Tedstone Delamere is a village and civil parish in
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, north-east of
Bromyard
Bromyard is a town in Herefordshire, England, in the valley of the River Frome. It lies near the county border with Worcestershire on the A44 between Leominster and Worcester. Bromyard has a number of traditional half-timbered buildings, inclu ...
. The population of the parish at the
2011 census was 138.
The etymology of the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon, Teodic after whom the villages near Bromyard were names. "Teodic's stone by the stagnant pool or standing pond." The village was surrounded by downs and meadow land ideal for cattle grazing raising beef herds. The lush grass filtered and watered by the river systems running through it.
The village in common with the shire was long dominated by the patronage of the bishopric, which vast tracts of land in the diocese well into the 20th century. St James' Church chancel was added by Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
in 1856–57.
[''The Buildings of England: Herefordshire'', Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p106 ]
At Tedstone Delamere the Sapey Brook runs its course from Upper Sapey, joining the river Teme just beyond Whitbourne. A story is told locally of a mare and a colt that had been stolen and the hoofprints when followed stopped at the bank of the Sapey brook. The owner prayed for their safe return and upon examining the bed of the brook saw hoofprints clearly visible in the rocky bottom. These hoofprints were followed and the thief caught, the horses being safely recovered. The nearby Hoar Stone is said to be the horse thief petrified for his crimes. A later version involves Saint Catherine of
Ledbury
Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills.
It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Street ...
as the owner of the horses. These
petrosomatoglyph
A petrosomatoglyph is a supposed image of parts of a human or animal body in rock. They occur all over the world, often functioning as an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some a ...
s are visible to this day.
[Westwood, Jennifer (1985), ''Albion. A guide to Legendary Britain.'' Pub. Grafton Books. London. . P. 262.]
The horse-thief was named Gray; he reputedly hid for several days in a barn which still stands a short distance from the Brook on the Tedstone Court estate and is referred to as 'Gray's Barn'.
External links
Extract from Littlebury's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire, 1876-7
References
;Secondary sources
*
Villages in Herefordshire
{{Herefordshire-geo-stub