Craswall (historically also spelt Craswell, Crasswall and Crosswold) 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 ...

, England. It lies in the far west of the county, in the foothills of the Black Mountains, close to the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

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 ...

. Before 1536 Craswall was in the

marcher lordship A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales. A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in ...

Ewyas Ewyas ( cy, Ewias) was a possible early Welsh kingdom which may have been formed around the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century. The name was later used for a much smaller commote or administrative sub-division, which cove ...

. Until 1866 it was a chapelry in the large parish of

Clodock Clodock cy, Clydog is a village in the west of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Monnow in the foothills of the Black Mountains, close to the border with Wales. The village is in the civil parish In England, a civil parish is ...

(until 1852 in the

diocese of St David's The Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The episcop ...

). It then became a separate civil parish. The village is near the source of the

River Monnow The River Monnow ( cy, Afon Mynwy) marks the England–Wales border for much of its length. After flowing through southwest Herefordshire, England, and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales, its confluence with the River Wye is approximately south of ...

. Above the village is the Black Hill, the setting for

Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, ...

's novel ''

On the Black Hill ''On the Black Hill'' is a novel by Bruce Chatwin published in 1982 and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for that year. In 1987 it was made into a film, directed by Andrew Grieve. Plot summary The novel's setting is the borde ...

''. In the 2001 census the population of the civil parish was 147, increasing to 153 at the 2011 Census.

References

External links

Extract from Littlebury's Directory, 1876-77
{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire Civil parishes in Herefordshire