England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Winforton St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Winforton lies in western Herefordshire close to its border with Wales & neighbouring Radnorshire. Winforton is located in a remote area about 4 miles northeast of the market town of Hay on Wye. Winforton is a linear village built along the A438 road which links Hereford to Brecon. The employment around Winforton would have been almost exclusively pastoral farming, the village sits in the flood plain of the River Wye and the parish possesses many small green fields within that plain and the rising slopes to its north. The south of the parish is dominated by the Wye valley, the north by gently undulating pastoral countryside. The Wye, of course, is one of the major draining rivers of eastern Wales, flowing eastwards to join the Bristol Channel close to Chepstow. Winforton is sited at 70 metres above the sea, land beyond the Wye rise steeply to local heights of over 300 metres on Merbach Hill. By the standards of the Marches Winforton was a small parish, it covered just over 1,000 acres and supported around 180 parishioners. In Domesday times the land was held by one Ralph of Tosny and boasted 11 ploughs.

The Church

St Michael's church sits on the southern side of the A438 accessed by a short lane. The church has been much restored over the Victorian period, both nave and chancel largely date from the 1890s, the strange western tower is the earliest portion of the building, dated by Pevsner to the 16th century. This feature with its displayed timber studding is certainly the building's centrepiece and main distinguishing feature. Church Lane, which loops southwards around the site to a car park, gives access through a white-painted kissing gate to the graveyard. There is a lot of trees about and angles are restricted, especially to the western end of the site, but adequate photography can be achieved.