NORTON CANON is a parish situated on the road from Hereford to Kington, and intersected by the Hereford, Hay, and Brecon branch of the Midland railway; the nearest station being at Moorhampton. The village is distant 10 miles N.W. by W. of Hereford, 9 S.E. of Kington, 13 E.N.E. of Hay, and 1½ S.W. of Leominster; is in Grimsworth hundred, Weobley union, petty sessional division, and polling district, and Hereford county court district. The population in 1861 was 334; in 1871, 317; inhabited houses, 71; families or separate occupiers, 77; area of parish, 2,111a. 2r. 22p.; annual rateable value, £2,966. The Dean and Chapter of Hereford are lords of the manor, and Sir Henry Geers Cotterell, Bart., of Garnons, Major Daniel Peploe Peploe, M.P., of Garnstone castle, Mr. Thomas Galliers, and Mr. John T. Pearse, are the principal landowners. The soil is a strong loam on the red sandstone formation;; chief products, wheat, beans, hops, roots, and fruit. Norton, together with Hope, Preston, and Pyon, were given to the cathedral church of Hereford by Wulviva and the celebrated Godiva her sister, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. The living is a vicarage in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Weobley; value, £120, with residence and; 35 acres of glebe; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford; vicar, Rev. Charles John Robinson, M.A., late Fellow of University College, Durham, who was instituted in 1865.

The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a brick structure, with stone quoins and dressings, and a stone tower, of much older date, containing five bells. It has nave, chancel, and transepts, and was partially restored in 1868 (under the superintendence of W. Chick, Esq., architect, of Hereford), at a cost of £825, chiefly raised in the parish, and among friends of the vicar. The work included an entirely new roof, pavement, and internal fittings. In 1869, the chancel was lowered, paved, and repaired, by the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The porch was restored and a new reredos erected in 1875 by private subscription. The church contains one or two floriated crosses, and some monuments to the families of Whitney and Carless; but most of its ancient features disappeared in the reconstruction of the fabric in 1706. A new harmonium was provided by subscription in 1874. The register begins with the year 1716. A national school was erected on a portion of the glebe in 1873 at a cost, including fittings, of £530. It provides accommodation for 55 children; the present average attendance is 35. There is a residence for the mistress attached. The parish enjoys several charities of an aggregate value of more than £50 per annum, a moiety of which is devoted to educational purposes. The Wesleyans have a small chapel at Eccles green, erected in 1846. The Primitive Methodists have also a chapel at Norton wood, erected in 1864. Eccles Green is a hamlet distant nearly 1 mile N.; Pig Street and Calver Hill are hamlets on the W. side of the parish.