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

in the

Forest of Dean district Forest of Dean is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in west Gloucestershire, England, named after the Forest of Dean. Its council is based in Coleford, Gloucestershire, Coleford. Other towns and villages in the district inc ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, 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 Tudor style timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane a ...

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

cider apple Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider (referred to as "hard cider" in the United States). Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or ...

, and Stinking Bishop cheese.

History

In the village of Dymock there are several interesting buildings which include

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

beam cottages; "The White House", which was the birthplace of

John Kyrle John Kyrle (22 May 1637 – 7 November 1724), known as "the Man of Ross", was an England, English philanthropist, remembered for his time in Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. Education and legal background Born in the parish of Dymock, Glouceste ...

, 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, and is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building. 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). A former pub, The Crown, closed in 1993. Dymock was served by the Hereford & Gloucester Canal, opened in 1845; this closed in 1881 and the section between

and

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

converted into a railway line, a branch line of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

, though a stretch between Dymock and

Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The town is north-west of Gloucester. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population ...

was by-passed as it was decided not to take the line through the 2,192 yard Oxenhall Tunnel. Dymock railway station 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 (now defunct) coronation ...

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 t ...

. 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 Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-centur ...

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 noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous home of the Dymock poets 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, who was associated with World War I but continued publishing poetry into the 1940s and 1950s. Early work Gibson was born in Hexham, Northumberland. His parents ...

Lascelles Abercrombie Lascelles Abercrombie, (9 January 1881 – 27 October 1938) was a British poet and literary critic, one of the " Dymock poets". After the First World War he worked as a professor of English literature in a number of English universities, ...

and the American-born

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...

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", which was a gentle satire on his great friend, and fellow Dymock Poet, Edward Thomas. In 2011 the village featured on '' Countryfile'', 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'', common name, commonly named the wild daffodil or Lent lily (), is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant. This species has pale yellow tepals, with a darker central trumpet. The long, narrow leaf, leaves a ...

'') 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.ukDymock on Visit Gloucestershire
{{authority control Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Forest of Dean Romanesque architecture in England Villages in Gloucestershire