Whitchurch
St Dubricius Church, Whitchurch
Whitchurch is located in Herefordshire
Whitchurch
Whitchurch
Location within Herefordshire
Population970 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSO550174
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townROSS-ON-WYE
Postcode districtHR9
Dialling code01600
PoliceWest Mercia
FireHereford and Worcester
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
West front of St Dubricius' parish church

Whitchurch is a village in Herefordshire situated on the A40, connecting nearby Ross-on-Wye to Welsh town Monmouth. It is located within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[2]

Whitchurch parish encompasses the areas of Symonds Yat (West), Lewstone and the Great Doward.[3][4] These areas are served by the Whitchurch and Ganarew Group Parish Council.[5]

History

King Arthur's Cave, located in the Doward area of Whitchurch parish, is a site of archaeological interest, with the discovery of an Upper Palaeolithic human burial and the remains of mammoth, woolly rhino, giant deer, and cave hyena.[6][7]

Evidence of a Roman settlement, including a tessallated pavement thought to be the remains of a Roman villa, has been found in a meadow to the side of the road to Monmouth.[8]

Whitchurch is named after the church of Saint Dubricius which was originally white in colour. St Dubricius parish church dates from the 13th century, with Victorian restoration and additions.[9] As the churchyard directly backs onto the river Wye, St Dubricius Church has experienced several instances of flooding, with particularly serious damage occurring in episodes of flooding in 1947 and 2020.[10][11]

Until the 9th century, when it was taken over by Mercia, Whitchurch was within the Welsh kingdom of Ergyng.[12] After the Norman conquest, the area became known as Archenfield and was governed as part of the Welsh Marches. It became part of Herefordshire, and England, in the 16th century, although the use of Welsh in the area remained strong until the 19th century. The Welsh name for the village, Llandywynnog, means "church of Tywynnog", derived from a personal name Gwynnog.

Within the parish in Symonds Yat (West) is the Old Court (now the Old Court Hotel), which was built in the 16th century and is a Grade II* listed building.[13] The Old Court was the ancestral home of the Gwillim family including Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim.[14][15] Thomas Gwillim built the Gwillim family burial enclosure at St Dubricius church in 1744.[16] John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1791–1796) and founder of Toronto, named Whitchurch Township in Ontario after the family home of his wife, Elizabeth Gwillim.

The Wye Tour, an excursion route popularised in the late 18th century by William Gilpin, passed through the Whitchurch area along the river, drawing tourism to the scenic area.[17][18]

Amenities

Whitchurch parish has several inns, pubs, cafes, a local shop, and a nearby caravan and camp site. Across the A40 from Whitchurch village, in Symonds Yat (West), are Wye Valley Visitor Centre, Butterfly Zoo, Jubilee Maze, and leisure park.[19]

Whitchurch & Ganarew Memorial Hall hosts events and activities for the locality.[20]

The village school, Whitchurch Church of England Primary School, has been awarded Unicef UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Award at Silver: Rights Aware and is a Keep Britain Tidy Eco-Schools Ambassador.[21][22]

References

  1. ↑ "Custom report - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Wye Valley AONB map – Wye Valley AONB". www.wyevalleyaonb.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Whitchurch CP/AP through time | Boundaries of Parish-level Unit, A Vision of Britain through Time". A vision of Britain through time. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  4. ↑ "Whitchurch Parish Local Area Report". Nomis. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  5. ↑ "Whitchurch & Ganarew Group Parish Council Home Page". www.wagpc.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  6. ↑ Vaughan, David J. (2016). The Little Book of Herefordshire. The History Press. p. 12.
  7. ↑ Phelps, David (2022). 50 Gems of Herefordshire. Amberley. p. 71. ISBN 9781398104242.
  8. ↑ "Monument Number 109648". Historic England Research Records. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "CHURCH OF ST DUBRICIUS, Whitchurch - 1224924 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  10. ↑ "ICBS 11969 ff 43-45". Lambeth Palace Library Archives. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "Thanks for support | chepstowbeacon.co.uk". Chepstow Beacon. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  12. ↑ "Whitchurch and Ganarew Group Neighbourhood Plan: About Whitchurch". www.wagpcnp.org.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  13. ↑ "OLD COURT HOTEL, Whitchurch - 1225292 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  14. ↑ "The Rich History of a 16th Century Symonds Yat Hotel". Old Court Hotel. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  15. ↑ "Gwillym bibliographic accounts". www.langstone-court.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  16. ↑ "GWILLIM MEMORIAL APPROXIMATELY 15 METRES NORTH WEST OF CHURCH OF ST DUBRICIUS, Whitchurch - 1225288 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  17. ↑ Gilpin, William (1782). Observations on the river Wye, and several parts of South Wales ... made in the summer of the year 1770. London. p. 23. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  18. ↑ Dudley Fosbroke, Thomas (1834). The Wye tour, or Gilpin on the Wye. Oxford University. p. 45.
  19. ↑ "Wye Valley VISITOR CENTRE". wyevalleyvisitorcentre.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  20. ↑ Update, Jan Thomson in General. "Whitchurch & Ganarew Memorial Hall - A community website supporting Whitchurch & Ganarew Memorial Hall". Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  21. ↑ "Silver Rights Respecting Schools in the UK - UNICEF UK". Rights Respecting Schools Award. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  22. ↑ "Whitchurch eco school". Hereford Times. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Whitchurch, Herefordshire.

grid reference SO550174

Whichurch and Ganarew Local History Society

The Gwillim-Simcoe Family Story

Whitchurch Church of England Primary School

Old Court Hotel


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