Whitchurch, Herefordshire

Whitchurch
Whitchurch  Whitchurch shown within Herefordshire
OS grid reference	SO550174
Unitary authority	Herefordshire
Ceremonial county	Herefordshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ROSS-ON-WYE
Postcode district	HR9
Dialling code	01600
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Hereford and South Herefordshire
List of places UK England Herefordshire

Whitchurch is a village in Herefordshire named after the church of Saint Dubricius which was originally white in colour.

Whitchurch is situated on the A40, connecting nearby Ross-on-Wye to Welsh town Monmouth. It is located near Symonds Yat and the Doward hills, so the village is used to tourists.

Until the 9th century, when it was taken over by Mercia, this area was within the Welsh kingdom of Ergyng. After the Norman conquest, the area became known as Archenfield and was governed as part of the Welsh Marches. It became part of Herefordshire, and England, in the 16th century, although the use of Welsh in the area remained strong until the 19th century.^[1] The Welsh name for the village, Llandywynnog, means "church of Tywynnog", derived from a personal name Gwynnog.^[2]

Within the village is the Old Court Hotel which was the ancestral home of the Gwillim family, and was lived in for a while by John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1791–1796) and founder of Toronto. Whitchurch Township in Ontario was named by Simcoe after the birthplace of his wife, Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim.

The primary school is Whitchurch Church of England Primary School, which holds awards for Investors in People and Eco Schools.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Whitchurch, Herefordshire.

grid reference SO550174