Madley is a village and civil parish in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

of Herefordshire. It is located six miles west of the city 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 the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,200.

Other settlements

The parish includes the hamlets of Canon Bridge, Wormhill, Winmoor, Lulham, Upper & Lower Chilstone, Upper & Lower Shenmore, Cublington, Great & Little Brampton, Webton and Webton Court. Madley is the second largest parish in the county of Herefordshire.

Etymology

The name ''Madley'' most probably originated from Middle Welsh ''matle'', equivalent to modern

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

'' mad

lle The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is a scientific research facility which is part of the University of Rochester's south campus, located in Brighton, New York. The lab was established in 1970 and its operations since then have been fund ...

'', meaning “good place”; but this was later reinterpreted by English speakers through

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

as ''Mada-ley'', “meadow of Mada”, as the suffix '' -ley'' is common in English place names (e.g. Hadley, Shipley) as a shortened form of the word ''

leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

'' (“meadow”).

History and amenities

Madley is most famous as the birthplace of Saint Dubricius, the 6th century

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. He was born at Chilstone which is named after the 'Child Stone' that marked the spot. The parish has a fine medieval

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

which replaced that founded by St Dubricius. The church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the best known local examples of Norman architecture with gargoyles carved into the tower itself. It is a Grade I listed building. The

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

's Madley Communications Centre is on part of the disused World War II airfield

RAF Madley Royal Air Force Madley, or more simply RAF Madley, was a Royal Air Force station situated south west of Hereford in Herefordshire, England. The station was in use during the Second World War as a training base and was located between the village ...

. It was built in 1940 by Welsh contractors and opened as a training centre for aircrew and ground wireless operators on 27 August 1941. In 1943 the grass airfield was reinforced with Sommerfeld Tracking and the centre's population rose to about 5,000. The site was visited in 1944 prior to

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

by US General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

, and later by

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

(who had been held prisoner near

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

) on his way to the Nuremberg trials in 1946. Today only a few hangars remain. The Red Lion Madley

The ''Red Lion'' in Madley is an old

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

dating back to the 16th century and is a grade II listed building. Here mail was delivered by mail coach from London and distributed to recipients in the locality. The pub itself is built on a well which is situated under the hallway by the pub cellar. A stream also runs under the rear car park and flows under the land of the Red Lion Garage.

Former amenities

The Red Lion Garage was built in the 1940s by Johnathan Edwards and was run as a successful family business until 1986 when it was taken over by Tim and Martin Edwards (now deceased c.2006) and redeveloped in 2003. The old traditional butchers' shop in Madley was run by Herbie and Audrey Cresswell in the 1960s. It was later owned by Gordon Watkins and is now demolished with a garage on the site.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire