Weston under Penyard

Weston-under-Penyard, St. Lawrence's church
Bollitree Castle

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

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

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 areas of Herefordshire known as Ergyng and Archenfield. The name Ariconium is Romano-British and may conceivably have an equivalent in or near the Roman province of Galatia.

The Bristol merchant Richard Amerike (c. 1445–1503) who, it is claimed, gave his name to America, was born here.[5]

On the edge of the village is Bollitree Castle, which is currently owned by The Grand Tour, and former Top Gear, presenter Richard Hammond. It comprises a house built c1700 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.

Railways

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[6] it was located on the Great Western Railway line linking Ross-on-Wye and Gloucester. Nothing remains of the station.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/heref/vol2/pp208-212
  3. ↑ "No. 43225". The London Gazette. 21 January 1964. p. 589.
  4. ↑ http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/the-old-chapel/bury-hill/weston-under-penyard/ross-on-wye/hr9-7ps/22401328
  5. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/americaname_01.shtml
  6. ↑ Smith, WH (1998) Herefordshire Railways Book, Sutton Publishing P25
  7. ↑ Cross, AG (1982) Old Industrial Sites in Wyedean, Self Published P106

Coordinates: 51°54′25″N 2°32′16″W / 51.90701°N 2.53779°W / 51.90701; -2.53779


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