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St Andrew, Wolferlow, Herefordshire

Location
(52°15′12″N, 2°29′10″W)
Wolferlow
SO 669 618
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Herefordshire
now Herefordshire
medieval Hereford
now Hereford
medieval St Andrew
now St Andrew
  • Ron Baxter
31 October 2017

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Feature Sets
Description

Wolferlow is a village in NE Herefordshire, in a tongue of land projecting into Worcestershire. It is thus half a mile from two Worcestershire borders - to the E and the NW. The nearest Herefordshire town of any size is Bromyard, 4 miles to the S. The village comprises the church, two farms, Wolferlow House and a few cottages, and is the site of a Deserted Medieval Settlement SW of the church.

The church consists of a chancel with a N vestry, nave with S porch and a timber-framed bell turret with a broach spire. It was restored by James Cranston in 1863-64, but has medieval material in the shape of the N and S doorways; the former blocked and the latter protected by a porch. It has been disused since 2002, and it was not possible to gain entry. Hence only the two doorways are recorded here.

History

Wolferlow was held by Roger de Lacy in 1086, and by Hugh and Walter from him. It was assessed at 6 hides. In 1066 it was held by Alwine the sheriff of Gloucestershire. A smaller holding of 2 hides was held by Ralph de Mortimer in demesne in 1086, and by Alwine in 1066. Accprding to Duncumb (1812) the manor passed later to a family called Engleys, of which Roger de Engleys held it in the reign of Henry III, when it was assessed at 7 hides.The advowson was given to the nuns of Aconbury, who appropriated the church at some time in the 14thc.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Comments/Opinions

The N nave doorway may originally also have had a tympanum, removed during the blocking. The heavy mouldings and the use of chip-carving suggest a date early in the 12thc, although Pevsner (1963) and Brooks and Pevsner (2012) content themselves with 'Norman'. There are reports of a Norman chancel arch (Pevsner), and of a disused Norman font bowl propped against the churchyard wall (Herefordshire SMR), but these were not seen on this visit.

Bibliography

A. Brooks and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire. New Haven and London 2012, 683.

J. Duncumb, Collections towards the history and antiquities of the county of Hereford, Vol. II, pt 1, 1812, 256-60.

Herefordshire Sites and Monuments Record 6696 (DMV)

Herefordshire Sites and Monuments Record 8053 (church of St Andrew)

Historic Eng;land Listed Building (HE Legacy numbe) 412009

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire. Harmondsworth 1963, 324.

RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Herefordshire, 2: East, 1932, 219-20.