PUDLESTON, otherwise PUDDLESTONE, is a parish situated on the borders of Worcestershire, about 2 miles N. of the Leominster and Bromyard road, and distant 6 miles E. of Leominster, 6 S. of Tenbury, 8 W.N.W. of Bromyard, and 15 N.N.E. of Hereford; is in Wolpby hundred, Leominster union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and Docklow polling district. The population in 1861 was 349; in 1871, 292; inhabited houses, 72; families or separate occupiers, 87; area of parish, 1,720 acres; annual rateable value, £2,155. Harry Chadwick, Esq., is lord of the manor and principal landowner. Septimus Holmes Godson, Esq., and Mrs. Pateshall are also landowners here. The soil is clay and loam, producing wheat, hops, beans, &c. Pudleston-cum-Whyle is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Leominster; living, a rectory; value, £220, with residence and 105 acres of glebe; patron, Harry Chadwick, Esq.; rector, Rev. James Rimington Ward, M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1870, and is also vicar of Hatfield.

The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a stone edifice in the Early English style of architecture, consisting of nave, chancel, north and south aisles, porch, and square tower containing four bells. The nave (originally Norman) was rebuilt in 1813. The north and south aisles, with arcade and clerestory windows, were built in 1850, at a cost of £916. The chancel was restored in 1856 at a cost of £615; it contains reredos, piscina, sedilia, and credence table. The whole of the windows are glazed with elegantly-stained glass; those in the nave contain representations of the twelve apostles; and the altar window, which is a very handsome work of art, contains the crucifixion of our Saviour and of St. Peter, with other holy subjects. The altar window, presented by the late rector, is by Hardman, of Birmingham. The organ was the gift of the late Elias Chadwick, Esq., and was built by Foster, of York. The font was presented by Mrs. Clutterbuck: the cover, presented by the late rector, is of oak, highly enriched with carving. The chancel is laid with encaustic tiles. A heating apparatus, by Haden & Co., of Trowbridge, Wilts, was supplied in 1872, and several other improvements were effected under the superintendence of E.H. Lingep Barker, Esq., architect, of Hereford, the cost being defrayed by the late Elias Chadwick, Esq. The earliest register is dated 1560.

A parochial school for boys and girls has been recently erected at a total cost of £350. The site was given by T. Whitehead, Esq. The average attendance is about 25. Pudleston Court, the property and residence of Harry Chadwick, Esq., is a fine modern stone mansion (with tower and turrets), in the Old English castellated style of architecture, pleasantly situated on a sloping eminence, in the midst of tastefully laid-out ornamental grounds. It was erected in 1846-47 from the designs of the late Mr. Brearley, of Liverpool. Of this mansion it may be said that it is what was designed - multum in parvo - an exceedingly handsome residence, embracing all the features of a much larger building, and avoiding its defects, covering many square yards, not one foot of which is lost or without a use, while the whole edifice is a complete idea - uniform and imposing in its proportions.

It commands beautiful and extensive views of a rich agricultural country, and the Welsh mountains. Ford Abbey is a farmhouse in the occupation of Mr. William Skyrme; it was formerly possessed by some religious community, supposed to be connected with Leominster priory. Here are still the remains of a chapel. Brockmanton is a township pleasantly situated about 1 mile W. Septimus Holmes Godson, Esq., is chief owner of the land in this township. Whyle is a township distant about 1 mile N.W. from Pudleston. In an orchard near Mr. Yapp's house is the site of a church, which at some remote period stood here. A bell from this church is now in the belfry of Pudleston church.