Herefordshire

Herefordshire (/ˈhɛrɪfərdʃɪər, -ʃər/ HERR-if-ərd-sheer, -⁠shər)^[2] is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire and Powys to the west. The city of Hereford is the largest settlement and the county town.

The county is one of the most rural in England, with an area of 2,180 square kilometres (840 sq mi) and a population of 187,034, giving a density of 88/km² (228/sq mi). After Hereford (53,112) the largest settlements are Leominster (10,938), Ross-on-Wye (10,582), and Ledbury (8,862). For local government purposes Herefordshire is a unitary authority area.

The centre of Herefordshire is lowland which is crossed by the

The River Wye, which at 135 miles (217 km) is the fourth-longest in the United Kingdom,^[3] enters the county after briefly being its border with Powys. It flows through both Hereford and Ross-on-Wye before returning to Wales. Leominster is situated on the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye.

There are two

Herefordshire is one of the 39 historic counties of England. Herefordshire County Council was created in 1889.^[5]

In 1974, the administrative county formed in 1889 was merged with that of neighbouring

From 1974 to 1998, Herefordshire was part of the former non-metropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester.

Herefordshire was reconstituted both as a new

In Herefordshire, the population size has increased by 2.0%, from around 183,500 in 2011 to 187,100 in 2021. This is lower than the overall increase for England (6.6%), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.[13]

As of the 2021 census, 91.1% of the population identified as 'White British', and 5.1% as 'White Other'. The 'White Other' group is largely made up of migrants from central and Eastern Europe who began moving into the county in the early 2000's, initially for agricultural work, but more recently to work in other sectors such as health care, catering and hospitality.^[14] Poland and Romania are the two most common non-UK countries of birth for foreign born people in Herefordshire.^[15]

Christianity is the dominant religion in Herefordshire at 54.9% of the population as of 2021 (a decline from 67.8% at the 2011 census). Muslims make up 0.4% of the population, Buddhists 0.3% and Hindus 0.2%.^[16]

Travellers

Gypsies and Travellers have historically been Herefordshire's largest minority ethnic group. They are made up of three main groups:

• Romanichal or Romani
• Irish Travellers
• New Travellers or
  New Age Travellers

As of the 2021 census, they number 600 people, at around 0.2% of the county's population.^[17]

Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers fall within the definition of a minority ethnic group under the

Cadbury (Mondelēz International) make milk chocolate crumb near Marlbrook (near Leominster). Weston's Cider is in Much Marcle, who also make Stowford Press. Wye Fruit Ltd is in the north of Ledbury on the B4214 and is a large site of Amcor, and further west is Universal Beverages (UBL), owned by Heineken since 2007 where it cans cider. The site of Ledbury Preserves of RHM made Robertson's jam, mincemeat and marmalade and closed in 2008 when production moved to Cambridgeshire. Holden Aluminium Technologies are a sports car chassis manufacturer at Linton. Kingspan Insulation is based at Pembridge. BT's Madley Communications Centre, claims to be the world's largest earth station. Tyrrells Potato Crisps are at Dilwyn west of Leominster.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Herefordshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.^[19]

^ includes hunting and forestry

^ includes energy and construction

^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Many well-known cider producers are based in Herefordshire. These include Weston's cider of

Cities, towns and villages

The major settlements in the county include Hereford, which is the county town and Herefordshire's only city, as well as the towns of Leominster, Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, Kington and Bromyard.

Employment

Most employment in Herefordshire is in agriculture, manufacturing and services. According to Herefordshire Council's online document "worklessness", 10% of people are unemployed in Herefordshire including out-of-work, homeless, ill and disabled and their carers. Cargill Meats and H. P. Bulmers are two of the largest private sector employers, with the Council and NHS being the largest public sector employers.

Politics

Westminster Parliamentary

There are two parliamentary constituencies in Herefordshire. As of February 2021^[update], Bill Wiggin represents North Herefordshire and Jesse Norman represents Hereford and South Herefordshire. Both politicians are members of the Conservative Party.

Council

The council operates a

The cabinet leader is appointed yearly by the full council of 53 councillors. The cabinet leader then picks their deputy and up to eight other councillors to form the executive cabinet. Each cabinet member makes the decisions about the portfolio that they are allocated.

In the 2019 election, the Conservatives lost control of Herefordshire Council.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Herefordshire has a comprehensive education system that also includes several independent schools.^[21] Most state secondary schools are for ages 11–16. Providers of further and higher education in the county include Hereford College of Arts, Hereford College of Education, Hereford Sixth Form College, Herefordshire and Ludlow College, Royal National College for the Blind, NMITE and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Group Training Association (HWGTA).

Agriculture

The agricultural economy has changed greatly in recent years^[when?] within the county. The county is on the western edge of England which has been historically pastoral as opposed to the east which was more arable.^{[citation needed]}

Beef

Probably Hereford's most famous export is its Hereford beef cattle. Herefords are docile but extremely hardy creatures and these attributes have led to their proliferation across the world, particularly the US, Canada, South America and Australia. The breed is so gentle that a Hereford bull was used as the mascot for Hereford United Football Club for many years, led around the club's Edgar Street ground before major matches.

Fruit

The county is famous for its apple and pear orchards, and its cider. There are many orchards around the county but not as many as there once were.

In the last few years, soft

Although some polytunnel sites are illegal, Herefordshire Council has turned a blind eye in the belief that agriculture must be allowed to innovate; otherwise it will stagnate and the county will suffer.^[25]

Dairy

Previously, most farms in the county had dairy cattle. Due to the cost of investing in new equipment, long hours,^{[clarification needed]} BSE, foot-and-mouth disease and mainly falling milk prices, the county's milk production has drastically reduced, with only a few farms still in dairy farming.^{[citation needed]}

Potatoes

The county is historically pastoral. The soils are mostly clay, meaning that large scale potato production was very difficult, as tractors were not powerful enough to pull the large machinery required to harvest the crop. Around the early 1990s new technology and more powerful machines overcame this problem. Potato production started to increase, fuelled by a few other key factors: The previously pastoral soils had not had potatoes grown in them; consequently they were not infected with eelworm (Heterodera rostochiensis and Heterodera pallida), which in the east of England had to be sprayed against weekly (a large cost). Also, the clay soil produced an unblemished potato of the highest grade.^{[citation needed]}

The intensive nature of the crop meant that potatoes could be grown viably on a given field in only one of every five years. Because potato growers always needed more land than they owned, they rented extra. This demand for rental fields came at a time when the rest of the industry was struggling and in serious decline. The potato farmers' rents of £300–500 per acre (as opposed to normally £80 per acre) were very helpful to many farmers in a difficult period.^{[citation needed]}

Emblems

Coat of arms

Herefordshire County Council was granted a coat of arms on 28 February 1946.^[26] The arms became obsolete in 1974 on the abolition of the council, but were transferred to the present Herefordshire Council by Order in Council in 1997.^[27]

The arms are blazoned as follows:

Gules on a fesse wavy between in chief a lion passant guardant argent and in base a Herefordshire bull's head caboshed proper, a bar wavy azure; and for a Crest on a wreath of the colours a demi lion rampant gules holding in the sinister claw a fleece or; and for Supporters, on the dexter side a lion guardant or gorged with a wreath of hops fructed proper and on the sinister a talbot argent gorged with a collar or charged with three apples proper.^[26]

The red colouring ("gules") of the shield is taken from the arms of the City of Hereford. The red colour also represents the red earth of Herefordshire. The silver and blue wave across the centre of the shield represents the River Wye. The lions that form parts of the arms, crest and supporters are also taken from Hereford's arms. The agricultural produce of Herefordshire is represented by the bull's head, fleece, hops and apples. The

The Latin motto is: Pulchra terra Dei donum ("This fair land is the gift of God").^[28]

County flower

As part of a competition organised by the charity

The county is covered by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central from its studios in Birmingham. Television signals are received from the Ridge Hill TV transmitter located 8.5 miles south east of Hereford. ^[31]

Radio

, with the remaining 25 or so cricket clubs within the county competing in the Marches League, or just playing Sunday or mid-week 'friendly' matches.

