Birley, Herefordshire Family History Guide

Birley is an Ancient Parish in the civil parish of Birley with Upper Hill

Parish church: St. Peter

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1754
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1663

Nonconformists include:

Parishes adjacent to Birley

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales

BIRLEY, a parish in the district and county of Hereford; on an affluent of the river Lugg, adjacent to Watling-street, 3¾ miles NW of Dinmore r. station, and 4 ENE of Weobley. Post Town, Weobley. Acres, 1,004. Real property, £1,482. Pop., 190. Houses, 35. The property is divided among a few. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the vicarage of King’s-Pion, in the diocese of Hereford. The church is very good.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Birley, 6 miles S.W. Leominster. P. 172

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

BIRLEY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Weobley, hundred of Stretford, county of Hereford, 4 miles (E. by N.) from Weobley; containing 172 inhabitants. The parish comprises by measurement 934 acres, of which 48 are common or waste; the surface is rather flat, and the soil principally clay, but in some places inclining to gravel. On the west, Birley is bounded by the road from Hereford to Pembridge. The living is a discharged vicarage, consolidated with that of King’s Pion, and valued in the king’s books at £5. 9. 7.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Directories

Birley Kellys Herefordshire Directory 1863

Birley is a parish and village, 5 miles from Leominster station, 4 from Weobley (where the petty sessions are held), and about 10 from Hereford, in Stretford hundred, petty sessional division and union of Weobley, electoral division and rural deanery of Leominster, Hereford archdeaconry and bishopric. The church of St. Peter is an old stone building, partly Gothic, and was thoroughly repaired about 1854; it has a tower, chancel, and organ. The living is a vicarage, annexed to that of King’s Pyon, joint annual value £350, with about 8 acres of glebe land, in the gift of Daniel Peploe Peploe, Esq., of Garnstone; the Rev. John Birch Webb is the incumbent. There is a Free school for King’s Pyon and Birley parish. Mr. Thomas Croose Parry is lord of the manor. The population in 1861 was 190; the acreage is 934. The soil is fertile.

Parish Clerk, Thomas Moore.

Taylor Mrs. Dorston

Alford John G. farmer, Thorne farm

Bengree William, farmer

Brookes Joseph, blacksmith

Campbell John, shoemaker

Evans Thomas, farmer, Buckuell

Moore Thomas, carpenter

Morgan William, farmer, Plough farm, Knapton

Southall William, cooper

Parry Thomas Croose, landowner & farmer, Birley court

Webb Richard, Three Horseshoes

Letters through Leominster. Weobley is the nearest money order office.

Source: Post Office Directory of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and the City of Bristol, Printed and Published by Kelly and Co., Old Boswell Court, St. Clement’s, Strand, London. 1863.

Birley Cassey Directory of Herefordshire 1858

Birley is a small parish and village, 5 miles from Leominster station, 4 from Weobly (where the petty sessions are held), and about 10 from Hereford, in Stretford Hundred, petty sessional division of Weobly, and Weobly Union, and in the electoral division of Leominster, Hereford archdeaconry and bishopric.  The church of St. Peter is an old stone building, partly Gothic, and was thoroughly repaired about 1854; it has a tower, chancel, and organ.  The living is a vicarage, with that of King’s Pyon, worth £152 yearly, with about eight acres of glebe land, in the gift of Daniel Peploe Peploe, Esq., of Garnstone.  Rev. John Birch Webb is the incumbent.  There is a Free school for King’s Pyon and Birley parish.  Mr. Thomas Croose Parry is the lord of the manor.  The population, in 1851, was 172, and the acreage is 934.  The soil is fertile.

Letters through Leominster, which is also the nearest money order office.

Alford John G., farmer, Thorne farm

Bengree Wm., Three Horse Shoes, Knapton

Brookes Joseph, blacksmith

Campbell John, shoemaker

Evans Thomas, farmer, Bucknell

Moore Thomas, carpenter and parish clerk

Morgan Wm., farmer, Plough farm, Knapton

Southall William, cooper

Parry Thomas Croose, farmer, Birley court

Taylor Mrs., Dawston

Source: Edward Cassey & Co.: History, Topography, and Directory of Herefordshire. Printed by William Bailey, 107, Fishergate 1858.

Administration

  • County: Herefordshire
  • Civil Registration District: Weobley
  • Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)
  • Diocese: Hereford
  • Rural Deanery: Weston
  • Poor Law Union: Weobley
  • Hundred: Stretford
  • Province: Canterbury