Wigmore, Herefordshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"WIGMORE, a parish in the hundred of Wigmore, county Hereford, 7½ miles S.W. of Ludlow, 9 N.W. of Leominster, its post town, and 22 N.W. of Hereford. The village is situated on the road from Leominster to Knighton. At Darrold Hill are traces of a British encampment attributed to Caractacus, and on an eminence a little to the W. of the village are the ruins of a castle, once the head of an honour on the Welsh marches, which is recorded to have been rebuilt by Edward the Elder, and was taken by William the Conqueror from Edric the Saxon and given to Ranulph de Mortimer, Earl of Shrewsbury. The most perfect portions of the castle are the outer works.

About a mile from the castle are the remains of an Austin [Ed: sic] Abbey founded in the middle of the 12th century by Hugh de Mortimer, and valued at the Dissolution at £30212s. 3d. There was also a priory of nuns of the order of St. Augustine, and an alien priory founded as a cell to Aveney in Normandy. It was near this spot that the battle was fought on the Arrow in 1401, in which Mortimer was defeated and taken by Glendower.

The surface is rocky but fertile, abounding in fossiliferous limestone, and coal is supposed to exist, but is not worked. In the village is a police station, where petty sessions are held fortnightly. A court leet is also held occasionally by Lady Langdale, who is lady of the manor. The parish includes part of the township of Limebrook.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Hereford, value £150, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. James, contains an antique font, an old register chest, and four painted windows, with figures of eight of the apostles. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, and National and Sunday schools. The charities produce about £8 per annum. A fair is held on 5th August for cattle and sheep, and a statute fair on 6th May."

"LIMEBROOK, a township in the parish of Wigmore, county Hereford, 4 miles N.E. of Presteign. It is situated near the river Lug. There was formerly an Austin nunnery founded in the reign of Richard II. by the Mortimers."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]