Ewyas Harold () 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 Golden Valley in

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 ...

, England, near the Wales-England border about halfway between

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, and

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 census was 883. It lies on the Dulas brook, and is contiguous with the neighbouring village of Pontrilas. The village is on the site of Ewyas Harold Castle, of which only the motte remains. Its name derives from the Welsh kingdom of Ewyas and from Harold, son of

Ralph the Timid Ralph the Timid, also known as Ralf of Mantes (died 1057), was Earl of Hereford between 1051 and 1055 or 1057. His mother was Godgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred the Unready and his second wife Emma. His father was Drogo of Mantes, Coun ...

(Earl of Hereford), and grandson of King

Æthelred the Unready Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 � ...

. Ewyas Harold parish has a large area of

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

rich in wildlife and ancient meadow saffron, a leftover from cultivation by the monks at Dore Abbey. Some villagers have commoner's rights. The village has a school, a

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...

and a redundant

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church. The

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

ministry of St. Michael and All Angels is now linked with that of several neighbouring parishes. It is the nearest village to the

Pontrilas Army Training Area Pontrilas Army Training Area is a British Army training camp, located just north of the village of Ewyas Harold near to Pontrilas in Herefordshire, England. Originally developed pre-World War II by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as an ammunition ...

References

Sources

Bannister, Arthur Thomas, ''The history of Ewias Harold, its castle, priory, and church'' (Hereford 1902)

External links

Ewyas Harold Castle
, castle and priory excavations
St Michael & All Angels, Ewyas Harold - with Dulas
diocesan website
Ewyas Harold Group Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire