Dymock 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 ...

in the Forest of Dean district of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

, England, about four miles south of

Ledbury Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills. It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Stree ...

. In 2014 the parish had an estimated population of 1,205. Dymock is the origin of the Dymock Red, a cider apple, and

Stinking Bishop cheese Stinking Bishop is a washed-rind cheese produced since 1972 by Charles Martell and Son at Hunts Court Farm, Dymock, Gloucestershire, in the west of England. It is made from the milk of Gloucester cattle. History By 1972, just 68 Gloucester br ...

History

In the village of Dymock there are several interesting buildings which include cruck beam cottages; "The White House", which was the birthplace of John Kyrle, the "Man of Ross", in 1637; Ann Cam School of 1825 and St Mary's Church, a patchwork history in brick and stone with Anglo-Norman origins. Nearby stands the only remaining village pub, which was purchased by Parish Council to help preserve a thriving village. The pub is rented and run by a landlord and supported by a local fundraising and social committee "Friends of the Beauchamp Arms" (FOBA). The Beauchamp Arms, Dymock - geograph

Dymock was served by the

Hereford & Gloucester Canal The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal (sometimes known as the Hereford and Gloucester Canal) is a canal in the west of England, which ran from Hereford to Gloucester, where it linked to the River Severn. It was opened in two phases in 1798 ...

, opened in 1845; this closed in 1881 and the section between

and

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

converted into a railway line, a branch line of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, though a stretch between Dymock and

Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish about 10½ miles (17 km) north-west of Gloucester, England. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population was 6,777 at the 2021 Census. ...

was by-passed as it was decided not to take the line through the 2,192 yard Oxenhall Tunnel.

Dymock railway station Dymock railway station was a stop on the former Ledbury and Gloucester Railway. It opened in 1885 and served the Gloucestershire village of Dymock Dymock is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, Eng ...

was on this line which closed in 1959, but the canal (including the tunnel), is now being restored. Dymock is the ancestral home of the

Dymoke The Dymoke family of the Manor of Scrivelsby in the parish of Horncastle in Lincolnshire holds the feudal hereditary office of King's Champion. The functions of the Champion are to ride into Westminster Hall at the coronation banquet and chal ...

family who are the Royal Champions of England. It is thought that the Dymokes first lived at Knight's Green, an area just outside the village of Dymock.

Governance

The village falls in the ' Bromesberrow and Dymock'

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

. This ward starts in the north at ''Dymock'' and ends in the south at Kempley. The ward total population taken at the 2011 census was 1,901.

Popular culture

Dymock gave its name to a school of Romanesque sculpture first described in the book ''The Dymock School of Sculpture'' by Eric Gethyn-Jones (1979). The school is noted for its use of stepped volute capitals and its stylised "tree of life" motif on tympana. A lead tablet inscribed with an elaborate 17th-century curse against a woman called Sarah Ellis was found in a home in Wilton Place. It is preserved in

's museum collection as "The Dymock Curse". It was the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous home of the

Dymock poets The Dymock poets were a literary group of the early 20th century who made their homes near the village of Dymock in Gloucestershire, in England, near to the border with Herefordshire. Significant figures and events The 'Dymock Poets' are genera ...

from the period 1911–1914. The homes of

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (2 October 1878 – 26 May 1962) was a British Georgian poet, associated with World War I but also the author of much later work. Early work Gibson was born in Hexham, Northumberland, and left the north for London in 1914 ...

, Lascelles Abercrombie and the American-born

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American collo ...

can still be seen there. Dymock is renowned for its wild daffodils in the spring, and these were probably the inspiration for the line "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" in Frost's poem ''

The Road Not Taken "The Road Not Taken" is a narrative poem by Robert Frost, first published in the August 1915 issue of '' The Atlantic Monthly'', and later published as the first poem in the collection '' Mountain Interval'' of 1916. Its central theme is th ...

'', which was a gentle satire on his great friend, and fellow Dymock Poet, Edward Thomas. In 2011 the village featured on ''

Countryfile ''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues in the United Kingdom. The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker ...

'', where the Dymock poets were looked into in more detail.

Daffodil Way

The Daffodil Way is a circular walk through the ′Golden Triangle', best in late February and March when wild daffodil (''

Narcissus pseudonarcissus ''Narcissus pseudonarcissus'' (commonly known as wild daffodil or Lent lily) (Welsh: Cennin Pedr) is a perennial flowering plant. This species has pale yellow tepals, with a darker central trumpet. The long, narrow leaves are slightly greyis ...

'') are flowering in the fields around Dymock and Kempley.

References

;Bibliography * * *

External links

Dymock Community Web SiteDymock Family Web Site (England, U.S.A., and Canada. With extensive information on the Royal ChampionsPhotos of Dymock and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{authority control Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean Romanesque architecture in England Villages in Gloucestershire