Humber, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1879

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1879

HUMBER.

HUMBER, is a parish, with scattered population, 3½ miles east-south-east from Leominster Station, 14 from Hereford, and 160 from London, in Wolphy hundred, Leominster Union and county court district, rural deanery of Leominster, archdeaconry and diocese; situated a little on the south side of the Leominster and Bromyard turnpike roads. The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a stone building; consisting of chancel, nave, north transept, porch, and tower containing 2 bells and surmounted by a wooden spire: the chancel was restored in 1876, and the remainder of the church in 1878, the cost of the whole amounting to about £900: The chancel, which is large in proportion to the nave and seated with choir stalls, is divided from it by stone steps: In the east wall, above the communion table, is a curious old bracket, which is supposed to have been originally placed there for a figure of the Virgin Mary; before the restoration the creed, printed in old English letters, stood above the bracket: it is lighted by a trefoil, and beneath two stained lancet windows, the old open roof remaining: The nave has been reseated with open benches of pitch pine: The pulpit, which formerly stood against the chancel door, has been removed to the north side of the chancel, it is intended to be replaced by one of modern design: The old font has been cleaned and refixed on a new plinth: The roof is open, of pitch pine stained: The north transept, the gift of Capt. Edward Nicholas Heygate, R.E., D.L., J.P. of Bucklands, provides about 30 additional sittings: In the north wall is a three-light stained window and lancet windows in the east and west walls: The old gallery at the west end has been removed and the old barrel organ replaced by a harmonium, the gift of the Rector: A new vestry has been formed out of the old belfry: The church throughout is laid with encaustic tiles, those found in the sacrarium being very fine specimens from the old building: The wooden spire surmounting the tower is the only portion of the building requiring attention: The alter cloth, rails, coronæ and lectern were presented to the church: The funds for the restoration have been raised by voluntary contributions, aided by a grant from the Church Building Society: The architect was Thomas Henry Wyatt, esq., of Great Russell Street, London; contractor, John Davies, Leominster; The stone was supplied from the quarries of C. Scarlet, esq., of Luston. The register dates from the year 1620. The living is a rectory, worth about £360 yearly, with residence and 150 acres of glebe land, in the gift of John Hungerford Arkwright, esq., and held by the Rev. Philip John Scudamore-Stanhope, M.A. of Magdalen College, Oxford. A Rectory House was built in 1870. Capt. Heygate, who is lord of the manor, and John Hungerford Arkwright, esq., are the chief landowners. The soil is clay; subsoil, rock. The chief crops are corn, hops and apples. The area is 1,494 acres; rateable value, £1,804; and the population in 1871 was 264.

   RISBURY Township, adjoining, is partly within this parish, and partly in Stoke Prior.

   Parish Clerk.- William Lippett.

   Letters through Leominster, which is the nearest money order office.

   Assistant Overseer.- Samuel Jones.

   There is a National School for boys and girls at Risbury. A school-house, with master's dwelling, was erected in 1874: The school will hold 60 children; William Henry Orkens, master; Mrs., Ann Hardy, sewing mistress

HUMBER
Scudamore-Stanhope, Rev. Philip John, M.A., J.P., Rectory
Bemand Robert, farmer & hop grower, Wood Farm	Smith George, farmer, Little Pridelton
Jackson Joseph & Sons, farmers, hop growers, timber & coal merchants, Upper Pridelton; & Railway Station, Leominster	Smith Joseph, grocer & provision dealer
Jones Samuel, farmer & assistant oversear, The Court	Vale Mark, farmer & hop grower, New House

RISBURY
Bishop Frederick, beer retailer & shopkeeper	Mason Henry, farmer, Newhouse
Griffiths Edward, farmer & castrator, Little Maidenhyde	Morgan George, farmer, Butt Oak Gate
Lambert Henry Caswell, miller, farmer & hop grower, Risbury Court

[Transcribed by Richard Lane in January 2003
from a copy of Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1879 in Hereford Central Library]