Wormbridge is a village and former

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 ...

, England, about southwest of

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 ...

, on the

A465 road The A465 is a Trunk roads in Wales, trunk road that runs from Bromyard in Herefordshire, England to Llandarcy near Swansea in south Wales. The western half in Wales is known officially as the Neath to Abergavenny Trunk Road, but the section fro ...

at (). The neighbouring villages are

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 ...

, Didley, Howton, Treville,

Ewyas Harold Ewyas Harold () is a village and civil parish in the Golden Valley, Herefordshire, Golden Valley in Herefordshire, England, near the Wales-England border about halfway between Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, and Hereford. The population of this civ ...

, Pontrilas and Crizeley. In 2001 the parish had a population of 59. Until 1 April 2019 the civil parish was part of The Kilpeck Group Parish Council, the civil parish was then merged with Kilpeck. It is home to several local and larger businesses: Theale Fireplaces, Galanthus Gallery and Cafe, Bridges Childcare, Forge Garage and Tack Shop and NFU Mutual. The village previously had a small school, the building being rented from the Whitfield Estate (see below), until closed by

Herefordshire Council Herefordshire Council is the local authority for the county of Herefordshire in England. It is a unitary authority, combining the powers of a district and county council. History Herefordshire was one of the historic counties of England. Elec ...

due to decreasing numbers. The school building is now used by Bridges Childcare, which has been run successfully since 2003. Historic houses in the village include: Wormbridge Court, Wormbridge House, Fairacre (formerly Lyon Villa) and Trelough House. Wormbridge and its church were once owned by the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

s of St John of Jerusalem. Some of the church architecture, including the entrance door, is

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

, dating from about 1200. The unbuttressed west tower dates from the 13th century, but the top stage and

broach spire A broach spire is a type of spire (tall pyramidal structure), which usually sits atop a tower or turret of a church. It starts on a square base and is carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces. File:Leicester Cathedral ...

were added in 1851–59. The church also holds several memorial plaques belonging to local landowners and a private crypt. A465 at Wormbridge - geograph

Wormbridge Court Farm and the majority of the surrounding land and houses are now owned by Edward George Clive (formally Lennox-Boyd) of Whitfield, grandchild to Lady Mary Katherine Pakenham, sister to Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford,

Lord Longford Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and social reformer. A member of the Labour Party, ...

. Wormbridge Court itself was a 17th-century house facing south on the site of the school playground. The basement window openings of that house are still visible in the retaining wall of the playground. The house was demolished circa 1800 when the Clive family moved to Whitfield, away. The stables were then converted to create Wormbridge Court Farm. Wormbridge

Mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

was a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

on the Worm Brook, which flows near the village. The mill buildings are near Old Mill Farm.

Steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transf ...

was used to supplement water from about 1890. Milling continued until the early 1920s.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire Former civil parishes in Herefordshire