Weobley

Extract from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England, 1831.
Transcribed by Mel Lockie, © Copyright 2010
Lewis Topographical Dictionaries

WEOBLEY, a parish and market-town and borough (unincorporated), in the hundred of STRETFORD, county of HEREFORD, 12 miles (N.W.) from Hereford, and 145 (W.N.W.) from London, containing 739 inhabitants.; This ancient town consists of one principal street on the main road from Hereford to Knighton. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on Holy Thursday and three weeks after. A manorial court is held annually in October, the jurisdiction of which extends to the recovery of debts under 40s. The petty sessions for the hundred take place here. The elective franchise was granted in the reign of Edward I., and renewed, or confirmed, by Charles I.: the right of election is vested in "the inhabitants of the ancient vote houses of twenty shillings per annum, resident during forty days previous to the election, and paying scot and lot, also in such owners of ancient vote houses, paying scot and lot, as shall be resident in such houses at the time. of election: the number of voters is about ninety-three; the constables are the returning officers, and the influence of the Marquis of Bath is predominant.

The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford, rated in the king's books at £9. 1., endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Hereford. The church, is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. The free grammar school was founded in 1655, by William Crother, citizen of London, for the education of children born in the parishes of Weobley, Wormesley, and in the village of Wooton, in the parish of King's Pion, and endowed with £20 per annum for the master, chargeable on Wormesly Grange and another estate in the township of Wooton, in the parish of King's Pion, county of Hereford; he likewise bequeathed £100 to build a school-house. A National school for boys and girls is supported principally by voluntary contributions. On the south side of the town are the remains of an ancient castle, which was taken by Stephen in the war between him and the Empress Matilda, for whom it had been kept by William Talbot.

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