the West Saxons early in the 7th century, had a strategic importance due
to its proximity to the Welsh March. The foundation of the castle is
ascribed to Earl Harold, afterwards Harold II. The castle was
successfully besieged by Stephen, and was the prison of Prince Edward
during the Barons' Wars. The pacification of Wales deprived Hereford of
military significance until it became a Royalist stronghold during the
Civil Wars. It surrendered easily to Waller in 1643; but was reoccupied
by the king's troops and received Rupert on his march to Wales after
Naseby. It was besieged by the Scots during August 1645 and relieved by
the king. It fell to the Parliamentarians in this year. In 1086 the town
included fees of the bishop, the dean and chapter, and the Knights
Hospitallers, but was otherwise royal demesne. Richard I. in 1189 sold
their town to the citizens at a fee farm rent, which grant was confirmed
by John, Henry III., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., Henry IV. and
Edward IV. Incorporation was granted to the mayor, aldermen and citizens
in 1597, and confirmed in 1620 and 1697-1698. Hereford returned two
members to parliament from 1295 until 1885, when the Redistribution Act
deprived it of one representative. In 1116-1117 a fair beginning on St
Ethelberta's day was conferred on the bishop, the antecedent of the
modern fair in the beginning of May. A fair beginning on St Denis' day,
granted to the citizens in 1226-1227, is represented by that held in
October. The fair of Easter Wednesday was granted in 1682. In 1792 the
existing fairs of Candlemas week and the beginning of July were held.
Market days were, under Henry VIII. and in 1792, Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday; the Friday market was discontinued before 1835. Hereford was
the site of a provincial mint in 1086 and later. A grant of an exclusive
merchant gild, in 1215-1216, was several times confirmed. The trade in
wool was important in 1202, and eventually responsible for gilds of
tailors, drapers, mercers, dyers, fullers, cloth workers, weavers and
haberdashers; it brought into the market Welsh friezes and white cloth;
but declined in the 16th century, although it existed in 1835. The
leather trade was considerable in the 13th century. In 1835 the glove
trade had declined. The city anciently had an extensive trade in bread
with Wales. It was the birthplace of David Garrick, the actor, in 1716,
and probably of Nell Gwyn, mistress of Charles II., to whose memory a
tablet was erected in 1883, marking the supposed site of her house.
See R. Johnson, _Ancient Customs of Hereford_ (London, 1882); J.
Duncumbe, _History of Hereford_ (Hereford, 1882); _Journal_ of Brit.
Arch. Assoc. xxvi.
HEREFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England on the south Welsh border,
bounded N. by Shropshire, E. by Worcestershire, S. by Monmouthshire and
Gloucestershire, and W. by Radnorshire and Brecknockshire. The area is
839.6 sq. m. The county is almost wholly drained by the Wye and its
tributaries, but on the north and east includes a small portion of the
Severn basin. The Wye enters Herefordshire from Wales at Hay, and with a
sinuous and very beautiful course crosses the south-western part of the
county, leaving it close above the town of Monmouth. Of its tributaries,
the Lugg enters in the north-west near Presteign, and has a course
generally easterly to Leominster, where it turns south, receives the
Arrow from the west, and joins the Wye 6 m. below Hereford, the Frome
flowing in from the east immediately above the junction. The Monnow
rising in the mountains of Brecknockshire forms the boundary between
Herefordshire and Monmouthshire over one-half of its course (about 20
m.), but it joins the main river at Monmouth. Its principal tributary in
Herefordshire is the Dore, which traverses the picturesque Golden
Valley. The Wye is celebrated for its salmon fishing, which is carefully
preserved, while the Lugg, Arrow and Frome abound in trout and grayling,
as does the Teme. This last is a tributary of the Severn, and only two
short reaches lie within this county in the north, while it also forms
parts of the northern and eastern boundary. The Leddon, also flowing to
the Severn, rises in the east of the county and leaves it in the
south-east, passing the town of Ledbury. High ground, of an elevation
from 500 to 800 ft., separates the various valleys, while on the eastern
boundary rise the Malvern Hills, reaching 1194 ft. in the Herefordshire
Beacon, and 1395 ft. in the Worcestershire Beacon, and on the boundary
with Brecknockshire the Black Mountains exceed 2000 ft. The scenery of
the Wye, with its wooded and often precipitous banks, is famous, the
most noteworthy point in this county being about Symond's Yat, on the
Gloucestershire border below Ross.
