Moccas
Spelled as Mochros in c.1150, from Welsh moch , swine / pigs and rhos, moor. So: moor for pigs.
- Interesting that when the Normans conquered in 1066 they ate the (French) boeuf / beef while the Saxons only saw them as cows. Same situation with mouton / mutton, sheep. The Saxons though ate the pigs as well as raised them. So the Saxon derived names remained for the pigs / swine.
Church: St. Michael & All Angels
- Founded by St. Dyfrig and possibly originally dedicated to him. 8th century dedicated to St. Michael. (Herefordshire has the most dedications to St. Michael in Britain)
- Lovely example of a Norman Church, with 14th century windows and some 19th century repairs.
- St. Dyfrig born c. 450 AD, in Madley. His name means 'water baby' due to legend of his birth.
- British Bishop in Erging / Ariconium. 4 accounts of his life, main one in Book of Llandaff:
A renowned Christian missionary in South Wales and Somerset he founded a monastic site at Hentland and then at Moccas: where he chose a spot (locum) in a corner of his home area, on the River Wye, convenient because of its being well wooded and abounding in fish. Here he remained, with his innumerable disciples, for many years, continuing his teaching... (Zaluckyj pages 37-45)
- Dyfrig was said to have been promoted to be Archbishop of Wales. Stories connect him with Arthur. Saint Dyfrig died on Bardsey (Ynys Enlli). In 1120 his reputed relics were transferred to Llandaff Cathedral where his shrine can still be seen. He was certainly one of the most important of early Welsh saints.
- Moccas Court on the banks of the River Wye was built for Sir George Amyand Cornewall in the latter half of the 18th century to plans by architect Anthony Keck, incorporating some of the designs of the Adam brothers who had been originally commissioned for the work. Sir George was a wealthy banker (his father had made a fortune as an army contractor), he had connections to the East India Company and had financial interests in the West Indies and America including a sugar plantation (using slaves) in Grenada.
- Moccas Deer Park is the home to some very ancient trees including oaks that are over 800 years old, and is now designated as a National Nature Reserve. It is not open to the public except for special events. Deer Parks were a late Medieval addition to estates for prestige + an available food larder.
- Sir Velters Cornewall of Moccas (1697-1768) represented Herefordshire as Member of Parliament for 46 years. He won great popularity in the county through his spirited opposition to a Government proposal to impose a tax on cider and perry. He was buried in the Cathedral and it was reported that 12 women walked in his funeral procession carrying apple boughs in memory of his support for the local beverage.
Bredwardine
The first part OE bred describes the site as it is on a bank. The Old English original version of wardine, usually coupled with a natural feature, means an enclosure, yard about a house, open space in a village but does also seems to indicate a more defensive site than other OE terms for such sites.
Church: St. Andrew
- Bredwardine was the seat of the Vaughan family and the Church holds the tomb of Sir Roger Vaughan who was killed fighting with King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
- Reverend Francis Kilvert the diarist was Vicar here from 1877 until his early death in 1879 and is buried in the churchyard. The Kilvert Society visits on his anniversary.
- Rowland Vaughan, the first to write about water meadows, was born in the house later built in the bailey of the motte‐and‐bailey castle extending south-east of the Church along the River Wye. He was the great nephew of Blanche Parry and, through her help, was briefly at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I.
Arthur's Stone, Neolithic burial chamber, built c.3,700 BC
- King Arthur's name became attached as people knew this was old. Arthur never visited...
- This was a Neolithic Chambered Tomb. It also conveyed ownership of the farmland it overlooked for it stands in a commanding position above Dorstone. Recent archaeological excavations prove it to have been part of an important ritual site. See:
- Excavations 2022 show it to be a part of the complex of sites, further along Dorstone Hill, that includes a causewayed enclosure (used for gatherings, feasting and ceremony) and Neolithic halls which became mortuary sites and ritual long mounds. As it is likely that the earliest phase of these sites is before c.3,800 B.C., Arthur’s Stone and Ritual Complex is changing the accepted chronology of the Neolithic in Britain.
- It was famous enough to be used as a military gathering point during the English Civil War. On 17 September 1645, following their relief of the siege of Hereford, King Charles I ordered his troops, then quartered at various points along the river between Byford and Madley, to assemble at Arthur's Stone to prepare for a march towards Chester. Two hundred years later local people still spoke of 'watch and ward' being kept at Crossway Farm with no‐one allowed to pass without 'the word'.
- Arthur's Stone was the inspiration for the Stone Table on which Aslan was sacrificed in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
