Eardisley () 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 ...

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 ...

about south of the centre of Kington. Eardisley is in the

Wye valley The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; cy, Dyffryn Gwy) is an internationally important protected landscape straddling the border between England and Wales. The River Wye ( cy, Afon Gwy) is the fourth-longest river in th ...

in the northwest of the county, close to the border with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The village is part of the "

Black and white village The term black and white village refers to several old English villages, typically in the county of Herefordshire, West Midlands of England. The term "black and white" derives from presence of many timbered and half-timbered houses in the area, ...

trail", having many

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

buildings along its high street. Recent dendrochronology dating work on timbers in these buildings has revealed that some parts date back to the 14th century.

History

Eardisley Park Eardisley Park is a country house and estate to the southwest of the village of Eardisley in Herefordshire, England, and approximately north-west of Hereford. History The grounds were originally the site of Eardisley Castle. A deer park was esta ...

estate includes the site of

Eardisley Castle Eardisley Castle was in the village of Eardisley in Herefordshire, England, 11 km north-east of Hay-on-Wye (). The site of the castle is a scheduled monument. This was an 11th-century motte and bailey castle with a moat around the bailey fill ...

. The manor house built during the Georgian period burned down in 1999 and was replaced with a replica in 2003.

Churches

St Mary Magdalene

The Church of England parish church of St. Mary Magdalene is a 12th-century building noted for its font, carved in about 1150.Pevsner, 1963, page 121 It is a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

work of the Herefordshire School and bears some resemblance to the carvings at

Kilpeck Kilpeck ( cy, Llanddewi Cil Peddeg) is a village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. It is about southwest of Hereford, just south of the A465 road and Welsh Marches Line to Abergavenny, and about from the Wales-England b ...

in south Herefordshire. It combines intricate

Celtic knotwork Celtic knots ( ga, snaidhm Cheilteach, cy, cwlwm Celtaidd, kw, kolm Keltek, gd, snaidhm Ceilteach) are a variety of knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the Celtic style of Insular ...

patterns with dramatic scenes, including the

Harrowing of Hell In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell ( la, Descensus Christi ad Inferos, "the descent of Christ into Hell" or Hades) is an Old English and Middle English term referring to the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his re ...

and two knights fighting. It is a grade I listed building. The south aisle windows were renewed by the Gothic Revival architect

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

in 1863.

George Coke George Coke or Cooke (3 October 1570 – 10 December 1646) was successively the Bishop of Bristol and Hereford. After the battle of Naseby in 1645, Hereford was taken and Coke was arrested and taken to London. He avoided charges of High Trea ...

, Bishop of Hereford, was buried here. The churchyard extension contains the Commonwealth war graves of a

Herefordshire Regiment The Herefordshire Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1861 to 1967. The regiment had no lineal connection with the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. History Formation The 1st Administrative Battali ...

soldier of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and a Royal Engineers soldier and a

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

nurse of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Eardisley Methodist Church

Eardisley Methodist Church in Woodseaves Road is in the Shropshire and Marches

Methodist Circuit The organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is based on the principle of connexionalism. This means that British Methodism, from its inception under John Wesley (1703–1791), has always laid strong emphasis on mutual support, in ...

. It opened in 1867 as Eardisley Primitive Methodist Church.

Hay Railway

The

Hay Railway The Hay Railway was a narrow gauge horse-drawn tramway in the district surrounding Hay-on-Wye in Brecknockshire, Wales. The railway connected Eardisley in Herefordshire, England, with Brecon in Wales. The Brecon terminus was Watton Wharf on the Br ...

was an early

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

horse tramway A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...

that connected Eardisley with Watton Wharf on the

Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal ( cy, Camlas Sir Fynwy a Brycheiniog) is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its currently (2018) navigable length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its present rural ...

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...

. From 1 May 1820, the Hay Railway was joined at its Eardisley terminus, in an end-on junction, by the Kington Tramway. Together, the two lines totalled in length, comprising the longest continuous

plateway A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later. Plateways consisted of "L"-shaped rails, where the flange ...

to be completed in the United Kingdom. The Hay railway operated through rural areas on the borders of England and Wales and was built to transport goods and freight. Passengers were not carried on any official basis. The Hay Railway was absorbed into the

Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway The Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway (HH&BR) was a railway company that built a line between Hereford in England and a junction with the Mid-Wales Railway at Three Cocks Junction. It opened its line in stages from 1862 to 1864. It never had enoug ...

in 1860 and the line was converted to standard gauge for operation by steam locomotives.

Amenities

Eardisley has two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the Tram Inn and The New Strand. The New Strand is the headquarters for the North West Herefordshire Pool League which incorporates the Eardisley Summer Pool League and the Portway Winter Pool League. The New Strand is also headquarters to the Hay and District Darts League & the Weobley and District Darts League. The parish has a

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

. The village holds the annual Eardisley Flower Show on

August Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

each year.

Notes

Sources

External links

www.eardisley.com Village websiteGENUKI(tm) pageGeograph: photos of Eardisley and surrounding area
* {{authority control Civil parishes in Herefordshire Villages in Herefordshire