_Geology._--The Archean or Pre-Cambrian rocks, the most ancient in the
county, emerge from beneath the newer deposits in three small isolated
areas. On the western border, Stanner Rock, a picturesque craggy hill
near Kington, consists of igneous materials (granitoid rock, felstone,
dolerite and gabbro), apparently of intrusive origin and possibly of
Uriconian age. In Brampton Bryan Park, a few miles to the north-east,
some ancient conglomerates emerge and may be of Longmyndian age. On
the east of the county the Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern chain
consists of gneisses and schists and Uriconian volcanic rocks; these
have been thrust over various members of the Cambrian and Silurian
systems, and owing to their hard and durable nature they form the
highest ground in the county. The Cambrian rocks (Tremadoc Beds) come
next in order of age and consist of quartzites, sandstones and shales,
well exposed at the southern end of the Malvern chain and also at
Pedwardine near Brampton Bryan. The Silurian rocks are well developed
in the north-west part of the county, between Presteign and Ludlow;
also along the western flanks of the Malvern Hills and in the eroded
dome of Woolhope. Smaller patches come to light at Westhide east of
Hereford and at May Hill near Newent. They consist of highly
fossiliferous sandstones, mudstones, shales and limestones, known as
the Llandovery, Wenlock and Ludlow Series; the Woolhope, Wenlock and
Aymestry Limestones are famed for their rich fossil contents. The
remainder and by far the greater part of the county is occupied by the
Old Red Sandstone, through which the rocks above described project in
detached areas. The Old Red Sandstone consists of a great thickness of
red sandstones and marls, with impersistent bands of impure
concretionary limestone known as cornstones, which by their superior
hardness give rise to scarps and rounded ridges; they have yielded
remains of fishes and crustaceans. Some of the upper beds are
conglomeratic. On its south-eastern margin the county just reaches the
Carboniferous Limestone cliffs of the Wye Valley near Ross. Glacial
deposits, chiefly sand and gravel, are found in the lower ground along
the river-courses, while caves in the Carboniferous Limestone have
yielded remains of the hyena, cave-lion, rhinoceros, mammoth and
reindeer.
_Agriculture and Industries._--The soil is generally marl and clay, but
in various parts contains calcareous earth in mixed proportions.
Westward the soil is tenacious and retentive of water; on the east it is
a stiff and often reddish clay. In the south is found a light sandy
loam. More than four-fifths of the total area of the county is under
cultivation and about two-thirds of this is in permanent pasture. Ash
and oak coppices and larch plantations clothe its hillsides and crests.
The rich red soil of the Old Red Sandstone formation is famous for its
pear and apple orchards, the county, notwithstanding its much smaller
area, ranking in this respect next to Devonshire. The apple crop,
generally large, is enormous one year out of four. Twenty hogsheads of
cider have been made from an acre of orchard, twelve being the ordinary
yield. Cider is the staple beverage of the county, and the trade in
cider and perry is large. Hops are another staple of the county, the
vines of which are planted in rows on ploughed land. As early as
Camden's day a Herefordshire adage coupled Weobley ale with Leominster
bread, indicating the county's capacity to produce fine wheat and
barley, as well as hops.
Herefordshire is also famous as a breeding county for its cattle of
bright red hue, with mottled or white faces and sleek silky coats. The
Herefords are stalwart and healthy, and, though not good milkers, put on
more meat and fat at an early age, in proportion to food consumed, than
almost any other variety. They produce the finest beef, and are more
cheaply fed than Devons or Durhams, with which they are advantageously
crossed. As a dairy county Herefordshire does not rank high. Its small,
white-faced, hornless, symmetrical breed of sheep known as "the
Ryelands," from the district near Ross, where it was bred in most
perfection, made the county long famous both for the flavour of its meat
and the merino-like texture of its wool. Fuller says of this that it was
best known as "Lempster ore," and the finest in all England. In its
original form the breed is extinct, crossing with the Leicester having
improved size and stamina at the cost of the fleece, and the chief
breeds of sheep on Herefordshire farms at present are Shropshire Downs,
Cotswolds and Radnors, with their crosses. Agricultural horses of good
quality are bred in the north, and saddle and coach horses may be met
with at the fairs. Breeders' names from the county are famous at the
national cattle shows, and the number, size and quality of the stock are
seen in their supply of the metropolitan and other markets. Prize
Herefords are constantly exported to the colonies.
Manufacturing enterprise is small. There are some iron foundries and
factories for agricultural implements, and some paper is made. There are
considerable limestone quarries, as near Ledbury.
_Communications._--Hereford is an important railway centre. The
Worcester and Cardiff line of the Great Western railway, entering on the
east, runs to Hereford by Ledbury and then southward. The joint line of
the Great Western and North-Western companies runs north from Hereford
by Leominster, proceeding to Shrewsbury and Crewe. At Leominster a Great
Western branch crosses, connecting Worcester, Bromyard and New Radnor.
From Hereford a Great Western branch follows the Wye south to Ross, and
thence to the Forest of Dean and to Gloucester; a branch connects
Ledbury with Gloucester, and the Golden Valley is traversed by a branch
from Pontrilas on the Worcester-Cardiff line. From Hereford the Midland
and Neath and Brecon line follows the Wye valley westward. None of the
rivers is commercially navigable and the canals are out of use.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
537,363 acres, with a population in 1891 of 115,949 and in 1901 of
114,380. The area of the administrative county is 538,921 acres. The
county contains 12 hundreds. It is divided into two parliamentary
divisions, Leominster (N.) and Ross (S.), and it also includes the
parliamentary borough of Hereford, each returning one member. There are
two municipal boroughs--Hereford (pop. 21,382) and Leominster (5826).
The other urban districts are Bromyard (1663), Kington (1944), Ledbury
(3259) and Ross (3303). The county is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes
are held at Hereford. It has one court of quarter sessions and is
divided into 11 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Hereford and
Leominster have separate commissions of the peace, and the borough of
Hereford has in addition a separate court of quarter sessions. There are
260 civil parishes. The ancient county, which is almost entirely in the
diocese of Hereford, with small parts in those of Gloucester, Worcester
and Llandaff, contains 222 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly
or in part.
_History._--At some time in the 7th century the West Saxons pushed their
way across the Severn and established themselves in the territory
between Wales and Mercia, with which kingdom they soon became
incorporated. The district which is now Herefordshire was occupied by a
tribe the Hecanas, who congregated chiefly in the fertile area about
Hereford and in the mining districts round Ross. In the 8th century Offa
extended the Mercian frontier to the Wye, securing it by the earthwork
known as Offa's dike, portions of which are visible at Knighton and
Moorhampton in this county. In 915 the Danes made their way up the
Severn to the district of Archenfield, where they took prisoner
Cyfeiliawg bishop of Llandaff, and in 921 they besieged Wigmore, which
had been rebuilt in that year by Edward. From the time of its first
settlement the district was the scene of constant border warfare with
the Welsh, and Harold, whose earldom included this county, ordered that
any Welshman caught trespassing over the border should lose his right
hand. In the period preceding the Conquest much disturbance was caused
by the outrages of the Norman colony planted in this county by Edward
the Confessor. Richard's castle in the north of the county was the first
Norman fortress erected on English soil, and Wigmore, Ewyas Harold,
Clifford, Weobley, Hereford, Donnington and Caldecot were all the sites
of Norman strongholds. The conqueror entrusted the subjugation of
Herefordshire to William FitzOsbern, but Edric the Wild in conjunction
with the Welsh prolonged resistance against him for two years.
In the wars of Stephen's reign Hereford and Weobley castles were held
against the king, but were captured in 1138. Edward, afterwards Edward
I., was imprisoned in Hereford Castle, and made his famous escape thence
in 1265. In 1326 the parliament assembled at Hereford which deposed
Edward II. In the 14th and 15th centuries the forest of Deerfold gave
refuge to some of the most noted followers of Wycliffe. During the Wars
of the Roses the influence of the Mortimers led the county to support
the Yorkist cause, and Edward, afterwards Edward IV., raised 23,000 men
in this neighbourhood. The battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought in 1461
near Wigmore. Before the outbreak of the civil war of the 17th century,
complaints of illegal taxation were rife in Herefordshire, but a strong
anti-puritan feeling induced the county to favour the royalist cause.
