Fownhope Herefordshire Family History Guide

Fownhope is an Ancient Parish in the county of Herefordshire.

Other places in the parish include: Fawleye and Fawley.

Alternative names: Fownhope with Fawley

Status: Ancient Parish

Parish church: St. Mary

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1560
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1661

Separate registers exist for Fawley: 1539

Adjacent Parishes

Historical Descriptions of Fownhope

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

FOWNHOPE, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in the district and county of Hereford. The village stands on the river Wye, under a fine range of hills, 1 mile ESE of Holme-Lacey r. station, and 6¼ SE of Hereford; and has a post office under Hereford. The parish includes also the township-chapelry of Fawley. Acres, 4,723. Real property, £7,622; of which £75 are in quarries, and £15 in fisheries. Pop., 1,112. Houses, 244. The property is much subdivided. Two ancient camps occur a little N of the village; and one of them, on Capler hill, is double-trenched, bears the name of Woodbury camp, and commands a beautiful and extensive view. The living is a vicarage, united with the p. curacy of Fawley, in the diocese of Hereford. Value, not reported. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. Both the parish church and Fawley church are good; and the former is mainly Norman, and contains objects of antiquarian interest. There are chapels for Baptists and Brethren. Endowed schools have £55; and other charities £20. The sub-district contains eight parishes and part of another. Acres, 19,079. Pop., 5,614. Houses, 1,165.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

FOWNHOPE (St. Mary), a parish, in the hundred of Greytree, union and county of Hereford, 6 miles (S. E.) from Hereford; containing, with the chapelry of Fawley, 1004 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 3700 acres, of which nearly 1000 are coppice-wood; the surface is varied and picturesque, and from the summit of Capler Hill, which is finely wooded, the prospects are extensive. There are quarries of coralline limestone used for burning, and of sandstone of good quality for building. The village is situated on the eastern bank of the Wye, the road from Hereford to Newent passing through it. Petty-sessions for the division are held every fourth Monday. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £6. 9. 9½., and endowed with one-third of the rectorial tithes; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The appropriate tithes have been commuted for £320, the vicarial for £160; and there are about 70 acres of glebe, of which one-half belongs to the rectory, and the other half to the vicarage. The church, a large and well-built edifice, exhibits traces of the Norman, early English, and decorated styles; a Norman tower supports a more recent shingled spire of considerable elevation. There is a chapel of ease at Fawley. About half a mile to the north of the village is an eminence crowned by an ancient camp; and at some distance, on Capler Hill, is a second camp, double trenched, and called Woldbury.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

England and Wales Delineated Thomas Dugdale 1835

Fownhope. This parish is very pleasantly situated on the eastern banks of the Wye. In the neighbourhood are the remains of two ancient camps, one on Capler-hill, the summit of which commands some most beautiful and extensive prospects.

Source: England and Wales Delineated by Thomas Dugdale assisted by William Burnett; published by Tallis & Co., Green Arbour Court, Old Bailey, 1835.