Places of interest

Key
	Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Places of Worship
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Theatre
	Zoo

• Abbey Dore Court
• Arthur's Stone
• Berrington Hall
• Brockhampton Estate
• Courtyard Centre for the Arts – Hereford's main theatre and art performance centre
• Croft Castle
• Dore Abbey
• Eastnor Castle
• Edgar Street (Football Stadium Home to Hereford F.C.)
• Eye Manor
• Goodrich Castle
• Hampton Court
• Hellens Manor
• Hereford Cathedral
• Kilpeck Church
• Malvern Hills
• Herefordshire Beacon
• Priory Church, Leominster
• Sutton Walls Hill Fort
• Wigmore Castle
• Welsh Newton

Transport

Road

The

There has long been talk of a new station at Rotherwas, in the south of Hereford.

Air

There are no airports with scheduled air transport in Herefordshire.

• Jarrod Bowen, footballer
• Simon Carr, cyclist
• Frank Oz, actor and voice actor, producer, director
• Matthew Hall, writer
• Dennis Potter, writer
• Fred West, serial killer
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet
• The Grand Tour
  presenter
• Mary Duggan, cricketer
• Noele Gordon, actress
• Mike Oldfield, musician
• Mick Ralphs, Mott the Hoople and Bad Company guitarist
• Richard Ashcroft, songwriter and lead singer of The Verve
• Thomas Britten, 19th-century footballer^[44]
• Monty Don, BBC TV presenter
• Queen Elizabeth I
• Conroy Maddox, artist
• Beryl Reid, actress
• Jessica Raine, actress
• Sir Edward Elgar
  , composer
• Sir Roy Strong
  , art historian
• David Garrick, renowned actor of the 18th century
• Lady Godiva, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia
• Harold Godwinson, Earl of Hereford and last Anglo-Saxon King of England
• Ellie Goulding, musician
• King Charles II of England
• Terry Jenkins, professional darts player
• St.
  Catholic priest
• Francis Kilvert, 19th century diarist and Church of England clergyman
• The Chase as well as its Australian counterpart
• Albert Lee, guitarist
• Peter Mandelson, politician and former resident of Foy
• John Masefield, poet laureate
• Sidney Nolan, Australian artist
• Falstaff
• Queen Elizabeth I
• Peter Scudamore, jockey
• James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist the Pretenders
• Pete Farndon, bass guitarist the Pretenders
• Martin Chambers, drummer the Pretenders
• Tom Spring, bare-knuckle boxer, champion of England in the 19th century
• Thomas Traherne, 17th century poet
• Alfred Watkins, pioneering archaeologist and photographer
• Richard Johnson, jockey
• Sir Walter Roper Lawrence
  , author
• Allan Leonard Lewis, posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, died 21 September 1918, commemorated on Vis-En-Artois Memorial, France
• Richard Hakluyt, Elizabethan writer and geographer who recorded contemporary voyages of exploration and promoted the settlement of North America
• Ronald Pennell, artist, engraver and sculptor
• Geoffrey Wood, botanist^[45]
• Lucy Letby, serial killer

See also

• Healthcare in Herefordshire
• Custos Rotulorum of Herefordshire – Keeper of the Rolls
• Herefordshire (UK Parliament constituency) – Historical list of MPs for Herefordshire constituency
• List of High Sheriffs of Herefordshire
• List of schools in Herefordshire
• List of Lord Lieutenants of Herefordshire

References