Hereford, Goodrich and Ledbury all endured sieges.
The earldom of Hereford was granted by William I. to William FitzOsbern,
about 1067, but on the outlawry of his son Roger in 1074 the title
lapsed until conferred on Henry de Bohun about 1199. It remained in the
possession of the Bohuns until the death of Humphrey de Bohun in 1373;
in 1397 Henry, earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry IV., who had married
Mary Bohun, was created duke of Hereford. Edward VI. created Walter
Devereux, a descendant of the Bohun family, Viscount Hereford, in 1550,
and his grandson, the famous earl of Essex, was born in this county.
Since this date the viscounty has been held by the Devereux family, and
the holder ranks as the premier viscount of England. The families of
Clifford, Giffard and Mortimer figured prominently in the warfare on the
Welsh border, and the Talbots, Lacys, Crofts and Scudamores also had
important seats in the county, Sir James Scudamore of Holme Lacy being
the original of the Sir Scudamore of Spenser's _Faery Queen_. Sir John
Oldcastle, the leader of the Lollards, was sheriff of Herefordshire in
1406.
Herefordshire probably originated as a shire in the time of Aethelstan,
and is mentioned in the Saxon Chronicle in 1051. In the Domesday Survey
parts of Monmouthshire and Radnorshire are assessed under Herefordshire,
and the western and southern borders remained debatable ground until
with the incorporation of the Welsh marches in 1535 considerable
territory was restored to Herefordshire and formed into the hundreds of
Wigmore, Ewyas Lacy and Huntingdon, while Ewyas Harold was united to
Webtree. At the time of the Domesday Survey the divisions of the county
were very unsettled. As many as nineteen hundreds are mentioned, but
these were of varying extent, some containing only one manor, some from
twenty to thirty. Of the twelve modern hundreds, only Greytree, Radlow,
Stretford, Wolphy and Wormelow retain Domesday names. Herefordshire has
been included in the diocese of Hereford since its foundation in 676. In
1291 it comprised the deaneries of Hereford, Weston, Leominster,
Weobley, Frome, Archenfield and Ross in the archdeaconry of Hereford,
and the deaneries of Burford, Stottesdon, Ludlow, Pontesbury, Clun and
Wenlock, in the archdeaconry of Shropshire. In 1877 the name of the
archdeaconry of Shropshire was changed to Ludlow, and in 1899 the
deaneries of Abbey Dore, Bromyard, Kingsland, Kington and Ledbury were
created in the archdeaconry of Hereford.
Herefordshire was governed by a sheriff as early as the reign of Edward
the Confessor, the shire-court meeting at Hereford where later the
assizes and quarter sessions were also held. In 1606 an act was passed
declaring Hereford free from the jurisdiction of the council of Wales,
but the county was not finally relieved from the interference of the
Lords Marchers until the reign of William and Mary.
Herefordshire has always been esteemed an exceptionally rich
agricultural area, the manufactures being unimportant, with the sole
exception of the woollen and the cloth trade which flourished soon after
the Conquest. Iron was worked in Wormelow hundred in Roman times, and
the Domesday Survey mentions iron workers in Marcle. At the time of
Henry VIII. the towns had become much impoverished, and Elizabeth in
order to encourage local industries, insisted on her subjects wearing
English-made caps from the factory of Hereford. Hops were grown in the
county soon after their introduction into England in 1524. In 1580 and
again in 1637 the county was severely visited by the plague, but in the
17th century it had a flourishing timber trade and was noted for its
orchards and cider.
Herefordshire was first represented in parliament in 1295, when it
returned two members, the boroughs of Ledbury, Hereford, Leominster and
Weobley being also represented. Hereford was again represented in 1299,
and Bromyard and Ross in 1304, but the boroughs made very irregular
returns, and from 1306 until Weobley regained representation in 1627,
only Hereford and Leominster were represented. Under the act of 1832 the
county returned three members and Weobley was disfranchised. The act of
1868 deprived Leominster of one member, and under the act of 1885
Leominster was disfranchised, and Hereford lost one member.
