Weston under Penyard

Weston under Penyard is a small village in Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,007.[1]

Weston under Penyard
Weston under Penyard is located in Herefordshire
Weston under Penyard
Weston under Penyard
Location within Herefordshire
Population1,007 (2011 Census)
Unitary authority
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townRoss-on-Wye
Postcode districtHR9
PoliceWest Mercia
FireHereford and Worcester
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament

It lies on the A40 road two miles east of Ross-on-Wye. The Penyard is a prominent hill.

History

The parish church of St Lawrence has a tall 14th-century west tower which had a spire until it was damaged by lightning in 1750.[2]

A Wesleyan chapel was constructed at Buryhill during the early 19th century but was disused by 1964.[3] The building was subsequently converted for use as private residence.[4]

Slightly to the east under farmland lies the former Roman settlement of Ariconium, which gave its name to the historical Welsh Kingdom spanning areas of what is now known as Herefordshire Ergyng and Archenfield. The name Ariconium is Romano-British and may conceivably have an equivalent in or near the Roman province of Galatia.

Herefordshire escaped most of the battles with the Vikings but in 914 the Danes made additional visits to the area and ravaged Archenfield, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (AD 915, Worcester Manuscript, p. 99). The jarls leading the raids, Ohtor and Hroald, captured Bishop Cameleac or Cyfeiliog, then the Bishop of Llandaff; he was later ransomed. The jarls were killed in a subsequent battle at "Kill Dane Field" in Weston-under-Penyard and the raiders were subdued.[5]

On the edge of the village is Bollitree Castle, which is currently owned by former Top Gearpresenter Richard Hammond.[6] It comprises a house built circa 1700 incorporating the remains of an earlier building, to which castellated walls, turrets and moat were added in the late eighteenth century. Two miles south west are the fragmentary remains of Penyard Castle, a fourteenth-century castle on the site of which was built a seventeenth-century house. Penyard House is a Georgian building which now operates as a hotel.

Notable people

The Bristol merchant Richard Amerike (c. 1445–1503) who, it is claimed, gave his name to America, was born here.[7]

Television presenter Richard Hammond has a home in the village.[6]

Transport

Weston under Penyard Halt was a former station on the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway on the section between Ross-on-Wye and Grange Court and thence to Gloucester. Opened in 1929 to compete with local road transport[8] it was located on the Great Western Railway line linking Ross-on-Wye and Gloucester. Nothing remains of the station.[9]

References
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  2. "Weston-under-Penyard - British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
  3. "No. 43225". The London Gazette. 21 January 1964. p. 589.
  4. "Property history - The Old Chapel, Bury Hill, Weston Under Penyard, Ross-On-Wye HR9 7PS - Marketed for sale on 21st Jul 2011 - Zoopla". www.zoopla.co.uk.
  5. "The Vikings in Herefordshire". Herefordshire. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2019. Other than this there is very little mention of Viking presence in the county, and we are distinctly lacking in Viking place-names or settlements that were characteristic of places elsewhere in the country where the Norsemen's presence was more noticeably felt.
  6. "Richard Hammond's plan to alter castle home falls through". BBC News. 20 May 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  7. "BBC - History - The Naming of America". www.bbc.co.uk.
  8. Smith, WH (1998) Herefordshire Railways Book, Sutton Publishing P25
  9. Cross, AG (1982) Old Industrial Sites in Wyedean, Self Published P106
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