How Caple is a village and

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 authorit ...

in the English county of

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 ...

. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 census was 118. To the east of the village, on the main B4224 road, is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Crossway. How Caple is mentioned in the

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 ...

of 1086.

How Caple Church

How Caple church is more than 800 years old. The earliest parts of the church date to around 1210 but Roman artefacts suggest the existence of an even earlier temple. Rebuilding of the nave, chancel, and tower happened in 1693 The church’s features include an alleged plague stone outside, chancel corbels dating to the 1200s, a 14th century lavacrum, a reredos from 1918 depicting the last supper, and a

diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...

, possibly made in Germany, depicting eight religious scenes and acquired for How Caple church in 1870 from the Netherlands. Howcaplereredos

Between the chancel and the body of the church is a rood screen attributed to

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and othe ...

. The art historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

includes How Caple church in his “ The Buildings of England” Series, noting the acanthus decoration of the font that is now in the entrance, and confirming the main font as “Late Norman with haphazard vegetable and geometrical motifs” The church has become popular for weddings.

The Gregory Chapel

The southern transept was built in 1693 by Sir William Gregory the lord of How Caple manor. Sir William, a local man, rose to become Speaker of the House of Commons. He helped to bring in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. The chapel has a stained glass window made by

Frederick Preedy Frederick Preedy (2 June 1820 – 28 March 1898) was an architect and glass painter in England. Life Preedy was born in Offenham near Evesham in Worcestershire and died at his son's home in Croydon. During his early life his family moved from ...

How Caple Court and the Lee Family

One of the main benefactors of the church and village in the last hundred years have been the Lees, owners of How Caple Court. Changes they have made to the church include a reordering of the main entrance from the southern porch to the west door.

References

Civil parishes in Herefordshire Villages in Herefordshire {{Herefordshire-geo-stub