Herefordshire

Herefordshire county, 842 sq mi (2,181 sq km), W central England, on the Welsh border. The county has an undulating terrain, which reaches its greatest height in the Black Mts. and Malvern Hills. The chief rivers are the Wye, the Teme, and the Frome. The largely agricultural county is famous for its orchards and Hereford cattle .

Herefordshire was the scene of border warfare with the Welsh in the Middle Ages, and there are many ruins of castles and fortifications, the most remarkable of which is Offa's Dyke (8th cent.). In 1974, Herefordshire was combined with almost all of Worcestershire to form the nonmetropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester, but in 1998 the counties were again separated.

Herefordshire Unitary authority in w England, bounded w by the Principality of Wales and e by Worcestershire; the county town is Hereford. Other towns include Ross-on-Wye, Hay-on-Wye, Bromyard, Leominster, and Ledbury. Herefordshire was created in 1998 from the w part of the former county of Hereford and Worcester. The River Wye crosses the county from se to w and the River Munmow forms Herefordshire's s border withMonmouthshire. Offa's Dyke follows the border with Powys. The Malvern Hills lie on its e border with Worcestershire. Industries: tourism, agriculture, cider making, agricultural machinery. Area: 2288sq km (844sq mi). Pop. (1996 est.) 166,100.

Herefordshire is a small border county, full of castles, running from the Black Mountains in the west to the Malverns in the east. Hereford itself was for centuries a stronghold against the Welsh, holding the crossing of the Wye.

In the pre‐Roman period, Herefordshire was part of the territory of the Silures, to whom Caratacus appealed in his fight against the Romans. In the mid‐7th cent. it fell to Penda, pagan king of the Mercians. Soon after his death in battle, Hereford was founded as a diocese (676). A hundred years later Offa's Dike marked the limit of Mercian expansion, running through the west of the county from Kington, through Hay, to White Castle.

In the reign of Athelstan Welsh princes did homage at Hereford, but the county remained vulnerable. Almost all the towns were on the east side, out of reach of the Welsh—Hereford, Leominster, Bromyard, Ross, Ledbury. Hereford itself was sacked by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055 and the new cathedral destroyed. The next bishop of Hereford was a fighting man, Leofgar, who lasted a mere eleven weeks before he was slain. The Normans took the border in hand. William Fitzosbern was given palatine status as earl of Hereford and began the building of a formidable castle there. The shire was only just held against Llywelyn the Great in the early 13th cent. and threatened again by Glyndŵr in the early 15th.

The industrial revolution touched Herefordshire lightly and it remains a quiet rural county. In the local government reorganization of 1972, Herefordshire, the fourth smallest county in population, was merged, despite much protest, with its larger eastern neighbour, Worcestershire. But the forced union was abandoned on 1 April 1998, and Herefordshire reconstituted.