STRETTON-GRANDISON, or STRETTON-GRANDSOME, is a small
parish situated near the roads leading from Hereford to Worcester and from
Ledbury to Leominster; also near the Hereford and Gloucester canal.
It is distant 8 miles N.W. of Ledbury, 9 N.E. of Hereford, 9 S. of Bromyard,
and about 3 N.W. of Ashperton and the same distance N.E. of
Stoke Edith stations on the Worcester and Hereford railway. It is in
Radlow hundred, Ledbury union, petty sessional division, and county
court district, and Bishop's Froome polling district. The population in
1861 was 130; in 1871, 129; inhabited houses, 25; families or separate
occupiers, 25; area of parish, 1,161a. 0r. 11p.; annual rateable value,
£1,864. The Rev. William Poole, of Hentland, near Ross, is the chief
landowner. The soil is clayey, producing wheat, beans, hops, fruit, &c.
Stretton-Grandison is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and
rural deanery of South Froome; living, a vicarage, annexed to the
chapelry of Ashperton; joint value, £620, including residence and 166
acres of glebe; patron, John Hopton, Esq.; vicar, Rev. John Buckle,
M.A., of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, who was instituted in 1859, and
resides at Ashperton.
The Rev. Robert Wade-Gery, M.A., of Emmanuel
College, Cambridge, is the curate. The church of St. Lawrence is in the
Decorated style of architecture, and consists of nave, chancel, porch, and
square embattled tower with spire and six bells. Four good painted glass
windows have been erected as memorials. The seats are all free and
unappropriated. The chancel was restored in 1855, and the remainder of
the fabric in 1860. The spire was rebuilt in 1867; and the bells have
been recast and rehung at a cost of £300. A new school, with teacher's
residence, was erected near the church in 1875 to accommodate 60
children, at an expense of £576, the greater part of which was defrayed
by the Rev. W. Poole. It is the public elementary school for the parishes
of Stretton and Eggleton. Homend, the property of the Rev. William
Poole, M.A., is a handsome mansion situated in a finely-wooded park. It
is at present unoccupied.
POSTAL REGULATIONS.- Letters arrive by messenger from Ledbury
about 10.30 a.m. The wall letter-box is cleared at 3.25 p.m. on week
days only. Tarrington is the nearest money order office. Postal telegrams
may be sent from Stoke Edith and Ashperton railway stations.
Post town, Ledbury.
Parish Church (St. Lawrence's).- Rev. John Buckle, M.A., Vicar;
Rev. Robert Wade-Gery, M.A., Curate; Messrs. Stephen Pitt, jun., and
Thomas Pitt, Churchwardens; Thomas Chadd, Parish Clerk.
National School (boys and girls).- Miss Ellen Dunne, Mistress.
Carrier to Hereford.- John Bounds, on Wednesdays and Saturdays;
stops at the Coach and Horses Inn, Commercial street, returning
therefrom about 4p.m.