salmon fishing, which is carefully preserved, while the Lugg, Arrow and Frome abound in trout and grayling, as does the Teme. This last is a tributary of the Severn, and only two short reaches lie within this county in the north, while it also forms parts of the northern and eastern boundary. The Leddon, also flowing to the Severn, rises in the east of the county and leaves it in the south-east, passing the town of Ledbury. High ground, of an elevation from 500 to 800 ft., separates the various valleys, while on the eastern boundary rise the Malvern Hills, reaching 1194 ft. in the Herefordshire Beacon, and 1395 ft. in the Worcestershire Beacon, and on the boundary with Brecknockshire the Black Mountains exceed 2000 ft. The scenery of the Wye, with its wooded and often precipitous banks, is famous, the most noteworthy point in this county being about Symond’s Yat, on the Gloucestershire border below Ross.
Geology.—The Archean or Pre-Cambrian rocks, the most ancient in the county, emerge from beneath the newer deposits in three small isolated areas. On the western border, Stanner Rock, a picturesque craggy hill near Kington, consists of igneous materials (granitoid rock, felstone, dolerite and gabbro), apparently of intrusive origin and possibly of Uriconian age. In Brampton Bryan Park, a few miles to the north-east, some ancient conglomerates emerge and may be of Longmyndian age. On the east of the county the Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern chain consists of gneisses and schists and Uriconian volcanic rocks; these have been thrust over various members of the Cambrian and Silurian systems, and owing to their hard and durable nature they form the highest ground in the county. The Cambrian rocks (Tremadoc Beds) come next in order of age and consist of quartzites, sandstones and shales, well exposed at the southern end of the Malvern chain and also at Pedwardine near Brampton Bryan. The Silurian rocks are well developed in the north-west part of the county, between Presteign and Ludlow; also along the western flanks of the Malvern Hills and in the eroded dome of Woolhope. Smaller patches come to light at Westhide east of Hereford and at May Hill near Newent. They consist of highly fossiliferous sandstones, mudstones, shales and limestones, known as the Llandovery, Wenlock and Ludlow Series; the Woolhope, Wenlock and Aymestry Limestones are famed for their rich fossil contents. The remainder and by far the greater part of the county is occupied by the Old Red Sandstone, through which the rocks above described project in detached areas. The Old Red Sandstone consists of a great thickness of red sandstones and marls, with impersistent bands of impure concretionary limestone known as cornstones, which by their superior hardness give rise to scarps and rounded ridges; they have yielded remains of fishes and crustaceans. Some of the upper beds are conglomeratic. On its south-eastern margin the county just reaches the Carboniferous Limestone cliffs of the Wye Valley near Ross. Glacial deposits, chiefly sand and gravel, are found in the lower ground along the river-courses, while caves in the Carboniferous Limestone have yielded remains of the hyena, cave-lion, rhinoceros, mammoth and reindeer.
Agriculture and Industries.—The soil is generally marl and clay, but in various parts contains calcareous earth in mixed proportions. Westward the soil is tenacious and retentive of water; on the east it is a stiff and often reddish clay. In the south is found a light sandy loam. More than four-fifths of the total area of the county is under cultivation and about two-thirds of this is in permanent pasture. Ash and oak coppices and larch plantations clothe its hillsides and crests. The rich red soil of the Old Red Sandstone formation is famous for its pear and apple orchards, the county, notwithstanding its much smaller area, ranking in this respect next to Devonshire. The apple crop, generally large, is enormous one year out of four. Twenty hogsheads of cider have been made from an acre of orchard, twelve being the ordinary yield. Cider is the staple beverage of the county, and the trade in cider and perry is large. Hops are another staple of the county, the vines of which are planted in rows on ploughed land. As early as Camden’s day a Herefordshire adage coupled Weobley ale with Leominster bread, indicating the county’s capacity to produce fine wheat and barley, as well as hops.
Herefordshire is also famous as a breeding county for its cattle of bright red hue, with mottled or white faces and sleek silky coats. The Herefords are stalwart and healthy, and, though not good milkers, put on more meat and fat at an early age, in proportion to food consumed, than almost any other variety. They produce the finest beef, and are more cheaply fed than Devons or Durhams, with which they are advantageously crossed. As a dairy county Herefordshire does not rank high. Its small, white-faced, hornless, symmetrical breed of sheep known as “the Ryelands,” from the district near Ross, where it was bred in most perfection, made the county long famous both for the flavour of its meat and the merino-like texture of its wool. Fuller says of this that it was best known as “Lempster ore,” and the finest in all England. In its original form the breed is extinct, crossing with the Leicester having improved size and stamina at the cost of the fleece, and the chief breeds of sheep on Herefordshire farms at present are Shropshire Downs, Cotswolds and Radnors, with their crosses. Agricultural horses of good quality are bred in the north, and saddle and coach horses may be met with at the fairs. Breeders’ names from the county are famous at the national cattle shows, and the number, size and quality of the stock are seen in their supply of the metropolitan and other markets. Prize Herefords are constantly exported to the colonies.
Manufacturing enterprise is small. There are some iron foundries and factories for agricultural implements, and some paper is made. There are considerable limestone quarries, as near Ledbury.
Communications.—Hereford is an important railway centre. The Worcester and Cardiff line of the Great Western railway, entering on the east, runs to Hereford by Ledbury and then southward. The joint line of the Great Western and North-Western companies runs north from Hereford by Leominster, proceeding to Shrewsbury and Crewe. At Leominster a Great Western branch crosses, connecting Worcester, Bromyard and New Radnor. From Hereford a Great Western branch follows the Wye south to Ross, and thence to the Forest of Dean and to Gloucester; a branch connects Ledbury with Gloucester, and the Golden Valley is traversed by a branch from Pontrilas on the Worcester-Cardiff line. From Hereford the Midland and Neath and Brecon line follows the Wye valley westward. None of the rivers is commercially navigable and the canals are out of use.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 537,363 acres, with a population in 1891 of 115,949 and in 1901 of 114,380. The area of the administrative county is 538,921 acres. The county contains 12 hundreds. It is divided into two parliamentary divisions, Leominster (N.) and Ross (S.), and it also includes the parliamentary borough of Hereford, each returning one member. There are two municipal boroughs—Hereford (pop. 21,382) and Leominster (5826). The other urban districts are Bromyard (1663), Kington (1944), Ledbury (3259) and Ross (3303). The county is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes are held at Hereford. It has one court of quarter sessions and is divided into 11 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Hereford and Leominster have separate commissions of the peace, and the borough of Hereford has in addition a separate court of quarter sessions. There are 260 civil parishes. The ancient county, which is almost entirely in the diocese of Hereford, with small parts in those of Gloucester, Worcester and Llandaff, contains 222 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part.
History.—At some time in the 7th century the West Saxons pushed their way across the Severn and established themselves in the territory between Wales and Mercia, with which kingdom they soon became incorporated. The district which is now Herefordshire was occupied by a tribe the Hecanas, who congregated chiefly in the fertile area about Hereford and in the mining districts round Ross. In the 8th century Offa extended the Mercian frontier to the Wye, securing it by the earthwork known as Offa’s dike, portions of which are visible at Knighton and Moorhampton in this county. In 915 the Danes made their way up the Severn to the district of Archenfield, where they took prisoner Cyfeiliawg bishop of Llandaff, and in 921 they besieged Wigmore, which had been rebuilt in that year by Edward. From the time of its first settlement the district was the scene of constant border warfare with the Welsh, and Harold, whose earldom included this county, ordered that any Welshman caught trespassing over the border should lose his right hand. In the period preceding the Conquest much disturbance was
