England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Dinedor St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Dinedor is located in central Herefordshire about 4 miles southeast of the principal city of Hereford. Dinedor is sited just west of the B4399 road which emerges southeastwards from Hereford and heads in that direction towards Gloucestershire. Dinedor is a riverside parish bounded to its north by the meandering River Wye but dominated more physically by Dinedor Hill topped by its Roman camp. Dinedor is not much of a village, merely a scatter of cottages and farms across the rich soils of the Wye valley and with a few pastoral farms on the steep slopes of the Hill. Dinedor likes to keep its feet dry, sited at around 70 metres above sea level it is a good 20 metres above the notoriously flood prone valley of the Wye, land rises to the northwest to 180 metres at the summit of Dinedor Hill. The soils hereabouts are the rich red of the Old Red Sandstones, although the hill is topped with harder rocks hence its height. The parish is quite large at just over 1,500 acres and it supported just under 300 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was held by two sons of one Turold and supported no fewer than 14 ploughs and a mill making it a prosperous place.

The Church

St Andrew's church lies at the centre of the small village but not in view from the lanes. Instead it is tucked away down a footpath which runs southwards from the main village junction. St Andrew's church looks like a 13th century church but with the possible exception of the western tower this is an illusion as the church was almost totally rebuilt by the Victorians in 1867 to a 13th century style. The tower, with its pyramid of a roof is thought by Pevsner to be the only original feature. Entrance to the churchyard is through a combined wooden and metal gateway and thence by a footpath of a hundred yards or so. The churchyard is well wooded but sight lines are not obscured so a straightforward photograph to secure.