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

in Herefordshire, England, approximately north of Ledbury. The small River Leadon flows through the parish, passing along the west side of the village.

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

mapping Bosbury shares a parish council with neighbouring Coddington.

Features

The village has a primary school, a day nursery, a

parish hall A church hall or parish hall is a room or building associated with a church architecture, church, generally for community and Charitable organization, charitable use. In smaller and village communities, it is often a separate building near the ...

(which hosts a monthly

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

and a weekly post office counter), a

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

s, a historic

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

(The Bell),Bosbury History Resource
''Pubs of Bromyard, Ledbury and East Herefordshire'' a

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

and tennis club, and a cricket club. A second pub exists just within the parish, on the main road towards Ledbury, at Staplow, The Oak. The Church of the Holy Trinity stands in the centre of the village and is of early 12th-century foundation with later medieval additions. The 13th-century tower is notable for being one of seven in Herefordshire standing quite apart from the church, some considerable distance in Bosbury's case.Bosbury Church
The Story of Holy Trinity, Bosbury This was for defensive purposes in the troubled Marches region. Inside the church sanctuary, one on each of the north and south walls, are two fine examples of Renaissance Italian tombs, dedicated to members of the Harford family who lived in Bosbury throughout the 16th century. Both the main church building and the detached tower are Grade I listed buildings.British Listed Buildings
Bosbury The most notable dwelling, Bosbury House, is a substantial Georgian red brick building just outside the village, substantially altered in 1873 and now Grade II listed. Bosbury, both in the village and scattered across the parish, is also noted for its many

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

half-timbered buildings, most of which are Grade II listed. Outside the village, the parish is well-populated but dispersed, with numerous large farms and small hamlets, including Catley, Stoneyard, Swinmore, Cold Green, Bowley Lane, Pow Green, Townend, Old Country, Slatch Farm, Norbridge, Gold Hill, Stanley Hill, Southfield and part of Staplow.

Transport

The village is situated on the B4220 road, an old route between Ledbury and Worcester, and a country bus route (Ledbury-Worcester) serves the village, with an additional bus to and from Ledbury on school days. The nearest railway station is Ledbury, approximately distant by road. The Herefordshire Trail long-distance footpath passes through the village, as does The National Byway. The route of the derelict Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal passes through the southwest corner of the parish.

Agriculture

The village was most noted in the 19th and 20th centuries for

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

, being the largest hop farming area outside of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The local hop industry in the area is much reduced and many old hop yards stand empty or have been demolished, whilst some oast houses have been converted into dwellings. The countryside of the parish does however still have a sizeable acreage of

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s and hop vines, and there has in recent years been a revival of apple, pear and hop cultivation corresponding with increased popularity and consumption in Britain of traditional cider,

perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

and ale.

History

The bishops of Hereford in medieval times held the manors at Bosbury and Coddington and frequently held court at the manor house in the village.Bosbury Neighbourhood Plan
(2015) Known as the "Bishop's Palace", there exist some remains at Old Court, to the north of the churchyard. Two bishops of Hereford died in Bosbury –

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...

(in 1056) and Richard de Swinfield (in 1317). The palace was converted to agricultural use as an oast house. A separate manor of Upleadon existed in the parish, on the west side of the Leadon, and included Catley. The

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

had a base in Bosbury at what is now Temple Court, which was a moated preceptory of the order, and there is a Templar grave stone inside the church.

People

Bosbury was the home of the chairmaker Philip Clissett from about 1842 until his death in 1913. Clissett is well known for his links to the English

Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

. The Victorian novelist, Edna Lyall, is buried and commemorated in the churchyard.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, Bosbury had a population of 780, whilst the two parishes of Bosbury and Coddington had a combined population of 888, decreasing 8.5% to 813 at the 2011 census, giving an estimated population for Bosbury of 714.

Politics

Bosbury and Coddington Parish Council meet monthly at the Parish Hall. Bosbury has eleven seats on the council, whilst Coddington has two. The parishes of Bosbury, Coddington,

Colwall Colwall is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Herefordshire, England, situated on the border with Worcestershire, nestling on the western side of the Malvern Hills at the heart of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, AONB. Areas of ...

, and Mathon together form the

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Hope End, which returns one elected councillor to Herefordshire Council. The most recent election was in May 2015, in which the

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 ...

candidate, Tony Johnson, was elected. Councillor Johnson is the

Leader of the Council Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

.Herefordshire Council
Cllr A W Johnson Bosbury lies in the North Herefordshire parliamentary constituency, represented by Ellie Chowns of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

Gallery

File:Bosbury High Street, 2013.JPG, Main Street, looking east. File:Bosbury Holy Trinity Church, 2013.JPG, Bosbury Holy Trinity church with its detached tower. File:Bosbury Stone, 2013.JPG, A monolith located at the SE corner of the tower. File:Bosbury Old Boy's School and High Street, 2013.JPG, Looking south from the Old Boys' School. File:Bosbury Bronze War Memorial, 2013.JPG, The bronze First World War memorial. File:Bosbury House - geograph.org.uk - 1552907.jpg, Bosbury House.

References

External links

Bosbury and Coddington Parish CouncilBosbury churchBosbury History Resource
{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire Civil parishes in Herefordshire