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Herefordshire
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>Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England.
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Encyclopedia
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. It also forms a unitary district known as the County of Herefordshire. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the southeast, and the Welsh preserved counties of Gwent to the south west and Powys to the west. Hereford is a cathedral city and is the county town; with a population of approximately 50,000 inhabitants it is also the largest settlement. The county is one of the most rural and least densely populated in England, being a largely agricultural area which is primarily known for its fruit and cider production, and the world famous Hereford cattle breed.
Constitution
Herefordshire was reconstituted both as a new non-metropolitan district (effective 19 July 1996) and as a new county comprising the area of the afore mentioned district (effective 1 April 1998) by Statutory Instrument as defined in The Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996.
The Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996 effectively established Herefordshire as a unitary authority on the 1st April 1998, combining county and district functions into a single council. Herefordshire is also commonly called a unitary district, but this is not official nomenclature.
Herefordshire is officially known as a unitary authority for local government purposes.
History
Herefordshire is one of the 39 historic counties of England.
In 1974 it was merged with neighbouring Worcestershire to form the relatively short-lived Hereford and Worcester non-metropolitan county. Within this, Herefordshire was covered by the districts of South Herefordshire, Hereford, and part of Malvern Hills and Leominster districts.
On 1 April 1998 it was split out again, in the form of a unitary authority, with broadly the same borders as before. It is the third largest unitary area in England, after East Riding of Yorkshire and Tynedale.
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.
See also :Category:Towns in Herefordshire and :Category:Villages in Herefordshire.
Economy
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.
| Year | | | | |
|---|
| 1995 | 1,622 | 218 | 567 | 836 | | 2000 | 1,885 | 155 | 643 | 1,087 | | 2003 | 2,216 | 185 | 708 | 1,323 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Well known companies in Herefordshire are Bulmer's cider in central Hereford, with its UK market leader, Strongbow. PGL Holidays is based in Ross-on-Wye.
Education
Herefordshire has a comprehensive education system with seven independent schools. Most state schools are from 11-16. Sixth form provision is limited.
Colleges of further and higher education
Agriculture
The agricultural economy has changed massively in recent years within the county. The county is on the western side of England which has been historically pastoral as opposed to the east which was more arable.
Beef
Probably Hereford's most famous export is its beef cattle Hereford cattle. Herefords are docile but extremely hardy creatures and these attributes have led to their proliferation across the world, particularly the US, South America and Australia. The breed is so gentle that a Hereford bull has been used as the mascot for Hereford United Football Club for many years, led around packed stadiums prior to major matches.
Fruit
The county is famous for its apple and pear orchards, and of course its cider. There are many orchards around the county but not as many as there once were.
In the last few years, soft fruits such as strawberries have become a new and rapidly expanding area of the agricultural economy of the county. One of the main reasons for this was the introduction of the polytunnel or French tunnel. This allowed the strawberries to be grown for a far longer season and at a higher quality (with no blemishes from the rain). The strawberries are mainly picked by Eastern European workers who come over for the season to earn some money, more than they could working in their country of origin and with the bonus, for many of them, of learning or improving their English fluency. The polytunnels have been a major issue in the county, as some people see them as a "blot on the landscape".
Although some polytunnel sites are technically illegal, Herefordshire Council has chosen to ignore legal ruling in the belief that if agriculture is to survive, then it must be allowed to innovate; otherwise, the industry will stagnate and the county will suffer.
Dairy
There was a time when the majority of farms in the county would have had dairy cattle for milk production. The cost of investing in new equipment, long hours, BSE, foot-and-mouth disease and mainly the falling milk prices have meant that the milk production has drastically reduced, with only a few farms still in dairy farming.
Potatoes
As mentioned above, 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. 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.
Emblems
Coat of arms
Herefordshire County Council was granted a coat of arms on February 28, 1946. 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.
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.
The red colouring of the shield is taken form 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 nad apples. The talbot comes from the heraldry of the Talbot family, Marcher Lords of Shrewsbury and also from that of Viscount Hereford.
The Latin motto is: Pulchra terra Dei donum or This fair land is the gift of God.
County flower
As part of a competition organised by the charity Plantlife to raise awareness of conservation issues, the public were asked to vote for "county flowers" that they felt best represented their county. Mistletoe was announced as the winning choice for Herefordshire in 2004. The emblem has no official status, and has not been widely adopted. Herefordshire Council uses a logo consisting of a green apple.
Places of interest
Transport
Road
The M50, one of the first motorways to be built in the UK, runs through the south of the county and, with the A40 dual carriageway, forms part of the major route linking South Wales with Gloucester, Oxford and London
The hilly nature of the terrain in Mid Wales means that the main ground transport links between North Wales and South Wales run through Herefordshire. The other trunk roads in Herefordshire, the A49 and the A465, form part of these north–south routes as well as catering for local traffic. These are single-carriageway roads and mean that travelling through the county is often slow. In 2006, ASDA supermarkets opened a controversial supermarket scheme connecting to this small roundabout on a flood plain. This project has large flood defences and the roundabout has been replaced by traffic lights and the road level raised as part of the project.
Railways
The Welsh Marches Railway Line also runs north–south with passenger trains operated by Arriva Trains Wales offering links to Manchester as well as to North and South Wales. Hereford is the western end of the Cotswold Line which runs via Worcester with through services to Oxford and London (operated by First Great Western) and to Birmingham and Nottingham (operated by London Midland).
Former routes which are now closed were Ledbury to Gloucester; Hereford to Ross-on-Wye and onward to Gloucester and Monmouth; Hereford to Hay-on-Wye; Pontrilas to Hay-on-Wye; Leominster to New Radnor; Eardisley to Presteigne; and Leominster to Worcester via Bromyard.
Air
There are no airports with scheduled air services in Herefordshire though Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol international airports are the nearest. The RailAir coach operated by First Great Western provides connections to London Heathrow via Reading station. Shobdon Aerodrome near Leominster is a centre for general aviation and gliding. Hot air ballooning is also popular with Eastnor Castle being one of the favourite launch sites in the area.
Waterways
Historically, the rivers Wye and Lugg were navigable but the wide seasonal variations in water levels mean that few craft larger than canoes and coracles are now used. There are canoe centres at , Glasbury-on-Wye, and Ross-on-Wye, as well as a rowing club in Hereford.
The early 19th century saw the construction of two canals, The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal and The Leominster & Stourport Canal but these were never successful and there are now few remains to be seen. The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal is currently undergoing a restoration project, which might include the construction of a new canal basin in Hereford city centre as part of the regeneration of the Edgar Street Grid.
Notable people
- 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
- Nell Gwynne, mistress of King Charles II of England
- St. John Kemble Catholic priest and martyr
- John Masefield, Poet Laureate
- Peter Scudamore, jockey
- Tom Spring, bare-knuckle boxer, champion of England in 19th century
- Alfred Watkins, pioneering archaeologist and photographer
- Fred West, serial killer
External links
- Local events, jobs, photos and news
- HCT website
- 10 Libraries across Herefordshire
- Records and protects the county's Earth Heritage
- Local news, sport and information
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