Kilpeck, Herefordshire

Extract from Littlebury's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire, 1876-7
with Private and Commercial Residents

Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie, © Copyright 2004

KILLPECK, or KILPECK, is a parish and village distant 9 miles S.W. of Hereford, 12 N.W. of Ross, 12 N.N.W. of Monmouth, and about 2 mile S.E. of St. Devereux station on the Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford branch of the Great Western railway (West Midland section), by which line the parish is intersected. It is in Wormelow hundred (upper division), Dore union and petty sessional division, Much Birch polling district, and Hereford county court district. The population in 1861 was 267; in 1871, 240; inhabited houses, 51; families or separate occupiers, 53; area of parish, 2,135 acres; annual rateable value, £1,904. The Executors of the late Thomas George Symons, Esq., are lords of the ananor, and with E. Scudamore Lucas, Esq., and the Rev. Archer Clive, are the chief landowners. The soil is loam and stiff clay; subsoil, limestone; produce, wheat, beans, oats, and pasture. Killpeck is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Archenfield; living, a vicarage; value, £161; patron, the Lord Bishop of Worcester; vicar, Rev. Charles John Westropp, B.A., of Caius College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1873, and resides at Wormbridge place.

The church (St. David's) is one of the most ancient and curious buildings in the county; its fine Saxon arches and apsidal chancel denote its antiquity, there being only three of the kind in the country. It has also nave, large and curious font, two tablets, and a bell-turret with one bell. It underwent restoration in 1864 at a cost of £650. The register begins with the year 1700. There is a parochial school, which was enlarged and refitted in 1871 at a cost of £56. It has accommodation for about 40 children. The charities are of £1 yearly value. In this parish was anciently a castle (a portion of the ruins of which still remain), and a cell of Benedictines; the former was the residence of the noble family of Kilpeck, who obtained it by marriage with an heiress of the Waleranes, who lived here in the time of Edward I. In Leland's time it belonged to the Earl of Ormond. The priory was situated about a quarter of a mile from the castle, and was subordinate to St. Peter's, at Gloucester, to which the church had been given by Hugh Fitzwilliam, an ancestor of the Lords Kilpec. [Ed: sic] It was suppressed by Thomas Spofford, Bishop of Hereford, in 1422, and united to Gloucester.

POSTAL REGULATIONS.- James Sayce, Letter Carrier. Letters arrive from Hereford via Wormbridge about 10 a.m.; despatched thereto at 4 p.m. Ewyas Harold and Hereford are the nearest money order and telegraph offices. Post town, Hereford.
Parish Church (St. David's).- Rev. Charles John Westropp, B.A., Vicar; Messrs. William Powell and William Manning, Churchwardens; Josiah Beavan, Parish Clerk.
Parochial School (boys and girls).- Mrs. Sarah Mason, Mistress.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
(None listed)
COMMERCIAL.
Barrell Thomas, farmer, Greenway
Beavan John, cooper, Pentwine
Beavan Josiah, shoemaker and parish clerk
Davies Richard Minton, farmer and assistant overseer, Lower Size croft
Griffiths Mrs., farmer, Knolton
Griffiths William, farmer, Allen's hill
Harris John, butcher
Harris Paul, farmer, Merry-vale
Johnson John, Red Lion Inn
Lewis John, stonemason
Manning William, farmer, Size croft
Mason Mrs. Sarah, schoolmistress
Powell William, farmer, Killpeck court
Price Thomas, farmer, Dippersmoor
Pritchard Mrs. Phoebe, farmer, Baggallydiatt
Ridgway Josiah, farmer, New-barns
Rowbree William, farmer, Crofton Oak
Ruck John, farmer, Gwerngenny and
Hill top farms
Thomas Charles, blacksmith, Marlas
Thomas Joseph, shopkeeper
Watkins William, farmer, Benarth
West John, miller & farmer, Marlas mill
Williams William, farmer, Lower Ridway

OCR/Transcription by Rosemary Lockie in May 2004.

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