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Latest update: 9th January 2006


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Eardisley Parish, Herefordshire

Map showing the parish and its neighbours.
source: xxx.
The Parish of Eardisley

The Landscape of the Parish

The southern part of the parish is generally flattish flood plain, variable alluvial soils over clay. There are some ridges and rises; the Castle site and Church occupy a low east-west ridge which runs south of the village. I assume this ridge is glacial. To the north-west of the village the ground rises in a series of very broad undulations to the high point to the north of Bollingham. Streams rise from a series of springs to flow south-east across this ground and have in places cut some quite steep gullies. The local name for these is a 'dingle'. This uneven ground and the dingles would have presented some difficulties to moving east-west across the upland area. Medieval sources suggest that the lowland area would have been too heavily wooded to allow easy movement. I therefore suspect that the oldest highway in the area is the ridgeway to the north of the parish, now Apostles Lane, but I have no proof. I think that understanding the track system for this whole area has the potential to explain many mysteries. (Source: Mal Mason, email January 2006)

The Toponymy of the Parish

The village name. Two ways to pronounce it: many put the accent in the second syllable: er-dis-lea. However the favoured pronunciation amongst local people is to run the first two syllables together and put the accent in the last syllable: erdis-leigh. Could this be a throwback to the Saxon name? (Source: Mal Mason, email January 2006)

References and reading

  • Mason, M., (Ed), Eardisley: its houses and their residents, Eardisley History Group, Eardisley July 2005
  • Page, W., The Victoria History of the Counties of England: a history of Herefordshire, Vol. I., Achibald Constable & Co Ltd., London 1908
  • Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth 1963/1977
  • Robinson, Rev Charles J., A History of the Castles of Herefordshire and Their Lords, 1869; facsimile edition Logaston Press, Almeley 2002.
  • Watkins, Rev Morgan G., Collections Towards The History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford, in Continuation of Duncumb's History: Hundred of Huntington, Jakeman & Carver, High Town Hereford 1897