SOLLERSHOPE is a small parish situated on the main road from Ross
to Hereford via Fownhope, and distant 7 miles N. of Ross, 9 S.E. of
Hereford, and about 3 N.E. of Fawley station on the Hereford, Ross, and
Gloucester branch of the Great Western railway. It is in Greytree
hundred, Ross union, petty sessional division, and county court district,
and Fownhope polling district. The population in 1861 was 166; in
1871, 139; inhabited houses, 30; families or separate occupiers, 31; area
of parish, 1,130 acres; annual rateable value, £1,222. The soil is clayey
and loamy; subsoil, limestone rock; chief produce, wheat, beans, hops,
&c. Sollershope is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and
rural deanery of Ross; living, a rectory, consolidated with that of How
Caple; joint value, £334, with 111 acres of glebe; patrons, Mrs. Wood
and her sisters; rector, Rev. John Norgrave Baker, B.A., of St. John's
College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1851, and resides at How
Caple rectory. Sollershope living is worth £146 yearly, with 67 acres
of glebe. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a plain little edifice,
with square tower containing three bells. There are the remains of an
old stone cross in the churchyard. The earliest register is dated 1698.
The national school at How Caple is for the joint use of the children of
that parish and Sollershope. It was built at the sole cost of the rector
and his family connections. At Sollershope Court is a beautiful specimen
of a chimney in ornamental brickwork.
POSTAL REGULATIONS.- Letters are received through Ross. Fownhope
is the nearest money order office. Ross is the telegraph office and post town.
Parish Church (St. Michael's).- Rev. John Norgrave Baker, B.A.,
Rector; William Lilly, Parish Clerk.
National School (boys and girls).- Miss Mary Shaw, Mistress.