Haywood is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

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 Monmouthshire ...

, England, which is south-west of

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 census was 216. The parish has no substantial settlements. However, it is home to one of the largest poultry farms in Great Britain, which is run by Cargill Meats Europe. The Hay of Hereford was a

Royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

in the early Middle Ages. It was granted by

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...

to Milo of Gloucester when she created him

Earl of Hereford The title of Earl of Hereford was created six times in the Peerage of England. Dates indicate the years the person held the title for. Earls of Hereford, First Creation (1043) * Swegen Godwinson (1043–1051) ''earldom forfeit 1051–1052'' Earl ...

. The woodlands can be seen on Saxton's 1577 map of Herefordshire. Haywood was officially outside of any parish in the mid 1800s.'Hayle - Hazon'
in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis (London, 1848), pp. 454-456 ccessed 26 August 2015

References

External links

Villages in Herefordshire English royal forests {{Herefordshire-geo-stub