England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Callow St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Callow is located in central Herefordshire about 4 miles south of the city of Hereford. Callow sits just west of the A49 road which connects Hereford to Monmouth. There is not much to Callow merely a small group of farms and cottages grouped around a junction of narrow lanes no more than a 1/4 mile west of the busy major road. The area is quite undulating as Callow sits slightly above the valley of the Norton Brook, a tributary of the Wye which flows northwards towards that river which it meets in Hereford. The landscape is largely used for pastoral farming, cattle predominate in small hedged pastures. Callow sits at about 140 metres above sea level with good views over land which drops away to east and west for more than 40 metres. Callow parish is relatively small at just under 600 acres and it supported a small community too, less than 200 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Callow in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Mary's church (here I follow Pevsner, other sources claim it is dedicated to St Michael) sits adjacent to the village junction at the heart of the community, St Mary's is not a mediaeval church but the work of the 19th century. The church was rebuilt in the 1830s but then totally remodeled in the 1880s, with the tower the only piece remaining from the earlier period. Clearly little impressed Pevsner who covers the building in a few short lines. The church sits behind a low stone wall in a very open site, it stands on the top of a distinct ridge and has extensive views all around. The site is open with no significant hazards to impede photography.