Mordiford is a village 4 miles SE of the centre of Hereford, built around a crossing of the river Lugg at a point less than half a mile before it joins the Wye. The land is flat to the W, in the floodplains of the two rivers, but to the E is a series of wooded hills, partly cleared for arable or rough pasture, or replanted as orchards. The church stands at a crossroads in the village centre, alongside the bridge, which dates from the 14thc. in part, and the Old Rectory, an imposing red brick building of the 1750s. The church of the Holy Rood was greatly modified in the 19thc.; first after a flood in 1811 and then in a restoration of 1868-70 by F. R. Kempson of Cardiff. The medieval church had a nave and a chancel with a central tower. After the flood the tower was taken down and a replacement built at the SW angle of the nave, but the late-13thc. E and W tower arches remain. From the S side of the nave at the E end projects the Hereford pew, of uncertain date. A N aisle with a four-bay arcade was added to the nave in 1868-70, and a polygonal N vestry was added to the chancel at the same time. The latter has a plain late 12thc. doorway re-set in its NW face. The only other Romanesque sculpture here is the S nave doorway, now squeezed between the tower and the Hereford pew and protected by a lean-to porch.
