Ross-on-Wye is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, England, near the border with

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It had a population estimated at 10,978 in 2021. It lies in the south-east of the county, on the

River Wye The River Wye (; ) 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. The lower reaches of the river forms part of Wales-England bor ...

and on the northern edge of the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

History

The name "Ross" is derived from the Welsh or

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

for a "promontory". It was renamed "Ross-on-Wye" in 1931 by the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

, due to confusion with other places of the same or similar name (such as Ross in Scotland). Ross-on-Wye promotes itself as "the birthplace of British

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

". In 1745, the rector, Dr John Egerton, started taking friends on boat trips down the valley from his rectory at Ross. The

Wye Valley The Wye Valley () is a valley in Wales and England. The River Wye () is the Rivers of Great Britain#Longest rivers in the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The upper part of the valley is in the Cambrian Mountains an ...

's attraction was its river scenery, its precipitous landscapes, and its castles and abbeys, which were accessible to seekers of the "

picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

". In 1782, William Gilpin's book ''Observations on the River Wye'' was published, the first illustrated tour guide to be published in Britain. Once it had appeared, demand grew so much that by 1808 there were eight boats making regular excursions along the Wye, most of them hired from inns in Ross and

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

. By 1850, more than 20 visitors had published their own accounts of the Wye Tour, and the area was established as a tourist destination.

Parish church

The 700-year-old

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 ...

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

's, is the town's most prominent landmark. Its tall pointed

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

is visible when approaching the town from all directions. The church holds several distinctive tombs, one of which – that of William Rudhall (who died in 1530) – is one of the last great alabaster sculptures from the specialist masons of Nottingham, whose work was prized across

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Europe. Rudhall was responsible for the repair of the

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...

to the north west of the church, in 1575. Another tomb is of John Kyrle, a prominent figure in 18th-century Ross, whose name has been taken by the town's

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

. He is also recalled in one of the town's notable inns, The Man Of Ross, and there is a fine painting of him, by an unknown artist, in the

Corn Exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

in the High Street.

United Reformed, Methodist and Baptist churches

The

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

in Christ Church in Edde Cross Street has closed permanently. The

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

congregation, part of the Herefordshire Group, likewise was at Christ Church. The former United Reformed Church in Gloucester Road has now been converted into housing. Ross

Baptist Church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

is in Broad Street. In 1731 the Baptists built Ryeford Chapel at Weston under Penyard, but in 1817 worshippers from Ross decided to separate. They purchased the site on Broad Street and constructed a chapel with an attached graveyard. The original chapel was replaced in 1879, with much of the funding from Thomas Blake, a local philanthropist. In 2017, the current Baptist church in Ross marked its 200th anniversary.

Plague Cross

The Plague or Corpse Cross was erected in the churchyard of St Mary's in 1637 as a memorial to 315 townsfolk who died that year of the plague and were buried nearby in a

plague pit A plague pit is the informal term used to refer to mass graves in which victims of the Black Death were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in Great Britain, but can be applied to any place where bubonic plague victims wer ...

, at night and without

coffin A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...

s. By 1896, the Plague Cross had fallen into disrepair and the top was missing. It was later restored. Since 1952, it has been listed as a Grade II* edifice, and since 1997 it has been a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

The Prospect

The Prospect was created by John Kyrle, who rented the land from the

Marquess of Bath Marquess#United Kingdom, Marquess of Bath is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath, Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles Baron#Britain an ...

in 1696 and turned it into a garden and walkway. In 2008, heavy rain uncovered Roman remains that were excavated under the site. The Prospect provides a public garden opposite the church, containing trees dedicated to local people, a

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

Beacon and a War Memorial. It offers a view of the famous horseshoe bend in the Wye and as far west as the Black Mountains.

Present day

The town is known for locally owned shops and a market square with a market hall. Thursday and Saturday markets are held at the red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

Market House building in the town centre. This was built between 1650 and 1654 to replace a probably wooden Booth Hall. The upper storey now houses an arts and crafts centre. The town's small theatre, The Phoenix, shows films once a month, along with plays and other arts events. The ruins of Wilton Castle, to the west of the town, have been restored and opened to visitors. The town has a number of

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

by Walenty Pytel – the left bank of the Wye shows two of these. Despite the common belief that both depict swans, one in fact shows ducks.

Politics and representation

Most local government functions are vested in Herefordshire Council, the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

covering the county. Ross Town Council, with 18 councillors, six each from the Ross North, West and East wards, has the powers of a parish council. The Mayor is Councillor Louis Stark. Ross Rural was merged into the civil parish on 1 April 2015. Since the May 2023 local elections, the town council has a majority of Liberal Democrats (twelve), with one

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and five Independents. The town is part of the Hereford and South Herefordshire parliamentary constituency, currently represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

by the Conservative MP Jesse Norman.

