Canon Frome is a hamlet and small rural parish on the River Frome, 5 miles northwest 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 Stre ...

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 Monmouthshire ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

with a population of 139. Its most notable feature is Canon Frome Court which is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

large red brick

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...

. The house was originally a sixteenth century moated manor house but was extensively rebuilt, incorporating earlier parts of the building, in 1786 and again in 1868. It was for 300 years the ancestral home of the Hopton family. It now forms a cohousing community.

History

The first known occupation of the site was by the Roman army who had a fort near the river, the remains of which are still traceable today. The Canons of Llanthony Abbey established themselves here in 1280. The Hoptons came to prominence at Canon Frome through the marriage in 1591 of Michael Hopton, a knight of Shropshire, to a widow named Martha Hareford, the heiress of the Canon Frome estate. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

the then moated house contained a Royalist garrison under a Colonel John Barnold with 120 men. It was captured in 1645 by a Scots army under the

Earl of Leven Earl of Leven (pronounced "''Lee''-ven") is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1641 for Alexander Leslie. He was succeeded by his grandson Alexander, who was in turn followed by his daughters Margaret and Catherine (who are u ...

advancing to besiege Hereford. The house was ransacked, and some 70 men of the garrison were killed by Parliament's men. Many of the dead were buried where they fell. There was said to be a field named Bloody Acre in the area.

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

is reputed to have rested at the house sometime before the Battle of Ledbury in 1645.Canon Frome Court
Monument Detail, Herefordshire Through Time, 23 July 2010. Accessed 27 October 2014
Welcome to Ledbury, Visitor UK Website. Accessed 27 October 2014

Canon Frome Court

The present house was built in 1786 and is attributed to architect

Anthony Keck Anthony Keck (1726–1797) was an 18th-century English people, English architect with an extensive practice in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and South Wales. Life Keck was born at Randwick, Gloucestershire in 1726 He designed i ...

working for Richard Cope Hopton (1738–1810). It is considered a fine example of late eighteenth century architecture. The house was extended and modernised in the 1870s by the architect John Middleton.John Middleton
JOHN MIDDLETON: Victorian, Provincial Architect, by Brian Torode. Accessed 13 March 2015 The house was designated as

in 1952. Inside the building are some re-set earlier fittings. Notably in the former Billiard Room is a late 16th-century carved wood

overmantel The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and ca ...

consisting of two bays with the initials I. H. and female figures representing Prudence, Justice, and Wisdom. The driveway to the Court is flanked by imposing red brick pillars dated to 1905 which support iron gates. On top of the pillars are unusual sandstone statues: one is the figure of a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

's head with a bloody hand in its mouth, the other is a talbot hound, chained and wearing a floral collar, and resting its paw on a

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltato ...

. These are all elements of the Hopton coat of arms. Gateway to Canon Frome Court - geograph

The house and land was bought by Hereford County Council in 1957 and it became a state secondary school. The school closed in 1978 and the house was bought by th
Windflower Housing Association
a

cohousing Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. The term originated in Denmark in late 1960s. Each attached or single family home has traditional amenities, including a private kitchen. Shared spaces typica ...

community, and it is now divided into 20 apartments with some common areas. The land is worked collectively.

Parish church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activitie ...

of St. James, close by Canon Frome Court House, is the third sacred building to occupy the site. The red brick West Tower was built in 1680, but the rest of the church was rebuilt in 1860 by the architect

George Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Wat ...

. It is in the early English style, with an ornate

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

and alabaster

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ...

.Canon Frome Herefordshire
1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, A Vision of Britain Through Time website. Accessed 27 October 2014 Today the church is part of the Hop Churches benefice, alongside six other rural parishes.

Notable people

Colonel John Dutton Hopton (1858–1934) of Canon Frome Court was an Olympic sharpshooter and a director of the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire 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 first Duke ...

. He is buried at the top of Meephill to the east of the parish. His grave is marked by an impressive stone classical temple that has outstanding resonant musical qualities. This mausoleum marks the spot from which he once hit a bulls-eye 1500 yards away at Old Birchend.

Governance

The first tier of local government is Stretton Grandison Group Parish Council, which also encompasses the parishes of Stretton Grandison,

Castle Frome Castle Frome is a village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, and is north-east from the city and county town of Hereford. The closest large town is the market town of Bromyard, to the north. The Norman architecture, Nor ...

and Eggleton. Canon Frome is part of the electoral ward called Frome. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 census was 3,450.

References

Bibliography

* Burke's and Saville's ''Guide to Country Houses'', 1980, p 13; RCHM Vol II, p 45, item 2; BoE, p 98. *Sir Nikolaus Pevsner ''Buildings of England'', Herefordshire, Volume 25, 1961, Page 98.

External links

Canon Frome Court Community
– the cohousing

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, po ...

{{Commons category inline Houses in Herefordshire Country houses in Herefordshire Grade II listed buildings in Herefordshire Grade II listed houses Civil parishes in Herefordshire Hamlets in Herefordshire Massacres during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms Massacres in 1645