VOWCHURCH is a parish and village, situated on the river Dore, in the Golden valley (a luxuriant and highly beautiful dale), distant about 10½ miles W.S.W. of, Hereford, 11 S.E. of Hay, and nearly 7 N.N.W. of Pontrilas station on the Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford branch of the Great Western railway (West Midland section). It is in Webtree hundred, Dore union and petty sessional division, Dorstone polling district, and Hereford county court district. The population in 1861 was 333; in 1871, 342; inhabited houses, 75; families or separate occupiers, 80; area of parish, 2,690 acres; annual rateable value, £3,266. The manorial rights are not claimed. Miss Lucy Robinson and Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Gavin Robinson are now conjointly the principal landed proprietors. The Governors of Guy's Hospital, London, are also landowners here. The soil is sandy and loamy; subsoil, clay and rock; chief crops, wheat, barley; oats, beans, and roots. The "Golden Valley Railway Company" are about to construct a railway from Pontrilas station on the Great Western line to Dorstone, a distance of 11 miles, and there will be a station at Vowchurch. This line will be parallel with the river Dore for the whole distance, and will accommodate a rich tract of agricultural country, at present entirely shut out from the markets.

On a conical eminence above the village, is a small square camp, commanding an extensive prospect to the south-east. This ancient military post is situated on the line with others in the valley, and which constituted a line of encampments through this part of Herefordshire. Vowchurch is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Weobley; living, a vicarage; value, £230; patron, the Prebendary of Putson Major in Hereford cathedral; vicar, Rev. Charles Longfield, B.A., of University College, Durham, who was instituted in 1874, and resides at Turnastone rectory. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is a stone edifice, with nave, chancel, porch, and small tower containing three bells. It was restored in 1848 at a cost of £675. The parish register goes back to the year 1674. The charities amount to about £3 10s. yearly. There is a National school for boys and girls, recently erected. The average attendance is about 60. The Primitive Methodists have a chapel here, erected in 1862. White House is the seat of Herbert Howorth Wood, Esq., M.A., J.P., D.L. Poston is about 1 mile N.W. of Vowchurch. Monnington and Straddle (or Stradel) lie to the E.