Ledbury
Ledbury | |
---|---|
Location within Herefordshire | |
Population | 9,290 (2011)[1] |
OS grid reference | SO710373 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LEDBURY |
Postcode district | HR8 |
Dialling code | 01531 |
Police | West Mercia |
Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Ledbury is a
It has a significant number of Tudor style
History
Ledbury is a
As a town it was created on a bishop's manor, probably, like
In April
Lord Biddulph lived in the Regency mansion Underdown, built in Ledbury Park by Anthony Keck in about 1780.
Ledbury was home to poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who spent her childhood at Hope End. It is also the birthplace of poet laureate John Masefield, after whom the local secondary school is named. William Wordsworth's 1835 sonnet St. Catherine of Ledbury, concerning a local anchoress called Katherine, begins "When ... Ledbury bells broke forth in concert".[11] In 1901 St. Katharine's priest was Charles Madison Green, whose wife, Ella, was the eldest sister of author H. Rider Haggard. During the twentieth century the population stabilised, hardly growing at all to the Census of 1971. Becoming a prosperous town of small and independent traders, it relied heavily on agricultural industries. With the addition of the by-pass in 1989, the population rapidly expanded to nearly 10,000 in Census 2011.[12]
The
Ledbury Town Halt railway station opened in 1885 and closed in 1959.
Governance
Ledbury forms part of three electoral wards of Herefordshire Council.[13] It has a town council,[14] a town clerk, a mayor and a town crier. The town crier, Bill Turberfield (locally known as 'Bill the Bell') opens events such as the annual Christmas Lights Switch-On.[15] The mayor is Helen I'Anson. Ledbury is one of four market towns (the others being Leominster, Bromyard and Kington) in the North Herefordshire parliamentary constituency. Prior to 2010, it was part of the predecessor constituency, Leominster. Conservative Bill Wiggin has been the local MP since 2001.
Transport
The main roads through the town are the A449 and the A417; the M50 motorway runs to the south.
Bus services are operated primarily by First Worcester and DRM Bus; routes connect the town with Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Worcester.[17]
Industry
For many years the
Ledbury is home to Amcor's flexible-packaging manufacturing plant. This has been awarded both the 'Carbon Reduction Cost-Saving Award - over 250 employees' and 'Most Promising New Low-Carbon Product / Service Award - over 250 employees' in the West Midlands Low-Carbon-Economy 2010 awards.[21]
Ledbury has an income from tourism, being steeped in history in a rural area, with
Recreation
The town is the venue for various events including the
The Market Theatre,[26] reputed to be the first in the world to open in the new millennium, is situated near the town centre. It has been built on the site of the former Church Room (a typical 'tin tabernacle' constructed in 1910, which became a theatre in 1956, with a change of name to the Market Theatre in the 1970s). From 1963 (following the demolition of the Kemble Theatre in Hereford, which was named after theatre manager Roger Kemble) until 1979, this little building was the only theatre in Herefordshire.[27] [28] Ledbury Amateur Dramatic Society (LADS) runs the Theatre, mounting several of its own productions a year. They show films and live screenings on a regular basis, and play host to small and mid-scale professional touring shows, including events in the Poetry Festival.[29] There are a number of singing groups, including the Choral Society and the Community Choir the latter with over 60 members.[30] In 2000, Ledbury formed a twinning association with the Swedish[31][30][28] town of Strömstad. Since then, several cultural and sporting exchanges have taken place between the two: the junior football club, Ledbury Swifts makes an annual trip there.[32] The hunts (Ledbury,[33] which dates from 1846, and North Ledbury, established in 1905) used to be well supported.[34] The Hunting with Dogs Act 2004 banned the country pursuit, which angered local people, a few of whom joined the Countryside Alliance to register their protest.[35]
The town is home to the Silurian Border Morrismen.[36]
Folklore
At Tedstone Delamere the Sapey Brook runs its course to Upper Sapey. A story is told of a stolen mare and colt whose hoofprints stopped at the bank of the brook. The owner was Saint Catherine of Ledbury who prayed for their safe return and, upon examining the bed of the brook, saw hoofprints clearly visible in the rocky bottom. These were followed and the thief caught, the horses being safely recovered. A local pastime was once the creation of fake hoofprints for visitors; the original petrosomatoglyphs are visible in the brook to this day, attributed by experts to archaeology.[37]
Notable people
- Richard Ashcroft, musician, best known as lead singer of the Verve.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet.
