Eardisley () 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 ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

about south of the centre of Kington. Eardisley is in the

Wye valley The Wye Valley () is a valley in Wales and England. The River Wye () is the Rivers of Great Britain#Longest rivers in the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The upper part of the valley is in the Cambrian Mountains an ...

in the northwest of the county, close to the border with

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The village is part of the " Black and white village trail", having many

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

buildings along its high street. Recent

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...

dating work on timbers in these buildings has revealed that some parts date back to the 14th century.

History

Recorded as ''Herdeslege'' in 1086, ''Eierdesl in 1249 and ''Erdesleye'' in 1269, the name is believed to derive from an

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

personal name, perhaps Ægheard. Eardisley Park estate includes the site of Eardisley Castle. The manor house built during the Georgian period burned down in 1999 and was replaced with a replica in 2003.

Churches

St Mary Magdalene

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St.

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

is a 12th-century building noted for its

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

, carved in about 1150.Pevsner, 1963, page 121 It is a Norman work of the Herefordshire School and bears some resemblance to the carvings at

Kilpeck Kilpeck is a village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. It is about southwest of Hereford, just south of the A465 road and Welsh Marches Line to Abergavenny, and about from the border with Wales. On 1 April 2019, the ...

in south Herefordshire. It combines intricate Celtic knotwork patterns with dramatic scenes, including the

Harrowing of Hell In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell (; Greek language, Greek: – "the descent of Christ into Christian views on Hell, Hell" or Christian views on Hades, Hades) is the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his Resurre ...

and two knights fighting. It is a grade I listed building. The south aisle windows were renewed by the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

architect

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery. He was Arch ...

in 1863. George Coke,

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...

, was buried here. The churchyard extension contains the Commonwealth war graves of a Herefordshire Regiment soldier of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and a

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

soldier and a

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

nurse of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Eardisley Methodist Church

Eardisley Methodist Church in Woodseaves Road is in the Shropshire and Marches

Methodist Circuit The organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is based on the principle of connexionalism. This means that British Methodism, from its inception under John Wesley (1703–1791), has always laid strong emphasis on mutual support, in ...

. It opened in 1867 as Eardisley Primitive Methodist Church.

Hay Railway

The Hay Railway was an early

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

horse tramway that connected Eardisley with Watton Wharf on the

Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal () is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its currently (2018) navigable length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National parks of England and Wales, National Park, and its present rural c ...

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

. From 1 May 1820, the Hay Railway was joined at its Eardisley terminus, in an end-on junction, by the Kington Tramway. Together, the two lines totalled in length, comprising the longest continuous

plateway A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later. Plateways consisted of L-shaped rails, where the flange ...

to be completed in the United Kingdom. The Hay railway operated through rural areas on the borders of England and Wales and was built to transport goods and freight. Passengers were not carried on any official basis. The Hay Railway was absorbed into the

Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway The Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway (HH&BR) was a railway company that built a line between Hereford in England and a junction with the Mid-Wales Railway at Three Cocks Junction. It opened its line in stages from 1862 to 1864. It never had enou ...

in 1860 and the line was converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

for operation by steam locomotives.

Amenities

Eardisley has two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, the Tram Inn and The New Strand. The New Strand is the headquarters for the North West Herefordshire Pool League which incorporates the Eardisley Summer Pool League and the Portway Winter Pool League. The New Strand is also headquarters to the Hay and District Darts League & the Weobley and District Darts League. The parish has a

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

. The village holds the annual Eardisley Flower Show on

August Bank Holiday The August Bank Holiday or Summer Bank Holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, part of the statutory bank holiday provision. Originally, the holiday was held on the first Monday of August across the country, but was changed in the lat ...

each year.

Notable people

* Louise Skelton, British equestrian athlete * Jessica Raine, British actress

Notes

Sources

External links

www.eardisley.com Village websiteGENUKI(tm) pageGeograph: photos of Eardisley and surrounding area
* {{authority control Civil parishes in Herefordshire Villages in Herefordshire