Pencombe with Grendon Warren is a civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. The parish was created in 1895 from the parishes of Pencombe and Grendon Warren, its only nucleated settlement being the village of Pencombe.
History According to A Dictionary of British Place Names and The Concise Oxfordshire Dictionary of English Place-names Pencombe derives from the Old English 'penn' with 'cumb' meaning "valley with a pen or an enclosure", and was written in 12th and 13th century as 'Pencumbe'. Grendon derives from the Old English 'grēne' with 'denu' meaning "green valley", and in the 1240s was written as Grendene, Grenden and Grendone.Mills, Anthony David (2003); A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, revised edition (2011), p.364. Ekwall, Eilert (1936); The Concise Oxfordshire Dictionary of English Place-names, Oxford University Press, 4th ed. (1960), p.361. Warren may derive from either the surname "de Warenne", or from the Old French "warir" or "garir", leading to "warenne" or "garenne" meaning enclosed land or park for the breeding or hunting of rabbits or game.
The Pencombe part of the parish is listed in the Domesday Book as a manor in the Tornelaus hundred of Herefordshire. There were 21 villagers, four smallholders (middle level of serf below a villager), six slaves, a priest, a smith, and a further six people. There were ploughlands for three lord's plough teams and 20 men's plough teams, a mill, and a church. In 1066 Alfred of Marlborough was lord of the manor, this after the Norman Conquest in 1086 passing to his daughter Agnes, with Alfred of Marlborough becoming tenant-in-chief to king William I. The Grendon Warren part was included in the manor of Grendon, listed as "Grenedene" in the Domesday Book. At the time of the Norman Conquest Grendon was in the Plegelgete Hundred of Herefordshire. The manor's entire listed assets was eight ploughlands. The lords of the manor in 1066 were Edwy the noble and Ordric, with a manor each. In 1086 lordship was passed to William Devereux under Roger de Lacy who became tenant-in-chief to king William I.
Pencombe with Grendon Warren civil parish was created in 1895 by a union of the parishes of Pencombe and Grendon Warren,Youngs, Frederic A., "Pencombe with Grendon Warren", Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Northern England pp.128, 133"Pencombe with Grendon Warren" in Annual Report - Supplements, Great Britain. Local Government Board, H.M. Stationery Office, 1896, p.374 at the time administered by Bromyard Rural District Council of the Northern Division of Herefordshire, and was in the Union,—poor relief and joint workhouse provision set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834—Police court and County court district of Bromyard,Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire 1909, pp.35, 36 and in the Broxash Hundred."List of Hundreds and Parishes" 'List of Hundreds and Parishes', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Herefordshire, Volume 2, East (London, 1932), pp. xxxiii-xxxiv. British History Online. Retrieved 5 November 2019 Grendon Warren was previously a chapelry of Pencombe, and an extra-parochial area, later a civil parish.Hamilton, Nicholas, Esterhazy, Stephen, Armytage; 'Grendon Warren' in The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)Bartholomew, John; 'Grendon Warren' in the Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)'Grendon Warren', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis (London, 1848), pp. 338-340. British History Online. Retrieved 7 November 2019'Grendon Warren' in Kelly's Post Office Directory of Herefordshire (1863)
In 1913 Pencombe with Grendon Warren was in the Bromyard rural deanery of the Archdeaconry and Diocese of Hereford. It was west from Bromyard station on the Great Western Railway, and west from Dinmore station on the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway. St John's Church, with a south tower with six bells, had been rebuilt in 1864-65 for £3,232, its parish registers dating to 1538. The incumbent's living was a rectory with of glebe—an area of land used to support a parish priest—and a rectory house "very pleasantly situated" a half mile from the church. The rector was also the perpetual curate—an office supported by stipend rather than tithes or glebe—of Marston Stannett. A reading room was established in 1890, the interior of which was furnished with fittings costing £150, including billiard and newspaper rooms. Principal landowners were the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The parish, with a 1911 population of 280, had an area of of "clayey" soil over a part subsoil of stone, in which were grown wheat, beans, oats, clover and apples. The chapelry and hamlet of Marston Stennett, at the north-west of the parish, was at the time in Pencombe with Grendon Warren (now in the parish of Humber), its then chapel, rebuilt in 1868, comprising a chancel, nave, and a western turret with one bell. The original chapel had been built in 1711 by the sister to Lord Chief Justice Heley of Ireland. The chapelry living was a perpetual curacy, with of glebe, in the gift of the rector of Pencombe.Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire 1913, p.169
The parish post office received letters through Worcester; the closest money order office was at Bredenbury, and telegraph office at Stoke Lacy. A public elementary school, with a schoolmaster's house, was built in 1862 for 120 children; average attendance in 1913 was 50. Resident within the parish were the school master and mistress, the local rector, and the parish clerk. Commercial occupations included 24 farmers, including two farms at both Grendon Warren and Marston Stennett. There were two shopkeepers, one of whom ran the post office, a beer retailer, and a blacksmith. One of the farmers was a landowner and the licensee of the Burghope Inn providing "good accommodation for cyclists and tourists"; he was also the assistant overseer for the parish, and the parishes of Stoke Lacy, Ullingswick, Bredenbury, and Wacton & Morton Jeffries.
