On Thursday, 22nd June, D and I decided to go to Weobley - one of the villages on the Herefordshire "Black and White Village" Trail and my favourite.
Weobley is mentioned in the Domesday book and became a borough in the C13th with a fair being held from 1231. It was prosperous due to the wool trade and then due to ale and glove making. It has many late Medieval timber framed houses including examples of half Wealden and C15th hall houses.
By 1628 the town had a much smaller population and became a "Rotten Borough" with the Marquis of Bath being one of the influential patrons.
Sadly a fire in November 1948 destroyed many of the medieval buildings in the market square.
There is a Heritage Trail round the village which D and I have walked several times over the years.
The manor house in the photo below is a C16 hall house made up of a central hall around which daily life would have revolved. The private family quarters were on the left in the solar wing and the service quarters were in the other wing.
This is Glebe House probably the only Georgian house in Weobley built c1780 and in 1821 it became the vicarage. The house was mentioned in Dorothy Wordsworth's diary when she writes about having tea in the garden.
St Peter and St Paul Weobley - I'll write about the church in the next post as I managed to visit for a second time to get more photos of the interior.
Record shot of a Red Kite - D had seen swifts (unbelievably the first I have seen this year) nesting in the church roof.
The Old Corner House - C15th and jettied with a 2 bay cross wing on the corner. It now houses a tea room (info for Pete from The Quacks of Life) :)
The Red Lion C15th or earlier with later additions. Once a hotel now a restaurant.
A lovely cruck timber framed house where the curved timber (one of a pair) supports the roof.
Plants in Walls
The Gables the largest Hall House in Weobley with a later Georgian Porch. On D and I's first visit we had a lovely lunch here and we all stayed bed and breakfast for a long weekend a few years ago.
The "classic view" of Weobley - shame about the parked cars!
The Green Bean and the main reason for our visit as I had heard via a friend who lives nearby that they had some of the delicious Lyonshall strawberries in stock. They sell deli items, books and note Pete there is a tearoom too :)
Timothy on the market square
The market square with Magnus the Magpie - a sculpture by Walenty Pytel. (We've seen more of his work in Leominster in the past). The magpie is a symbol of the "black and white villages".
The red brick building is the Corn Mill built 1850/60.
The pump house in the car park built to reflect the local building style.
If you want to see more of Weobley just click on "Weobley" in labels on the right hand side. There are photos of the castle and many more of the interesting houses and buildings in the village.
There was no shade in the car park to eat lunch and it was hot! So we moved on to nearby Dilwyn which I knew had a village green shaded by trees.
Swallow or house martin nest on a house.
While here I decided to go back to St Mary the Virgin, Dilwyn as on the last visit I hadn't seen the labyrinth in the churchyard.
D had stopped in the car which was a pain (I think he thought I was about to disappear in another church!) as I needed someone taller to get a better photo of the labyrinth in the grass. The sun and shade played havoc too so photos aren't brilliant.
This was marked as a Wild Flower Conservation area but sadly it had been mowed. It might be me but surely it is a bit early to cut a wild flower meadow area?
If you want to see the inside of the church and more of Dilwyn village please see Dilwyn and St Mary's Church
On the way home we stopped off at Monkland Cheese shop to buy cheeses and some rather lovely local crisps but they were closed that week. I drove up the lane to turn round and found a sign for Monkland Common which might have some nice walks.
Purchases from the Green Bean - the strawberries were delicious.
Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and those marked *D by my son with the Canon SX50HS. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one or mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).
Reference: Information Boards round Weobley
Pevsner Buildings of England Herefordshire Nikolaus Pevsner and Alan Brooks Yale University Press 2012.
