Orcop
| Orcop | |
| Herefordshire | |
|---|---|
 Orcop church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO474262 |
| Location: | 51°55’55"N, 2°45’59"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 417 (2011) |
| Post town: | Hereford |
| Postcode: | HR2 |
| Dialling code: | 01981 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Herefordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Hereford and South Herefordshire |
Orcop is a hamlet in Herefordshire eight and a half miles south of Hereford.
The hamlet has a well-preserved early Norman motte-and-bailey castle and a parish church, St John the Baptist.
The larger village of Orcop Hill is nearby.
St John The Baptist Church
The parish church, St John The Baptist, has a chancel built around 1300, and a timber-framed bell that was added early in the 16th century.
The narrow aisle with arcade is early 13th century, with a later 13th-century chancel window; and the piscina or font is Norman. A south door dates from the 14th century.
In 19th century Thomas Nicholson, architect renovated the windows in the polygonal vestry and elsewhere in the church. Many of the church's original features were removed during a Victorian renovation.
St John is known as 'the Poets Church' due to being the site where Frances Horovitz was laid to rest.[1]
About the village
The village pub is the Fountain Inn up the road in Orcop Hill, a typical country pub, compact in size with an open fire. It was the centre of a planning controversy between 2012 and 2016 when the owners closed the pub to seek planning permission for a residential conversion, which did not succeed. The pub reopened under new owners in December 2016.[2]
Orcop Village Hall remains in use regularly by the Parish Council and by community groups such as Age Concern, keep fit classes and family events.[3] The hall also has a large car park, outdoor sports area and a capacity of 160 seats.
Footpaths surround Orcop, they wind up the hills into the neighbouring areas of Garway and St Weonards.
Orcop has no village provisions shop: the only shop was a Canoe and Kayak Centre opened as a farm diversification. as part of this diversification a lake was built on the Farmland and a Campsite [4] has been Formed around this feature.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Orcop) |
References
- ↑ St John The Baptist, Orcop: Visit Herefordshire Churches
- ↑ 'The Fountain Inn in Orcop Hill has reopened after a four year closure'; Rebecca Miles in the Hereford Times 22 December 2016
- ↑ Orcop Village Hall
- ↑ Burhope Farm Campsite