LITTLE BIRCH is a parish and village distant about 6 miles S. from Hereford, and 8 N.W. from Ross, in the upper division of Wormelow hundred, Much Birch polling district, Hereford union, and county court district, and Harewood End petty sessional division. It is situated in a valley midway between the two roads from Ross to Hereford. The population in 1861 was 336; in 1871, 291; inhabited houses, 71; families or separate occupiers, 72; area of parish, 967 acres; annual rateable value, £1,395: Sir Henry Edwyn Chandos Scudamore-Stanhope, Bart., Rev. Stephen Thackwell, Edward Terry, Esq., and George F. Bonnor, Esq., are the chief landowners. Soil, loamy; subsoil, rockstone; chief products, wheat, barley, fruit, &c. The living is a rectory in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Archenfield; value, £160, with 14 acres of glebe; patron and rector, Rev. Stephen Thackwell, M.A, of Pembroke College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1855. The church, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, was rebuilt in 1869 on the site of the old one, but on an enlarged and more elaborate plan; cost, about £3,500, solely defrayed by the rector. It is built of Ham Hill and Bath stone, and consists of nave, north aisle, chancel with polygonal apse, and bell-turret over the west gable. The windows are filled with painted glass by Harland and Fisher of London. The architect was William Chick, Esq., of Hereford, and the builders were Messrs. Coleman and Sons. Among the relics from the old church may be noticed the Norman font, date 1260 (which has been carefully restored), communion-table, bier of the date 1557, &c. The earliest register is dated 1560. There is a national school for the joint use of the parishes of Little Birch and Aconbury. It is under a certificated master, and has an average attendance of 30.