Stoke Edith, Herefordshire

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

Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie, © Copyright 2002

STOKE EDITH,
WITH THE HAMLET OF PERTON.

STOKE EDITH is a parish and village near a railway station on the Worcester and Hereford branch of the Great Western railway, distant 6½ miles E. of Hereford, 8 W.N.W. of Ledbury, and 10 S.S.W. of Bromyard; is in Radlow hundred, Hereford union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and Tarrington polling district. The main road from Hereford to Ledbury and the Hereford and Gloucester canal run through the parish. The population in 1861 was 332; in 1871, 315; inhabited houses, 69; families or separate occupiers, 81; area of parish, 1,667a. 0r. 28p.; annual rateable value, £2,926. The Right Hon. Lady Emily Foley is lady of the manor and owner of the whole parish. The soil is mixed; subsoil, clay and marl; chief produce, wheat, beans, hops, fruit, &c. Stoke Edith is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Weston; living, a rectory, annexed to Westhide vicarage; joint value, £540, with residence and 124 acres of glebe; patroness, The Lady Emily Foley; rector, Rev. William Henry Lambert, M.A., of Merton College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1858. The body of the present church was built by Thomas Foley, Esq., and first opened for divine service September 13th, 1741. It is in the Grecian style of architecture, built of brick, covered with stucco, in excellent repair,, but destitute of any architectural beauty. The tower and spire are older and in better style.

The old church was dedicated to St. Edith, the present one to St. Mary. The earliest register is dated 1538. There was formerly a small school in this parish, at which 12 of the scholars were educated free of charge. The children are now accommodated at Tarrington, new schools having been built there in 1874 by the Right Hon. Lady Emily Foley, for the three parishes of Stoke Edith, Tarrington, and Dormington, as a joint educational district. Some of the children from this parish go to the enlarged school at Yarkhill. Twelve children are educated free at Tarrington school. Stoke Edith Park, the residence of the Right Hon. Lady Emily Foley, is a spacious brick mansion, situated near the church. The north front has a grand appearance, being decorated with Corinthian pilasters and a magnificent flight of steps at the entrance. The hall displays some fine painting, by Sir James Thornhill, and in the other apartments, which are fitted up with taste, is a good collection of family portraits. The library contains a large collection of very valuable books. The park and grounds are well wooded, and display some very fine scenery; the shrubberies are extensive, and the park is stocked with deer. About a mile and a half from this mansion, on the S.W., and occupying the summit of a commanding eminence, is St. Ethelbert's Camp, said by popular tradition to be the spot where Ethelbert pitched his tents when on his journey to the court of King Offa, at Sutton Walls. Perton is a hamlet about a quarter of a mile from the church.

POSTAL REGULATIONS.- Letters are received through Hereford and arrive by mail-cart. Tarrington is the nearest money order office. Postal telegrams may be sent from Stoke Edith railway station. Post town, Hereford. N.B.- Letters for Showle Court are received through Ledbury.
Parish Church (St. Mary's).- Rev. William Henry Lambert, M.A., Rector; Messrs. John H. Pitt and William Taylor, Churchwardens; John Hards, Parish Clerk.
Stoke Edith Railway Station (West Midland section, G.W.R.)-Mr. William Greenwood Richards, Station Master. (The railway station is in Tarrington parish).

STOKE EDITH,
WITH THE HAMLET OF PERTON DIRECTORY.

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
Foley The Right Honourable Lady Emily, Stoke Edith park
Lambert Rev. William Henry, M.A. (rector of Stoke Edith and vicar of Westhide), The Rectory
COMMERCIAL.
Badham Mrs. Sarah, farmer, Perton
Cooke Edwd., park-keeper to Lady Foley
Fraser George, nurseryman to the Lady Emily Foley
Hards John, general mason and parish clerk, Perton
Lewis Richard, shopkeeper
Matthews William, farmer, Old house
Pitt John Harford, farmer and hop grower, Free town
Taylor William, farmer and hop grower, Showle court
Tredgett Thomas, head gamekeeper to the Lady Emily Foley
Ward William, head gardener to the Lady Emily Foley, Garden house
Williams John, painter & glazier, Perton

OCR/Transcription by Rosemary Lockie in October 2002.

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