EARDISLAND is a large parish and village situated on the river Arrow, and the main road from Leominster to Kington, distant 5 miles W. of Leominster, 14 N. of Hereford, and 9 E. of Kington; in Stretford hundred, Weobley union and petty sessional division, Pembridge polling district, and Leominster county court district. The Leominster and Kington railway runs through part of the parish; the nearest stations being at Kingsland and Pembridge. The population in 1861 was 894; in 1871, 886; inhabited houses, 199; families or separate occupiers, 231; area of parish, 4,402a. 1r. 15p.; annual rateable value, £7,088. The principal landowners are John Clowes, Esq. (lord of the manor of Burton), Benjamin Lawrence Sanders, Esq., LL.B. (lord of the manor of Hinton), John Harding, Esq., Tattenhall lodge, Leamington (the present high sheriff for the county of Hereford), Right Hon. Lord Bateman, Major Richard Snead Cox, C. J. Haywood, Esq., and Dr. Lambe. The soil is clayey and alluvial; subsoil, chiefly old red sandstone; chief produce, wheat, beans, barley, hops, roots, fruit, and pasture.

Eardisland is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Leominster; living, a vicarage; value, £339, with 2½ acres of glebe; patron, the Lord Bishop of Worcester; vicar, Rev. Joseph Barker M.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1867. There is no vicarage house, the old one having been taken down about fifty years ago. The church (St. Mary's) is a fine example of the architecture of the middle ages. It has been beautifully restored at a cost of nearly £2,000, and was reopened in June 1865; architect, Henry Curzon, Esq., of London. It consists of nave, chancel, porch, vestry, and square tower containing a clock and a peal of five bells (with curious inscriptions) cast by Rudhall, of Gloucester in 1728. The piscina and aumbry, accessories of the altar, alms-window, and other interesting work, may be seen here. The earliest register is dated 1615. The churchyard, which is very large, has some beautiful trees in it, and is kept in nice order. There is a grammar school for boys, of which the vicar is head master, endowed in 1607 with about £50 yearly. It is now united with the parish school, the boys being educated at a very trifling cost to defray the expense of books. The building has been recently put in good repair, and a new class-room added, and a teacher's house built adjoining the school. There is a separate school for girls supported by subscriptions and weekly pence.

There are a few small charities for the poor. The Wesleyan chapel in the village was built in 1864. There is also a Wesleyan chapel at Barewood in this parish. A reading-room was established in 1872 by John Clowes, Esq., of Burton court, and the vicar. It is open till 9.30 p.m., and is well supplied with daily and weekly newspapers, monthly periodicals, &c. Members pay one penny weekly, and have the use of the "Burton Court Lending Library," which is now held in the same building. Near Burton Court, in this parish, the seat of John Clowes, Esq., J.P., D.L., is the supposed site of a Roman encampment, probably the one in which Prince Henry, afterwards Henry V., stationed his army to watch the motions of Owen Glendower. Twyford (the Double Ford) and Broom were likewise occupied by the Romans.