Staunton on Wye is a relatively unpopulated

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 ...

in West Herefordshire, which is perhaps one of the most uninhabited locations of England. The parish of Staunton, which includes Moorhampton and Bredwardine, is a key player in trading in Herefordshire. The population of this parish taken at the 2011 census was 213. Recently, the village has become a growth area for various forms of development, unfortunately several developments have actively sort to undermine local planning rules and neighbourhood development frameworks, which has tarnished the reputation of the village to some extent. The most significant development in Staunton-on-wye in recent years is OakChurch, the local farm shop-cum-superstore. Despite its humble beginnings as a roadside shack selling strawberries and other soft fruit it has grown into a business selling everything from garden supplies to home decor. The sale of soft fruit still makes up a large portion of the business. This can be seen in the many hectares of local farmland that have been converted to polytunnels, resulting in Staunton's unglamorous nickname of Staunton-on-plastic!

History

Staunton was inhabited until 1089 AD. The parish church dates from around 1190–1200, when

King Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

was on crusades, and several of Herefordshire's other churches are thought to have been founded. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

has round-headed doorways with a small lancet. Some of the windows date from 14th century. The west tower has a pyramidal roof constructed in about 1300 to which oak panelling was added in 17th century. The church was burgled in 1992 when six invaluable medallions from the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

were stolen. Two bay arcades remain from the demolished north

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

which was a chapel. Modernisation has replaced the windows in the 18th century

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

. The village itself is fairly unusual as it has huge Victorian mansions within it. Within the medieval parish there is a small school and the

grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

church of St Mary. Located nearby is a nature area known as The Scar, situated on the banks of the

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of Wal ...

. Included is a sheer 100 feet drop net to the river. The Scar is considered dangerous to children. There was a small station in the early 1900s consisting of staff who would warn the major towns and cities downstream of the impending flood waters of the large River Wye. Staunton has historically been a village notorious for harbouring a shallow gene pool. This stereotype is likely to be because of an unintended after effect from the monetary legacy of G.Jarvis who bequeathed a large amount of money to the area in the 1800s. It is understood that families married close relatives in order to prevent the wealth from flowing out of the village. Still to this day, despite improvements in social mobility, it is not uncommon to find members of the village who are particularly closely related to one another.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire