Woolly says – My plans were in tatters! A lovely day out with the necessary walk for furry paws and something for me and the human to look at, but no, apparently just because something is a national trust property it doesn’t mean that we can go and see it, and the only way we would see this according to Jo was if we were to rent it out, I started checking available dates.
I chuckled to myself as he eventually climbed into the car muttering and puffing away to himself.
Woolly says – ‘BUT, where are we going?’ I needed to know immediately, how was I to research a place if I had no clue as to where or what that place might be, the human gave me one of those smug smiles and offered to tell me about our destination, I sighed and sat glaring out of the window pretending not to listen.
Weobley, (pronounced Web – lee) is a former market town, the market is long defunct, on the outskirts of Hereford, and one of the wonderful county’s black and white villages owing to its abundance of old timber-framed buildings. Although it has the historical status of a town and is referred to as such in the sources, it’s really a village. A detailed archaeological survey of the castle in 2002, using ground-penetrating radar, gave indications of an Iron Age settlement here, as well as Roman finds including a coin of Constantine the Great found in the town in the 17th century.
The settlement existed in Saxon times, as seen from its entry in the Domesday Book. In 1066, the village was owned by “Edwy the Noble’’ and had ten villagers, five smallholders, eleven slaves, one priest and two “other”, it was valued at £5. Weobley has three Scheduled Ancient Monuments: The castle earthworks, The mediaeval pottery on Windmill Knapp, and the churchyard cross, two Grade I Listed Buildings: The parish church of SS Peter and Paul and The Ley, eleven buildings listed Grade II* and seventy-six buildings listed as Grade II. So enough to see by anyone’s standards.
Woolly says – I felt almost humble for a moment at the thought of all these wonders to find and even better it started as soon as we arrived. Pulling into the car park was a small timber clad building with some possible Banksy pictures on them, sadly there was no information but right behind me was the former 16th century Manor House. No longer taking pride of place in the town it now sat on the roadside.
No matter where I looked it was nearly all black and white, incredible, I bet the Americans would love it here. At that moment I realised I was in fact holding the foot traffic up as a very tall American gent asked if I might move, I giggled and raced across the road to the old Pump House. Having admired the arched décor and overhang we set off up the main street.
The historical layout of the former town, on which the majority of the old buildings stand, is in the form of an inverted T. The crossbar of the T is the High Street, and the stem is the funnel-shaped mediaeval marketplace comprising a triangular area. Looking up or down it was timber clad all the way.
What looked like a small bus stop provided small maps and an information board that told me once upon a time the whole town had been cobbled but all that remained were now located at my paws. I looked down, it didn’t seem much, but they had certainly done wonders on keeping everything else. Behind the bus stop/information point was a small rose garden with an interesting sculpture. The Magpie was commissioned from prize money earned through the 1999 title of Village of the Year, the 15-foot centrepiece was built to remind future generations of Weobley’s success, with the bird being chosen as the feature because it is the mascot of the black and white village and is the name of the parish magazine. It was very nice and having waved goodbye to it we crossed the road entering the area known as the Earthworks.
Once the site of a mediaeval castle, it was easy to see where the moat would have once been as we strolled across.
We stood looking around a flat area with some large bumps in one corner which might hold all sorts of untold parts of the castle, it is known that a castle stood here from at least 1140 but none has remained since the mid 1500’s.
Crossing over the moat again we followed a small footpath back onto the road. We arrived at the fabulous Old Grammar school, founded in 1659 by William Crowther as a school for the sons of the local middle classes. On the ground floor there would have been school rooms with bedrooms for the masters and dormitories for the boys upstairs. It didn’t look big enough to be a school but then they had only had 25 pupils.
Just around the corner was the Unicorn House, no glitter and magic just the local public house that had been serving beers and fine wines since its construction in 1431.
More and more black and white buildings appeared even the new buildings met the formula for the village.
Marlbrook House, once a butcher’s shop had stood on the land since 1441 and having taken a peek round the side, we were able to see some of the original wattle and daub.
The Medieval pottery was still in business although sadly closed for the day.
Opposite was a small museum that was happy for Alfie the Dog to see as well, lots of visitors were all inside looking at items that had been found in the village and photographs or the then and nows. Two lovely carved heads caught my attention before we squeezed our way back out into the sunshine.
Passing Glebe House, the only Georgian house in the place we headed into the churchyard of Saint Peter and St Paul.
The church is the oldest surviving building in Weobley, Hugh de Lacy became Lord of the Manor in 1091, and built the forerunner of the present church, all that remains of his work is the archway leading you inside.
The church spent a lot of the 13th century being rebuilt, the immense tower was once separate to the rest of the building and the steeple is the second highest in the county. It certainly looked very high.
We strolled round the exterior pausing to read inscription and admire memorials, one of which made us both chuckle with its ‘Danger, Keep Out’ sign inside the tomb, as if you’d want to get inside a tomb! A large number of floral tributes seemed a recent addition, large pictures of the lady, Julie, who had recently left her loved ones with all sorts of tributes from a bucket of cleaning products to what might have been her wheelchair, I hoped that Julie was at peace.
Inside the church was cool with sunlight dappling the floor. A large stained glass window depicting the apostilles took centre stage of the rear wall as wooden pews and arched pillars led us towards the altar.
The altar was very grand with more stained glass to admire. Beneath the windows were the tombs of a Knight and his Lady, whilst large alabaster wall memorials caught my eye.
I was starting to flag, the mutt was panting for Britain and even Jo looked in need of refreshment, as we headed into one of the timber framed buildings, I felt delighted with my find, who needs plans and research, I must remember to tell Jo not to worry so much about our adventures in the future.