Governance Pencombe with Grendon Warren is represented on the lowest tier of UK governance by six members on the Pencombe Group Parish Council.Members of Pencombe Group Parish Council, Pencombe Group Parish Council. Retrieved 1 November 2019"Result of uncontested election", Pencombe Group Parish Council 3 April 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019 As Herefordshire is today a unitary authority—no district council between parish and county councils—the parish sends one councillor, representing the Hampton Ward, to Herefordshire County Council."Pencombe with Grendon Warren", Citypopulation.de. Retrieved 5 November 2019"Hampton", Citypopulation.de. Retrieved 5 November 2019 Pencombe with Grendon Warren is represent in the UK parliament as part of the North Herefordshire constituency.
In 1974 Pencombe with Grendon Warren became part of the Malvern Hills District of the county of Hereford and Worcester, instituted under the Local Government Act 1972.Statutory Instruments (1976), Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2019
Geography Pencombe with Grendon Warren is about from north to south and east to west. The parish is rural, of farms, fields and streams, isolated and dispersed businesses and residential properties, with the only nucleated settlement the village of Pencombe at the east of the parish. Watercourses drain the parish from its centre, the highest point being Hegdon Hill, a Marylin—a prominent hill with a drop of at least on all sides—at , with a drop of , surmounted by a trigpoint and a radio mast. Two streams run to the River Lodon at the east of the parish, one flowing through Pencombe village. At the north-west two streams flow to a tributary feeding the River Lugg at Bodenham. At the centre and flowing south-west are three streams which become one, and again feed the River Lugg. The main through-route is a minor road which runs to Bromyard at the north-east and the A417 road at the south-west. Crossing this road at Pencombe is a further minor road which runs to the village of Little Cowarne at the south and to Risbury at the north-west. All other routes are minor farm and residential roads, tracks, cul-de-sacs and footpaths. Pencombe with Grendon Waren is approximately north-west from the city and county town of Hereford. The nearest towns are Leominster, about to the north-west and Bromyard to the east. Adjacent parishes are Grendon Bishop at north, Bromyard and Winslow at the east defined by the River Lodon, Little Cowarne and Ullingswick at the south, Bodenham at the south-west, and Humber at the north-west. Both Bodenham and Humber borders are defined partly by the tributary of the River Lugg.Extracted from "Pencombe with Grendon Waren", OpenStreetMap (OSM). Retrieved 3 November 2019Extracted from "Pencombe with Grendon Waren", GetOutside, Ordnance Survey, OS Explorer map: 202: Leominter & Bromyard. Retrieved 5 November 2019"Hegdon Hill", GetOutside, Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 5 November 2019"Hegdon Hill", Hill Bagging, Database of British and Irish Hills. Retrieved 4 November 2019Extracted from "Pencombe with Grendon Waren", Grid Reference Finder. Retrieved 3 November 2019
Community
Parish amenities and facilities include, within Pencombe, St John's parish church which incorporates a library, the Wheelwights Arms public house,Wheelwights Arms, Pencombe, Herefordshire, Google Street View (image date September 2009). Retrieved 7 November 2019 the Pencombe CE Primary School with a separate preschool,Pencombe C of E Primary School, Pencombe, Herefordshire, Google Street View (image date September 2009). Retrieved 7 November 2019 and the Pencombe & Little Cowarne Parish Hall, which incorporates a post office and provides facilities for the local Women's Institute and Young Farmers' Club.Pencombe Group Parish Council, Retrieved 5 November 2019 The nearest secondary school is Queen Elizabeth High School, to the north-east at Bromyard. From Pencombe is an autograss circuit to the north-west,Goddard, Ben; "Country's best grass-track racers to compete in Pencombe", Hereford Times, 12 April 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019 a farm for growing fruit under polytunnels to the south-west at the border with Little Cowarne parish, a care home to the south, and holiday cottages to the north. A bus stop in Pencombe provides a parish service connection to Hereford, Bromyard and Ledbury. The closest rail connection is at Leominster railway station, to the north-west, on the Crewe to Newport Welsh Marches Line."Pencombe", Bus Times. Retrieved 3 November 2019Queen Elizabeth High School. Retrieved 3 November 2019 The parish falls under the Wye Valley NHS Trust; the nearest major hospital is Hereford County Hospital at Hereford."About Wye Valley NHS Trust", Wye Valley NHS Trust. Retrieved 5 November 2019 Parish population in 2001 was 340, and in 2011, 329. The civil parish is covered by the ecclesiastical parish of Pencombe with Marston Stannett."Pencombe with Marston Stannett", Herefordshire Past. Retrieved 5 November 2019"Pencombe: St John", Church Heritage Record 618056, Church of England. Retrieved 5 November 2019
Landmarks Within the parish are Grade II listed buildings, structures and scheduled monuments."Listed Buildings in Pencombe with Grendon Warren, Herefordshire", British Listed Buildings. 4 November 2019"Pencombe with Grendon Warren", Pastscape. 24 November 2019