Holme Lacy
| Holme Lacy | |
| Herefordshire | |
|---|---|
 The Thatch, Holme Lacy | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO554355 |
| Location: | 52°1’0"N, 2°39’-0"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 466 (2011) |
| Postcode: | HR2 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Herefordshire |
Holme Lacy is a village deep in the Herefordshire countryside, in a loop in the River Wye downstream of Hereford.
The population of the parish was recorded as 466 at the 2011 Census.
This village was once on the course of a railway line, and though the line has long since been lifted, a cutting that took it beneath the village street is still here.
Name
The name of Holme Lacy derives from the Old English hamm, indicating a meadow. The name is recorded as Hamme in the Domesday Book of 1086.[1] The ‘Lacy’ suffix indicates the ownership of the manor by the de Lacy family in the Middle Ages.
The name has varied through history; it has also been known as ‘’Homme Lacy’’ (1396) [2] ‘’Hamlayce’’ (1648), ‘’Humlachie’’ (1701) and ‘’Hom Lacy’’ (1836).
Parish church
The parish church is St Cuthbert's. It is an impressive, though now redundant church about a mile south-east of the village.
The church is a Grade I listed building,[3] and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[4]
History
The town was an estate of the Bishop of Hereford and held by Roger de Lacy, whence the suffix of the village’s name.
The Domesdat Book records the manor as being the property of the Bishop, and in 1086 the total population included:
- 16 villeins
- 4 bordars
- 1 reeve
- 1 male and 2 female serfs
- 1 priest
- and 1 Frenchman who between them had 20½ ploughs.
The presence of a priest shows there was a church at Holme Lacy. There were also two ploughs under the lordship's tenure in existence.
Holme Lacy House and its estate
Holme Lacy was for some centuries in the ancient family of Scudamore. Philip Scudamore settled here in the 14th century, and his descendant John Scudamore esq. was created a baronet in 1620, and in 1628 Baron Dromore and Viscount Scudamore, of Sligo. His successor, the second viscount, commissioned Anthony Deane in 1674 to build a new country mansion on the estate.
Holme Lacy House continued to be the principal seat of the family till the year 1716, when on the death of James, the 3rd and last Viscount Scudamore, the estate was vested in Frances Scudamore (born 1711-died 1750 in childbed), his only daughter and heiress. In 1729 Frances married Henry Somerset 3rd Duke of Beaufort, who in 1730 assumed the name and arms of Scudamore. Frances was divorced in 1744 and there were no children of the marriage.
Frances then married as her second husband Charles Fitzroy esq. He also assumed the name and arms of Scudamore, and had by her an only daughter and heiress, Frances (1750-1820). Frances married Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk to whom the property then in part descended, and, together with other valuable estates in this county and Gloucestershire, was added to the princely domain of the Howards.
The Duke and Duchess died without surviving children and after extensive litigation the Holme Lacy estate devolved in 1819 upon Capt. Sir Edwyn Francis Stanhope, Bart., R. N., who assumed the additional name and arms of Scudamore and whose son succeeded in 1883 as 9th Earl of Chesterfield.[5]
The mansion of Holme Lacy built by the 2nd Viscount Scudamore remained, renovated in 1828-31 and again in the early 20th century, the family seat of the Earls of Chesterfield until 1902, when the contents were sold. In 1909 the house was sold to Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth, an Australian brewing millionaire. He sold it in 1924 to Noel Wills, on whose death in 1929 his widow donated it to Herefordshire County Council.
For some years in municipal ownership, the house was used as a training college and psychiatric hospital. Several owners later it was leased to the Warner Leisure Hotels group.[6]
The house is a Grade I listed building, [7] it is now a Warner Leisure Hotel.[8]
Record pear tree
Perry pear trees can live to a great age, and can be fully productive for 250 years. They also grow to a considerable height and can have very large canopies; the largest recorded internationally at the time, a tree at Holme Lacy which still partly survives, covered three quarters of an acre and yielded a crop of 5–7 tons in 1790.[9]
Railways
Holme Lacy Station was on the Hereford to Ross-on-Wye section of the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. It was opened on 1 June 1855 as a 7 foot broad gauge line, it was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1862. In 1869 the railway was converted to standard gauge.[10] The railway was closed to passengers on 2 November 1964.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Holme Lacy) |
- Images of England — details from listed building database (155634) Holme Lacy House
- Pictures of Holme Lacy and the area on Geograph.co.uk
- Herefordshire and Ludlow College Holme Lacy Campus
References
- ↑ Britain Express. "Holme Lacy, St Cuthberts church, Herefordshitre Travel Guide". http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/hereford/churches/Holme-Lacy.htm. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
- ↑ "Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP40/541; 1396". http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT6/R2/CP40no541a/aCP40no541afronts/IMG_0342.htm. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1099563: Church of St Cuthbert, Holme Lacy
- ↑ St Cuthbert's Church, Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, Churches Conservation Trust, http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/St-Cuthberts-Church-Holme-Lacy-Herefordshire/, retrieved 29 March 2011
- ↑ Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire 1890 - edited
- ↑ "Holme Lacy House History". Herefordshire Past. http://herefordshirepast.co.uk/buildings/holme-lacy-house/. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1348852: Holme Lacy House
- ↑ "Warner Leisure Hotels". Warner Leisure Hotels. http://www.warnerleisurehotels.co.uk/hotels/holme-lacy-house-hotel/overview/. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
- ↑ Oliver, T. The Three Counties & Welsh Marches Perry Presidium Protocol
- ↑ "Herefordshire Through Time - Welcome". http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/post-mediæval/railways/hrfd_ross_glouc.htm. Retrieved 2016-09-24.