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Birley
Birley maps
Historic maps of Birley and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Birley maps
Birley photos
We have no photos of Birley, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Dilwyn| Monkland| Hope-Under-Dinmore| Weobley| Eardisland| Leominster| Stoke Prior| Pembridge| Sarnesfield| Kingsland
Birley area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Birley and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Birley
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Herefordshire memories
My Birth
I was born at Bury Cottages, Ivington. My grandmother and maiden aunt lived there. The midwife was Nurse Norman. I was christened at Ivington Church where my mum and dad were married. Also my brother was born in the same black and white cottage and was also christened in the church. I spent every summer there until I was about 16, so have many lovely memories. My aunt and uncle lived at Hyde Ash and we would cycle up there to a farm to get butter. Another aunt and uncle lived on Bircher Common 7, another at Kingsland.
Rose Hatfield Nee Morgan, Dilwyn 1930s
In tracing my family history, I've discovered that my father Gethin Morgan Hatfield lived in Dilwyn as a young boy. Gethin's parents were Rose and Tom. He was born in 1928 out of wedlock to Rose, who was Rose Morgan at the time, and who worked in service somewhere in the vicinity. Three younger sons and a daughter were born to Rose and Tom during the 1930s, and at least 2 of them, twins William and Thomas were born in Dilwyn in the late 1930s. Gethin would have gone to school in Dilwyn. the family left to live in The Drill Hall, Ludlow at the beginning of WW2, as they felt that this would provide greater security than Dilwyn, oddly enough. I would be delighted to hear from anybody who can shed any light on the family and their time spent in Dilwyn.
Gardener's Boy
My father went to work at Hampton Court as a gardener's boy when he left school at the age of 14 in 1917. By then, it was in use as a convalescent hospital for soldiers. I remember my father saying that he had to put little leather boots on the pony's hooves to mow the lawns with the horse-drawn mower, and that one of his jobs was to wash the leaves of indoor plants with milk. Many of my ancestors came from Hope under Dinmore and worked on the Hampton Court estate as woodmen, labourers, gamekeepers etc in the 19th and early 20th century. The children went to the village school which was provided by the Arkwrights free of charge before free education was available generally.
Visiting The Corner House
I visited Weobley in the late 60s as a child with my Mother to visit our Herefordshire cousins. We stayed with Mum's Great Uncle Fred (Frederick Hope) and his daughter, Mabel Hope. They lived at the Corner House and I think Mabel's brother, Rogers Hope, lived near by in Broad Street. We came from London and I remember opening a cupboard door in the house to find a staircase. Mabel kept little hens in the back garden, which I think were gleeny fowl, which were the first live chickens I ever encountered. She sent us back to London with a basket of fresh eggs. My Grandmother, Mary Hope, was born at Bearwood Farm, near Pembridge and I also remember visiting Harry Hope and his wfe Ruth who farmed at Lower Hardick. They lived in a beautiful black & white timbered farmhouse, and had an enormous Hereford bull in the yard. I was only ten or eleven years old and had never seen any... Read more
Butchers Shop
I have a picture of a double fronted butchers shop in the corn market. Over the door it says L.Pugh, outside is the butcher and his wife and probably their daughter Marie. A family story was that a lad from the family when asked who he was replied "Jack Pugh, Leominster, kill sheep" I assume there was an abbatoir behind the shop.
The picture is in an album of my parents around the 1920's. Any information please email me at bpmann@ntlworld.com
Thank you.
The Broom Maker of 1862
I am researching my family tree and have discovered that my great-grandfather, Thomas Ashcroft, a besom (broom) maker, lived and made brooms at 122 Mill Street in 1862 before migrating to South Wales. I believe that most of the old Mill Street houses have long since been demolished, I shall visit one day and have look.
Research - 1700s
I am looking for information about Sarnesfield in the 1700s and about the court house. Also, as I live in Canada and do not know much about the British law system, I would need to know how the courts operated in those years. What I need to know is about the size of the town, prominent citizens, marketplace and anything else you could tell me about Sarnesfield. Or where I could obtain this information.
This is for a story I am writing and Sarnesfield is the place the characters in my story lived in the 1700s.
Thank you for any help you can give me.
Carole M. Lidgold, Author
