Barneby, Esq., is at present unoccupied. It is pleasantly situated about 2½ miles E. from the town of Bromyard, and 16 N.E. from Hereford.

Norton with Brockhampton comprise a township about 3 miles N.E. from Bromyard, and 16½ from Hereford. The area of the township is 2,879. acres, and the rateable value £4,407. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor, and John Habington Barneby-Lutley, Esq., is the landowner. The soil is clayey and loamy; subsoil, rock and clay; chief crops, wheat, beans, hops, and roots. Here is a school for boys land girls. On the Downs, in an elevated part of this township, is the race-course; also rifle-butts. There are stone quarries in the township. Brockhampton, the seat of John Habington Barneby-Lutley, Esq., J.P., D.L., is delightfully situated about 2½ miles S.E. from the town, closely adjoining the turnpike. road leading from Bromyard to Worcester, and commands an extensive and picturesque view of the Malvern hills and surrounding country. Adjacent to the mansion is a chapel, endowed by the family proprietors of Brockhampton house. The Rev. Robert Bentley, B.A., Bishop Hatfield's Hall, Durham, is the chaplain. Buckenhill House, the seat of Lady Shakerley, is a handsome mansion, situated about 1½ miles N. of the town.

Winslow is a township extending from the town of Bromyard to a distance of 2½ miles W. The area is 2,615 acres, and the rateable value £4,961. The chief crops are wheat, beans, hops, and barley. W. Henry Barneby, Esq., of Bredenbury court, the Hon. Beauchamp M. St. John, of Munderfield Harold, and Edward Drew, Esq., of Wallcroft house, are the principal landowners. Munderfield Harold, the residence of the Hon. Beauchamp Mowbray St. John, J.P., is delightfully situated. The Green, a brick mansion, commanding a beautiful home view, is now occupied by Captain Francis Pike. Wallcroft House, the property and residence of Edward Drew, Esq., is a modern stone building, situated near the Tenbury road, about 1 mile N.W. of Bromyard. It commands a pleasant prospect.

Saltmarshe, formerly extra-parochial, was constituted a parish for the purposes of the Act 20 Vict. c. 20. The area is 127 acres, and the rateable value £363. The population in 1861 was 10; in 1871, 30; inhabited houses, 7. Saltmarshe Castle, the seat of William Barneby, Esq., J.P., D.L., is distant about 3 miles N.E. from Bromyard, and 17 from Hereford. It is a noble and splendid edifice, and was renovated at considerable cost by the late Edmund Higginson, Esq. About 4 miles N.N.W. of Bromyard; on the summit of. Wall hill, is an old Roman encampment in a very excellent state of preservation.