Ledbury Herefordshire Family History Guide
Ledbury is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Herefordshire.
Other places included in the parish: Leadon and Haffield, Leadon with Haffield, Mitchell and Netherton, Mitchell with Netherton, Parkhold, The Borough, Wallhills, Wall Hills
Parish church: St. Michael
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1556
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1660
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Plymouth Brethren, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Donnington
- Bromsberrow, Gloucestershire
- Wellington Heath
- Little Malvern, Worcestershire
- Bosbury
- Eastnor
- Preston, Gloucestershire
- Little Marcle
- Dymock, Gloucestershire
- Aylton
- Munsley
- Colwall
- Castlemorton, Worcestershire
Ledbury Parish Registers
The Registers of Ledbury, Co. Hereford. transcribed by the late George Henry Piper; edited by Charles Herbert Mayo. Part 1 Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1556 to 1576 Publisher: The Parish Register Society Date of publication: 1899. – This book is a free download from Parishmouse
Search online indexed transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials. Taken from the original parish registers, these entries may include names, dates, family relationships, residences, occupations and other details noted by the minister, with earlier records naturally offering fewer details.
Baptism Records
These records include indexed transcriptions of Church of England parish registers of baptisms.
Ledbury Herefordshire Baptisms 1556-1929
Marriage and Banns Records
These records include indexed transcriptions of Church of England parish registers of marriages.
Ledbury, Herefordshire Marriages 1556-1849
Ledbury, St Michael, Herefordshire Marriages 1556-1837
Death and Burial Records
These records include indexed transcriptions of Church of England parish registers of deaths and burials.
Ledbury, Herefordshire Burials 1744-1839
Ledbury Parish Records
An index of parish records of people from Ledbury. The index includes information from Cheltenham Settlement Examinations, 1815-1826 and The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Cheltenham Settlement Examinations, 1815-1826
The following have been extracted from Cheltenham Settlement Examinations, 1815-1826, edited by Irvine Gray.
3 November 1818. George Lediard
Born in Ledbury, Herefs., where his parents were settled, and hath been working in Cheltenham by the week for several years past. (mark)
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Baggott Robert, Ledbury, Herefordshire, breeches maker, Jan. 30, 1827.
Barnes James, Ledbury, Herefordshire, innkeeper, March 9, 1827.
Butt Edward, Ledbury, Herefordshire, grocer, March 14, 1828.
Butt William, Ledbury, Herefordshire, grocer, Sept. 1, 1837.
Cale James, Ledbury, Herefordshire, butcher and grazier, April 18, 1826.
Cooper Richard, Ledbury, Herefordshire, innkeeper, May 11, 1827.
Cox Edward, Ledbury, Herefordshire, currier, Jan. 23, 1827.
Davies Thomas, Ledbury, Herefordshire, victualler, Nov. 15, 1836.
Elgie Matthew, Worccster, and Ledbury, Herefordshire, scrivener, Feb. 5, 1830.
Gibbons John Drew, Ledbury, Herefordshire, mercer, July 31, 1840.
Green Thomas, Ledbury, Herefordshire, corn dealer Nov. 8, 1825.
Jones Robert, Ledbury, Herefordshire, maltster, May 22, 1827.
Kings Robert, Ledbury, Herefordshire, innkeeper, March 11, 1826.
Levet Edward William, Ledbury, Herefordshire, innkeeper, Jan. 14, 1884.
Matthews John, Ledbury, Herefordshire. builder, March 18, 1842.
New William, Homend street, Ledbury, Herefordsh., victualler, Jan. 28, 1840.
Smith Henry, Ledbury, Herefordshire. grocer, Oct. 25, 1836.
Smith John Lamburne, Ledbury, Herefordshire, cheese factor, May 23. 1828.
Thackway Sarah, Ledbury, Herefordsh, stationer & bookseller, Nov. 17, 1829.
Thomas Wm., Ledbury, Herefordshire, maltster & porter dealer, Jan. 30, 1827.
Webb Richard, Ledbury, Herefordshire, coal merchant, Feb. 20, 1829.
Webb Thomas Benjamin, Ledbnry, Herefordshire, cider mercht., March 9, 1827.
Williams John, Ledbury. Herefordshire, innkeeper, July 16, 1841.
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
LEDBURY, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Hereford. The town stands within a small valley, on the Gloucester and Hereford canal, chiefly on a declivity, near the river Leddon and the Hereford and Worcester railway, at the W skirt of the Malvern hills, 3½ miles WNW of the meeting point of Hereford, Worcester, and Gloucester, and 13 miles E by S of Hereford city. It dates from Saxon times; was given, by Edwin, to the bishops of Hereford; had once a palace of the bishops; became a market town in the time of Stephen; was noted for silk and broad cloth manufactures in the time of Elizabeth; consists now of three principal streets and a number of small ones.
It contains many ancient houses, of brick and timber, with projecting stories, but contains also some handsome modern houses; and has a head post office, a railway station, two banking offices, three chief inns, a police station, a market house, a church, three dissenting chapels, a literary institution, two endowed schools, national schools, a magnificently endowed hospital, a dispensary, a workhouse, and charities, inclusive of the schools and hospital endowments, £1,797. The market house stands near the centre of High street; is an old timber structure, with projecting front; and rests upon sixteen massive oak pillars.
The church is variously Norman, early English, and perpendicular; was formerly collegiate, from the year 1401; is almost covered with ivy; has a very fine Norman W door, a beautiful early English N porch, and a handsome early English detached tower, surmounted by a symmetrical spire 60 feet high; and contains stalls, part of a carved screen, an altar piece after Rubens, four stained glass windows, and numerous brasses and monuments. St. Catherine’s chapel adjoins the N side of the church; took its name from Catherine Audley, the hermit; and is a good specimen of decorated English.
The endowed schools are Hall’s with £72 a year, and a grammar school dating from the time of Edward VI. with £8; but the latter has been merged in the national schools. The endowed hospital bears the name of St. Catherine; was founded in 1232 by Bishop Foliot, and refounded by Queen Elizabeth; was rebuilt in 1822, after designs by Smirke, on the site of a previous old timbered house; makes provision for 24 poor persons; has an endowed income of £1,687; and includes a chapel, which is used two times a week. The workhouse is recent, and has accommodation for 150 inmates.
A weekly market is held on Tuesday; a great market, on the last Tuesday of every month; and fairs, on the Tuesday before Easter, the second Tuesday of May, the third Tuesday of June, the second Tuesday of August, the first Tuesday of October, and the Tuesday before 21 December. The old manufacture of broadcloth is extinct; a more recent manufacture of gloves, sacking, and ropes also has much declined; and the present trade has connexion chiefly with agriculture, and includes malting, tanning, and traffic in hops, cider, and perry.
The town sent members to parliament in the time of Edward I.; received a borough charter from Elizabeth; is now governed by constables, elected annually at courts leet and baron; and is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place. Tonson, the bookseller, died in it. Pop. in 1851, 3,027; in 1861, 3,263. Houses, 598.
The parish is divided into five sections, called the Borough, Wall-Hills, Wellington-Heath, Leadon and Haffield, and Mitchell and Netherton; and it includes the township of Parkhold. Acres, 8,194. Real property, £26,770; of which £156 are in gas works, £3,138 in the canal, and £80 in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 4,624; in 1861, 5,598. Houses, 1,039. Traces of ancient camps are at Wall-Hills, Haffield, and Vineyard. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £656. Patron, the Bishop of Hereford. The p. curacy of Wellington-Heath is a separate benefice.
The sub-district excludes Parkhold township, but includes the parishes of Coddington, Bosbury, Castle-Frome, Canon-Frome, Donnington, Eastnor, Colwall, and Mathon, the last electorally in Worcester. Acres, 27,704. Pop., 10,295. Houses, 1,950.
The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Yarkhill, containing the township of Parkhold and the parishes of Yarkhill, Stretton-Grandsome, Tarrington, Ashperton, Munsley, Pixley, Putley, Aylton, Little Marcle, and Woolhope, and parts of the parishes of Bishops-Frome and Much Marcle. Acres, of the district, 48,783. Poor rates in 1863, £6,646. Pop. in 1851, 13,139; in 1861, 14,880. Houses, 2,850.
Marriages in 1863, 70; births, 398, of which 35 were illegitimate; deaths, 214, of which 58 were at ages under 5 years, and 13 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 774; births, 3,940; deaths, 2,529. The places of worship, in 1851, were 22 of the Church of England, with 6,088 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 130 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 250 s.; 4 of Wesleyans, with 580 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 165 s.; 1 of Brethren, with 20 s.; and 2 undefined, with 135 s. The schools were 22 public day schools, with 1,461 scholars; 13 private day schools, with 186 s.; and 17 Sunday schools, with 1,062.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Historical Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Herefordshire
- Civil Registration District: Ledbury
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Hereford
- Rural Deanery: Frome
- Poor Law Union: Ledbury
- Hundred: Radlow
- Province: Canterbury