Wacton, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1891

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1891

WACTON.

WACTON is a parish about a mile west from the Leominster and Tenbury main road, 3 miles north-west from Bromyard station, on the Worcester and Leominster section of the Great Western railway, 8 east from Leominster and 9 south from Tenbury, in the northern division of the county, Broxash hundred, Bromyard union, petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Frome (north division) and archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. This parish was united to Bredenbury, 10 August, 1875, for ecclesiastical purposes only, under the Act, 1 and 2 Vict. c. 106. The old church (name unknown) was an ancient building of stone, and stood near Wacton Court; the fabric was pulled down in 1881, but the boundary walls still remain to protect the site; the church of St. Andrew, at Bredenbury, erected in 1876-7, now serves for both places. The register of baptisms and marriages dates from the year 1663; burials took place at Bromyard. The living, formerly a chapelry to Bromyard, is now a vicarage annexed to Bredenbury, average tithe rent-charge £97, joint net yearly value £170, in the gift of W. Henry Barneby esq. of Bredenbury, and held since 1880 by the Rev. Charles Bridges M.A. of Christ Church, Oxford, who resides at Bredenbury. The Oddfellows have a lodge, No. 6,396 here, called "Bredenbury Court Lodge," and hold meetings at the New inn. Lady Henry Somerset is lady of the manor. The representatives of the late Richard Allison esq. W. Henry Barneby esq. D.L., J.P. of Bredenbury Court, Martin Curtler esq. and Mr. Edward Timings are the chief landowners. The soil is clayey; subsoil clay and rock. The chief crops are wheat, beans, oats, hops, and apples. Cider is made here. The area is 1,002 acres; rateable value £989; the population in 1881 was 102.

BUTTERLEY, formerly a hamlet of Edvin Ralph, is now attached to Wacton under the Divided Parishes Act; it contains 600 acres.

The Bredenbury Post, M.O. & T. O., S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office. James Addyman. Postmaster. Letters through Worcester, via Bromyard & Bredenbury, arrive 8.15 a.m. & dispatched at 6 p.m.

The children of this place attend the district school at Bredenbury.

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ULLINGSWICK.

COMMERCIAL.

Blackler John, farm bailiff to W. Henry Barneby esq. Little Wacton Compton William, miller (water), Butterley Mill Charles Thomas, farmer, Great Wacton Drew Thomas, farmer, Little Wacton Jones Benjamin, farmer, Low. Butterley

New Inn Hotel & Grocery & Provision Co. (James Addyman, manager) Timings Edward, farmer & landowner, Wacton Court Thomas William & Thomas, farmers, Butterley Court Tomkins Thos. Wheelwright & carpenter

[Transcribed by Barbara E. Haner in November 2003
from a personal copy of Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1891]