Ewyas Harold

Ewyas Harold
St. Michael and All Angels Church
Ewyas Harold is located in Herefordshire
Ewyas Harold
Ewyas Harold
Location within Herefordshire
Population883 (2011 Census)
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHereford
Postcode districtHR2
PoliceWest Mercia
FireHereford and Worcester
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Herefordshire
51°57′11″N 2°53′28″W / 51.953°N 2.891°W / 51.953; -2.891

Ewyas Harold (/ˈjuəs ˈhærəld/)[1] is a village and civil parish in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, England, near the Wales-England border about halfway between Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, and Hereford. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 census was 883.[2] It lies on the Dulas brook, and is contiguous with the neighbouring village of Pontrilas.

The village is on the site of Ewyas Harold Castle, of which only the motte remains. Its name derives from the Welsh kingdom of Ewyas[3] and from Harold, son of Ralph the Timid (Earl of Hereford), and grandson of King Æthelred the Unready.[4]

Ewyas Harold parish has a large area of common land rich in wildlife and ancient meadow saffron, a leftover from cultivation by the monks at Dore Abbey. Some villagers have commoner's rights.

The village has a school, a fire station and a redundant Catholic church.[5] The Church of England ministry of St. Michael and All Angels is now linked with that of several neighbouring parishes. It is the nearest village to the Pontrilas Army Training Area.

  1. ^ Pointon, Graham, ed. (1990). BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names (2nd ed.). Oxford: The University Press. p. 88. ISBN 0-19-282745-6.
  2. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  3. ^ Bannister, Rev AT (1916). The place-names of Herefordshire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 72–73.
  4. ^ Ann Williams, ‘Ralph, Earl of Hereford (d. 1057)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 26 October 2011
  5. ^ Cain, Rebecca (15 February 2015). "Church to be turned into a health centre". Hereford Times. Retrieved 23 November 2017.