Ross

"ROSS, a market-town and parish in the hundred of GREYTREE, county of HEREFORD, 14 miles (S. E.) from Hereford, and 120 (W. N. W.) from London, containing 2957 inhabitants.  ... It was formerly a free borough, having been made so by Henry III. In the thirty-third year of the reign of Edward I. it sent members to parliament, but this privilege was relinquished, on the petition of the inhabitants, the following year, and has never been resumed.  ... The town is situated on an eminence, at the foot of which the river Wye runs,  ... Ross had formerly a considerable trade in iron, which has long declined, cider and wool being the principal articles of produce at present. A weekly market was granted by King Stephen to Bishop Betren, to be held on Thursday; it is well supplied with cattle and provisions: there are fairs on Thursday after March 10th, Ascension-day, June 21st, July 20th, Thursday after October 10th, and December llth. The town is divided into two parts, called the Borough and the Foreign; and a serjeant at mace, four constables, and some other subordinate officers, are chosen at a court leet and baron, which is held about Michaelmas, by the nominal mayor, for the former, and two constables for the latter: the petty sessions for the hundred are holden here. The living is a rectory and a vicarage united, in the .archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford, rated in the king's books at £38. 16. 3., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Hereford. The church, dedicated to St. Mary,  ... There are places of worship for Baptists, the'Society of Friends, and Independents. In the churchyard is a free school, called St. Mary's, founded and endowed with £ 10 per annum by Lord Weymouth, in 1709;  ... The Blue-coat school was founded, in 1709, by Dr. Whiting, Lord Scudamore, and others, and endowed, in 1786, with £200 per annum, by Walter Scott, who had been educated in it; sixty boys and girls' are clothed and instructed. Two National schools for boys and girls are supported by voluntary contributions, as well as a dispensary, and an infant school recently established. There is an hospital for seven poor parishioners, ... " [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England  (1831) ©Mel Lockie]