Transport

The former Ross-on-Wye railway station was at a junction on the Hereford, Ross & Gloucester Railway north of the town. It was the terminus of the Ross & Monmouth Railway, which joined the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester just south of the station. Opened on 1 June 1855, the line was merged into the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

on 29 July 1862 and in 1869 converted from

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

in a five-day period. A line to

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

was authorised by

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1856, but never built. Under the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

, the lines to Ross closed in stages up to 1964. The brick station has been demolished and the site redeveloped into an industrial estate, on which the brick goods and engine sheds still stand. The nearest railway stations are in Ledbury on the

Cotswold Line The Cotswold Line is an railway line between and in England. History Early years The line between Oxford and Worcester was built under an 1845 Act of Parliament and opened in 1851 as part of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway ...

and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

on the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway. Ross-on-Wye is a primary destination on Great Britain's road network. The

A40 road The A40 is a trunk road which runs between London and Goodwick (Fishguard), Wales, and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road (A40) in all legal documents and Acts. Much of its length within England has been superseded by motorw ...

bypasses the town to its north and is signed westbound towards

, as well as eastbound towards

. It also interchanges with the northbound A49 to

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

and the A449 running northeast to Ledbury. To the east is the end of the M50 motorway, sometimes called the Ross Spur or Ross Motorway, which links with the M5. Stagecoach West and Nick Maddy Coaches provide regular bus services. Stagecoach West operates hourly route 33 through Ross between Gloucester and Hereford, while Nick Maddy Coaches operates hourly route 40 serving residential streets across town.

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

also operate a twice daily service to and from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on its 445 route.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee in the English Midlands. It was created following ...

. Television signals are received from the Ridge Hill and the local relay transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Hereford and Worcester, Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Greatest Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire and Sunshine Radio. The town is served by the local newspapers ''The Ross Gazette'' and '' Hereford Times''.

Climate

Ross-on-Wye experiences a typically British

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...

, with mild summers and winters. A Met Office

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...

provides long-term climate data for the town. Meteorological readings have been taken in Ross since 1858; the Ross-on-Wye weather station holds some national records.

Notable people

People who were born in Ross, or have lived in the town, include: * John Kyrle (1637–1724), philanthropist known as "the Man of Ross" * James Cowles Prichard (1786–1848), scientist prominent in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

* Frederick Gordon (1835–1904), hotelier * William Partridge (1858–1930), soldier prominent in the 1879 Zulu war * Arthur Pugh (1870–1955), President of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

* William Henry Squire (1871–1963),

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

member, cellist, composer and music professor * Frank Andrews (1886–1944), international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

(Wales) and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player * Frederick Burrows (1887–1973), Governor of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

* Juxon Barton (1891–1980), Governor of

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Noele Gordon Joan Noele Gordon (25 December 1919 – 14 April 1985) was an English actress and television presenter, of Scottish descent. She played the role of Meg Mortimer (originally Richardson, later Ryder) in the long-running British soap opera ''Crossr ...

(1919–1985), actress * Yvonne Littlewood (1927–2023), television producer * Dennis Potter (1935–1994), dramatist * Roger Whittaker (1936–2023), singer-songwriter * Pete Overend Watts (1947–2017), member of the Mott the Hoople band *

Dale Griffin Terence Dale "Buffin" Griffin (24 October 1948 – 17 January 2016) was an English drummer and a founding member of 1970s rock band Mott the Hoople. Later, he worked as a producer, and produced many of the BBC Radio 1 John Peel sessions from ...

(1948–2016), member of Mott the Hoople

Twin towns

Ross-on-Wye has three

twin towns A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

: * Betzdorf, Germany *

Condé-sur-Noireau Condé-sur-Noireau () is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Condé-en-Normandie. It is situated on the Noireau River. In the fi ...

, France (since 1978) * Namutumba, Uganda

Gallery

File:Man of Ross.jpg, The Man Of Ross inn File:Market House from West.jpg, The Market House from the west File:Ross St Marys spire.jpg, St Mary's Church spire File:Ross-on-Wye by W.A. Call.jpg, View of the town from the banks of the

File:Interior of St Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye, England arp.jpg, Interior of St Mary’s, the parish church

References

External links

*Town Counci
Ross-on-Wye Town Council
* *Littlebury's Directory, 1876–187

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross-On-Wye Market towns in Herefordshire Towns in Herefordshire Towns of the Welsh Marches River Wye Civil parishes in Herefordshire