- Mary Duggan, cricketer
- Robin Gardner, cricketer.[38]
- Henry Scott Holland, professor of divinity.
- Elizabeth Hurley, actress.[39]
- Terry Jenkins, darts player
- Katherine of Ledbury, an anchoress.
- William Langland, poet.
- Conroy Maddox, artist.
- John Masefield, poet laureate.
- Will Merrick, actor.[40]
- James Crosbie Smith, cricketer.
- Paul Stoddart, businessman.
- Rachel Whitear, student.
See also
- Ledbury Town F.C. - football club
- Ledbury Signal Box
References
- ^ "Town population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ "Ledbury Town Council - Ledbury Market House". www.ledburytowncouncil.gov.uk.
- ^ "Ledbury Parish Church". www.ledburyparishchurch.org.uk.
- ^ "The Painted Room - Ledbury Civic Society".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "BARRETT BROWNING INSTITUTE, Ledbury - 1392673 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
- ^ Stuff, Good. "St Katherine's Hospital and Almshouses, Ledbury, Herefordshire". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
- ^ "The Master's House" (PDF). Ledbury Civic Society.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Joe Hillaby, Ledbury, A Medieval Borough, Logaston Press, 1997
- ^ "Eighteenth Century Road Travel" Archived 25 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Pevsner, buildings, p. 414
- ^ "Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works". www.bartleby.com. 26 October 2022.
- ^ Pevsner, buildings, pp. 415–16
- ^ "Index to ward and parishes" (PDF). Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "Ledbury Town Council". Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ^ "A Great Honour for Bill the Bell". Ledbury Reporter. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ "Train Times". Great Western Railway. May 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ^ "Ledbury Bus Services". Bus Times. 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ^ "Robertsons Jam to disappear". The Daily Telegraph. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
- ^ "Slow trip for giant cider tanks". BBC News Online. 6 June 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
- ^ "Giant cider vessels close highway". BBC News Online. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
- ^ "Amcor Flexibles Europe & Americas Excels at West Midlands Low Carbon Economy Awards". Packaging Europe. 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- ^ "Ledbury Poetry Festival". Ledbury Poetry Festival.
- ^ "Eighth Ledbury Community Day postponed". Ledbury Community Day.
- ^ "One More Time". 8 March 1971 – via IMDb.
- ^ "The Prince and the Pauper (TV Series 1976) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "The Market Theatre | Performing arts centre for Ledbury and area". themarkettheatre.com.
- ^ "Kemble Theatre in Hereford, GB - Cinema Treasures". cinematreasures.org.
- ^ A, Chris (28 December 2009). "Old Hereford Pics.: The Kemble Theatre 1918".
- ^ Ledbury Amateur Dramatic Society
- ^ a b "LEDBURY CHORAL SOCIETY - Home". ledburychoral.btck.co.uk.
- ^ "Ledbury Community Choir". ledburycommunitychoir.co.uk.
- ^ "Ledbury Swifts". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
- ^ "Ledbury Blog - Make Ledbury your next destination". Ledbury Blog.
- ^ North Ledbury Hunt Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Worcester News 21 December 2009.
- ^ "Silurian Morris - Home". www.silurianmorris.org.uk.
- ISBN 0-246-11789-3. P. 262.
- ^ "Player profile: Robin Gardner". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ Haywood, Bob (8 June 2014). "You too could live like Liz Hurley... if you have £6m to spare". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ "Ledbury actor Will Merrick makes promising Skins debut". Hereford Times. 28 January 2011.
Further reading
- Hillaby, Joe (5 September 2023). Ledbury: A Mediaeval Borough. Ledbury. ISBN 978-1-904396-37-6.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Hillaby, Joe (5 September 2023). St Katherine's Hospital, Ledbury, c1230–1547. Ledbury. ISBN 978-1-904396-12-3.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Pevsner, Nikolaus; Brooks, Alan (2012) [1963]. The Buildings of England: Herefordshire. New Haven and London. pp. 414–434. ISBN 978-0-300-12575-7.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Pinches, Sylvia (2010). Ledbury: A Market Town and Its Tudor Heritage.
- Robinson, Rev.Charles J. (2001) [1872]. A History of the Mansions & Manors of Herefordshire. pp. 26n, 51, 111, 191–6, 205, 219, 226, 262–3, 311.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). 1911. .
- Ledbury at Curlie
- Ledbury Town Council
- Genuki UK & Ireland Genealogy site for Ledbury
- Visit Herefordshire - Ledbury