_Antiquities._--There are remains of several of the strongholds which
Herefordshire possessed as a march county, some of which were maintained
and enlarged, after the settlement of the border, to serve in later
wars. To the south of Ross are those of Wilton and Goodrich, commanding
the Wye on the right bank, the latter a ruin of peculiar magnificence,
and both gaining picturesqueness from their beautiful situations. Of the
several castles in the valleys of the boundary-river Monnow and its
tributaries, those in this county include Pembridge, Kilpeck and
Longtown; of which the last shows extensive remains of the strong keep
and thick walls. In the north the finest example is Wigmore, consisting
of a keep on an artificial mound within outer walls, the seat of the
powerful family of Mortimer.
Beside the cathedral of Hereford, and the fine churches of Ledbury,
Leominster and Ross, described under separate headings, the county
contains some churches of almost unique interest. In that of Kilpeck
remarkable and unusual Norman work is seen. It consists of the three
divisions of nave, choir and chancel, divided by ornate arches, the
chancel ending in an apse, with a beautiful and elaborate west end and
south doorway. The columns of the choir arch are composed of figures. A
similar plan is seen in Peterchurch in the Golden Valley, and in Moccas
church, on the Wye above Hereford. Among the large number of churches
exhibiting Norman details that at Bromyard is noteworthy. At Abbey Dore,
the Cistercian abbey church, still in use, is a large and beautiful
specimen of Early English work, and there are slight remains of the
monastic buildings. At Madley, south of the Wye 5 m. W. of Hereford, is
a fine Decorated church (with earlier portions), with the rare feature
of a Decorated apsidal chancel over an octagonal crypt. Of the churches
in mixed styles those in the larger towns are the most noteworthy,
together with that of Weobley.
The half-timbered style of domestic architecture, common in the west and
midlands of England in the 16th and 17th centuries, beautifies many of
the towns and villages. Among country houses, that of Treago, 9 m. W. of
Ross, is a remarkable example of a fortified mansion of the 13th
century, in a condition little altered. Rudhall and Sufton Court,
between Ross and Hereford, are good specimens of 15th-century work, and
portions of Hampton Court, 8 m. N. of Hereford, are of the same period,
built by Sir Rowland Lenthall, a favourite of Henry IV. Holme Lacy, 5 m.
S.E. of Hereford, is a fine mansion of the latter part of the 17th
century, with picturesque Dutch gardens, and much wood-carving by
Grinling Gibbons within. This was formerly the seat of the Scudamores,
from whom it was inherited by the Stanhopes, earls of Chesterfield, the
9th earl of Chesterfield taking the name of Scudamore-Stanhope. His son,
the 10th earl, has recently (1909) sold Holme Lacy to Sir Robert
Lucas-Tooth, Bart. Downton Castle possesses historical interest in
having been designed in 1774, in a strange mixture of Gothic and Greek
styles, by Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824), a famous scholar,
numismatist and member of parliament for Leominster and Ludlow; while
Eaton Hall, now a farm, was the seat of the family of the famous
geographer Richard Hakluyt.
See _Victoria County History, Herefordshire_; J. Duncomb, _Collections
towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford_
(Hereford, 1804-1812); John Allen, _Bibliotheca Herefordiensis_
(Hereford, 1821); John Webb, _Memorials of the Civil War between
Charles I. and the Parliament of England as it affected Herefordshire
and the adjacent Counties_ (London, 1879); R. Cooke, _Visitation of
Herefordshire, 1569_ (Exeter, 1886); F. T. Havergal, _Herefordshire
Words and Phrases_ (Walsall, 1887); J. Hutchinson, _Herefordshire
Biographies_ (Hereford, 1890).
HERERO, or OVAHERERO ("merry people"), a Bantu people of German
South-West Africa, living in the region known as Damaraland or
Hereroland. They call themselves Ovaherero and their language
Otshi-herero. Sometimes they are described as Cattle Damara or "Damara
of the Plains" in distinction from the Hill Damara who are of mixed
blood and Hottentots in language. The Herero, whose main occupation is
that of cattle-rearing, are a warlike race, possessed of considerable
military skill, as was shown in their campaigns of 1904-5 against the
Germans. (See further GERMAN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA.)
HERESY, the English equivalent of the Greek word [Greek: hairesis] which
is used in the Septuagint for "free choice," in later classical
literature for a philosophical school or sect as "chosen" by those who
belong to it, in Philo for religion, in Josephus for a religious party
(the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Essenes).
New Testament.