Much Cowarne 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

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

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 ...

, located off the

A417 The A417 is a main road in England, running from Streatley, Berkshire to Hope under Dinmore, Herefordshire. It is best known for its section between Cirencester and Gloucester where it has primary status and forms part of the link between the ...

about 16 miles from

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 ...

and 10 miles from its post town of

Bromyard Bromyard is a town in the parish of Bromyard and Winslow, in Herefordshire, England, in the valley of the River Frome, Herefordshire, River Frome. It is near the county border with Worcestershire on the A44 road, A44 between Leominster and Worc ...

Geography

The village is located in countryside away from main roads, with views to the

Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit af ...

and

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 ...

. Composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

considered the landscape around the village as a source of inspiration, frequently cycling in the area to visit the church or friends at Cowarne Court. The civil parish includes the hamlet of Hope's Rough.

History

The ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' form of the name, ''Cuure'', suggests a meaning ''cow house'', perhaps implying a significant dairying centre. Little Cowarne, to the north west, appears in Domesday as ''Colgre'' which seems a quite different name, perhaps ''charcoal wood''. The two manors became linked, probably wrongly, in a 12th-century

exchequer In the Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''Transaction account, current account'' (i.e., mon ...

manuscript, and have shared a name ever since. It has recently been suggested that Much Cowarne, like its neighbours

and

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 ...

, was an Anglo-Saxon minster, though not as long lasting as they, and also a royal ''tun'', the administrative centre of an area stretching from

Bishop's Frome Bishop's Frome (or Bishops Frome) is a village and civil parish in eastern Herefordshire, England. The village is north-east of the city and county town of Hereford, west of Malvern and south of Bromyard. The civil parish includes the hamle ...

to Mordiford and Tarrington. In Domesday Book there are 41 households, a large number, in "Cuure". The Lord in 1066 was Earl Harold, to whom it was worth £25. The Lord in 1086 was Agnes daughter of Alfred of Marlborough, to whom it was worth £20. There was a priest, and 2 lord's plough teams and 32 men's plough teams. In 1148 Bishop

Gilbert Foliot Gilbert Foliot (Wiktionary:circa, c. 1110 – 18 February 1187) was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at C ...

appropriated the revenues of the church to

Gloucester Abbey Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishme ...

for candles and ornaments. This was confirmed by Bishops Hugh Foliot and John le Breton. In the 1291 Taxation, the church was valued at £23 6s. 8d. The connection with Gloucester may go back to

Bernard de Neufmarché Bernard de Neufmarché (), also Bernard of Newmarket or Bernard of Newmarch was the first of the Norman invasion of Wales, Norman conquerors of Wales. He was a minor Normans, Norman lord who rose to power in the Welsh Marches before successfully ...

in 1088 On 15 May 1255 Richard Pauncefot was granted a market on Thursdays and an annual fair at Much Cowarne by King Henry III, to be held at the manor. Similar markets and fairs were granted to Grimbald Pauncefot by Edward I on 16 November 1281. A large medieval settlement south east of Mill House has been scheduled as an important archaeological site.

Notable buildings

Cowarne Hall is a former school building built in a

Victorian Gothic 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 ...

architectural style, which has now been converted into a village hall and holiday cottages. The village has a medieval church building, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, which dates to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. There is a plaque inside the church celebrating Edward Elgar's connection to the village. The church is a grade I listed building

Community

The Much Cowarne History Group has published several books and booklets, including ''A Jugful of Much Cowarne Cider'' (2003) and ''Much Cowarne Church: A Guidebook and History'' (2008). It is currently involved in producing a collection of stories and pictures about the village as part of a Local Heritage Initiative project.

Local produce

The village has its own apple variety known as the Much Cowarne Red.

References

{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire