HOPE-UNDER-DINMORE is a large parish divided into two townships, viz., Hope and Upper Hill, distant 4 miles S. of Leominster, 9 N. of Hereford, and 10 W. of Bromyard. The Shrewsbury and Hereford joint railway intersects the parish; the nearest stations are at Dinmore (in the parish of Bodenham) and Fordbridge (in the township of Wharton). This parish is situated near the river Lugg, and on the main road between Leominster and Hereford. It is in Wolphy hundred, Leominster union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and Bodenham polling district. The population in 1861 was 662; in 1871, 634; inhabited houses 139; families or separate occupiers, 168; area of parish, 3,796 acres; annual rateable value, £5,532. John Hungerford Arkwright, Esq., is lord of the manor and principal landowner. D. Wood, Esq., Charles Michael Berington, Esq., Thomas James Stallard-Penoyre, Esq., and J.D. Alford, Esq., are also landowners in this parish.

The soil is clayey; subsoil, clay with limestone; chief produce, wheat, beans, peas, hops, fruit, roots, and pasture. There are some petrifying springs in the parish. Dinmore hill, on the south side of the parish, is a very considerable eminence, richly wooded, and commanding some extensive prospects over the surrounding country. The Shrewsbury and Hereford railway passes under the hill by a tunnel upwards of 1,100 yards long, the only tunnel of any consequence on the line; and the main road between Hereford and Leominster passes over it at a distance of more than 2 miles. Hope is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Leominster; living, a vicarage; value, £150, with residence and 12 acres of glebe; patron, J.H. Arkwright, Esq.; vicar, Rev. William Wyatt, M.A., of Balliol College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1874. The Rev. Edward Methuen Rogers Edgell, B.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, is the curate.

The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient stone edifice, with nave, chancel, north transept, good font, and tower containing three bells. It occupies a picturesque situation, but contains no architectural features of importance. The transept on the north side was erected in 1866 by the late Mrs. Arkwright and members of her family, to the memory of the late John Arkwright, Esq., who died February 27th, 1858. A brass on the wall also records the death of Mrs. Arkwright; and there is another to commemorate the death of Henry Arkwright, fourth son of John Arkwright, Esq., who was lost in an avalanche while ascending Mont Blanc on October 12th, 1866. In the chancel is a handsome monument to the Coningsby family, by Roubilliac, without inscription. Sir Thomas. Coningsby, Knight, the founder of the hospital bearing his name at Hereford, was buried here in 1652. The register begins with the year 1701.

The parochial charities amount to about £4 yearly. Hope Church of England school for boys and girls is entirely supported by J. H. Arkwright, Esq. It is under a master and mistress, and has an average attendance of about 90 children. There is a national school (mixed), at Upper Hill, under a certificated master; average attendance, about 50. Upper hill school-room is licensed by the Lord Bishop for divine worship. A benefit society called the "Hampton Friendly Society" has been established in this parish for upwards of thirty years. J.H. Arkwright, Esq., about ten years ago, erected a home, styled the "Hampton Court Home", for the accommodation of six aged and infirm persons who have been employed on his estate. It is endowed by the late Mrs. John Arkwright. The houses are neat and comfortable, with necessary appurtenances, and each occupier is allowed a weekly sum for maintenance.

Hampton Court, in this parish, formerly the principal seat of the Right Hon. George Capel Coningsby, Earl of Essex, was built under the immediate auspices of King Henry IV., by his favourite yeoman of the robes, Sir Rowland Lenthall, who married either a daughter or a very near kinswoman of that monarch, and who received this estate as a marriage portion with his wife. It passed from the late Earl of Essex to Richard Arkwright, Esq., from whom it descended to John Hungerford Arkwright, Esq., M.A., J.P., D.L., its present owner. This beautiful and picturesque seat is situated about half a mile eastward from Hope church. The mansion is a large and magnificent structure, situated on a spacious lawn of nearly 100 acres, and protected on the north-east by an eminence covered with luxuriant foliage. About a quarter of a mile to the south-west flows the river Lugg, which, at some distance below the house, is joined by a stream that rises in the hills about Lockley heath, and meanders through the park in a south-westerly direction.

The park is about two miles in circumference; it contains some fine timber, and is well stocked with deer. The scenery around this mansion is in a high degree picturesque and beautiful. Near the house is a good shrubbery, intersected by pleasant walks. The green-houses contain a variety of curious plants, which, together with the gardens, are kept in complete order. This noble pile partakes partly of the castellated and partly of the monastic character; the buildings surround a quadrangular court, having a grand square entrance-tower in the centre of the north front, and a smaller tower at each extremity. There is also a chapel, which still retains traces of its pristine appearance. Many alterations and additions have of late years been made to this noble building by its present owner. The interior is commodious, and fitted up with great taste. One of the apartments is said to remain in precisely the same state as when occupied by William III. when on a visit here.

Among the valuable paintings preserved in this mansion are some interesting pieces by Jansen, Holbein, Vandyck, Lely, Kneller, and Reynolds; also caskets and other relics connected with royalty. Winsley House, the residence of Mr. William Proudman, farmer, is an object of interest and antiquity, commanding views of great extent. It formerly belonged to Rowland de Windesley, whose daughter and heiress conveyed this ancient seat and property to Berrington, of the Lacy, by marriage, in the reign of Edward III. Over the porch is a wooden cross, with these words carved in old characters: "Per Signum Tau + Libera Nos Jesu" (By the sign of the Cross deliver us, O Jesus). Upon one of the interior cross-beams is carved an ancient coat-of-arms-those of Windesley. The Bury of Hope, also a farm-house, in the occupation of Mr. Samuel Smith, was anciently the residence of the steward of the manor, and was annexed to the priory of Leominster.