Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire Family History Guide

Ewyas Harold is an Ancient Parish in the county of Herefordshire.

Status: Ancient Parish

Alternative names: Ewias Harold, Euryas Harold

Parish church: St. Michael

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1734
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1700

Adjacent Parishes

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

EWYAS-HAROLD, a parish in the district and county of Hereford; on an affluent of the river Monnow, 1¼ mile NW of Pontrilas r. station, and 11½ SW of Hereford. Post town, Pontrilas, under Hereford. Acres, 1,838. Real property, £1,895. Pop., 407. Houses, 88. The property is much subdivided. A castle was built here by King Harold, but has disappeared. A small priory of black monks, a cell to Gloucester abbey, also was founded here about 1100. Ewyas was formerly a lordship, extending to the vale of Honddu beyond the Black mountains. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford. Value, 110. Patron, Bishop of G. and B The church dates from the 14th century, and is tolerable.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

EWYAS-HARROLD (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Dore, hundred of Webtree, county of Hereford, 12½ miles (S. W.) from Hereford; containing 356 inhabitants. Here was anciently a castle, which, according to Dugdale, was built by William Fitz-Osborne, Earl of Hereford, after the Conquest; but Leland observes that it was probably erected by King Harold, and conferred by him upon an illegitimate son, also named Harold. A prior and small convent of monks settled here about 1100, from the abbey of St. Peter, in Gloucester, and continued till 1358, when the revenue being insufficient for their support, they were again united to the abbey. The parish is situated near the mouth of the river Dore, just before it joins the Munnow, and about a mile from the road between Hereford and Abergavenny. It comprises by computation 1565 acres, of which 1351 are arable, pasture, and meadow, and 214 woodland. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £110; patron, James Hopton, Esq.; appropriator, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church is a small ancient edifice, of which all the sittings are free.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848