Bacton ( cy, Bactwn) is a small village in a rural area of south-west

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

, England, 14 miles (23 km) from Hereford.

History

One mile to the north are some earthwork remains of a small motte and bailey castle known as Newcourt Tump – "Tump" is a dialect word for a rounded hill or tumulus. The castle seems to have fallen out of use by the 14th century. According to

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

in 1086, Bacton, then in the hundred of Stradel, had only two households. The Lord of the Manor was Gilbert of Eskecot, whose tenant-in-chief was Roger of Lacy. The manor's history becomes clearer from the 13th century onwards.

Parish church

The parish church of St Faith's dates from 13th century and has a lengthy entry in

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

's survey of the county's buildings. Inside is a memorial to

Blanche Parry Blanche Parry (1507/8–12 February 1590) of Newcourt in the parish of Bacton, Herefordshire, in the Welsh Marches, was a personal attendant of Queen Elizabeth I, who held the offices of Chief Gentlewoman of the Queen's Most Honourable Privy C ...

. It is possible that an

altar cloth An altar cloth is used in the Christian liturgy to cover the altar. It serves as a sign of reverence as well as a decoration and a protection of the altar and the sacred vessels. In the orthodox churches is covered by the antimension, which also c ...

belonging to the church was made from a dress once worn by Queen

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

and given to Blanche Parry. The material of the cloth appears to form part of the clothing of the Queen in the early 17th-century "Rainbow Portrait", attributed to

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger Marcus Gheeraerts (also written as Gerards or Geerards; 1561/62 – 19 January 1636) was a Flemish artist working at the Tudor court, described as "the most important artist of quality to work in England in large-scale between Eworth and van ...

. The church belongs to the

Ewyas Harold Ewyas Harold () is a village and civil parish in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, England, near the Wales-England border about halfway between Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, and Hereford. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 cens ...

group of parishes and has a service about once a month. Next to it is a village hall.

Listed buildings

Bacton parish church is listed Grade II*. A further 16 buildings, barns and monuments from the 17th to 20th centuries are listed as Grade II, several of them in the churchyard.

Transport

Bacton has a single, daytime bus service to Hereford on Wednesdays.Bus times. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
/ref> The nearest railway station is at Hereford (14 miles, 23 km). Bacton is 4 miles (6.5 km) on the secondary B4347 road from the main A465 road between Hereford and Abergavenny.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Herefordshire