Staunton on Arrow is a village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. The village is north-west of Hereford and to the west of Leominster. Within the parish is the site of the Iron Age hill fort of Wapley Hill.
History Staunton derives from the Old English 'stān' with 'tūn' meaning"farmstead on stony ground, or one near a standing stone". It was written as 'Stantun' in 938, and as 'Stantune' in the Domesday Book of 1086. 'Arrow' is a Celtic word meaning 'swift'.Mills, Anthony David (2003); A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, revised edition (2011), pp.434. Ekwall, Eilert (1936); The Concise Oxfordshire Dictionary of English Place-names, Oxford University Press, 4th ed. (1960), p.440
Listed in Domesday are three manors within today's Staunton on Arrow parish area, two at Staunton, and one at Wapley, all in the Hundred of Hezetre whose Old English name, 'haeseltreo', means "hazel tree". The manors were in the border lands of the Welsh Marches. One manor at Staunton and the manor of Wapley were, by 1086, owned by Osbern fitzRichard (Osbern son of Richard), who was tenant-in-chief to king William I. Staunton, owned by Seisyll in 1066, contained six villagers, four smallholders— who owned about five acres of land—and four slaves, and had a ploughland area defined by two lord's plough teams and four men's plough teams. Wapley, which had previously been owned by Osbern under overlord Queen Edith in 1066, contained one villager, 22 smallholders, and one riding man (radman)—a messenger or escort—in a ploughland area defined as six men's plough teams, and was retained by Osbern in 1086. The lord of the second manor at Staunton in 1066 was Edric the Wild, lordship transferred in 1086 to Ralph of Mortimer, who was also tenant-in-chief. This manor contained six villagers and three smallholders with ploughlands of two lord's plough teams and four men's plough teams."Staunton on Arrow", Open Domesday. Retrieved 4 December 2020"Wapley", Open Domesday. Retrieved 4 December 2020"Herefordshire M-Z and Welsh entries", The Domesday Book Online. Retrieved 4 December 2020
19th century In the 1850s Staunton on Arrow was directory listed as 'Stanton-on-Arrow'. The parish was also a township, and in the Stretford and Wigmore hundreds (previously in the Hezetre hundred). It was part of the Union—poor relief and joint parish workhouse provision set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834—and petty sessional and county court district of Kington, and the Archdeaconry and Diocese of Hereford. The church, in "an ornamental Gothic style" ", with six bells and register dating to 1558, was constructed in 1854. The ecclesiastical parish living was a vicarage, and included a residence for the clergy, and about glebe—an area of land used to support the parish church and priest—in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, in 1856 Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth. The rectorial tithes—typically one-tenth of the produce or profits of the land given to the rector for his services—were commuted in 1841 under the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act, and were here substituted at this time with a £172 11s. yearly rent-charge payment. The two impropriators—lay persons or higher church authorities into whose personal ownership church income or property is transferred—were the Bishop of Hereford, and James King-King MP for Herefordshire who lived at Stanton Park, a house and deer park established in the 1770s to the north from Staunton on Arrow village, and the family seat of the King family. King-King was lord of the manor and, with Lady Langdale and Sir Thomas Hastings CB, was one of the chief landowners of the parish. He was also a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff of Herefordshire, and chairman of a railway committee, incorporated in 1874, for the construction of a stretch of railway between Leominster and Bromyard, linking two Great Western lines.Post Office Directory of Herefordshire, 1856, p.97History, Topography & Directory of Herefordshire, 1858, p.301"Staunton Park", Parks and Gardens, Retrieved 4 December 2020Burke, Bernard (1882); Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, vol. 1, pp.903-4Bradshaw, George (1877); Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide, and Directory], "185-Leominster and Bromyard", p.168
Listed are the hamlets of Horseway Head and Stanton Bach, as are the further landmarks and areas of Stanton Green, Upper Mowley, and Upper Tan House. A mixed free school, supported by voluntary donations, was erected in 1842 for 60 children. Population in 1851 was 359, within a parish area of just over . Residents and occupations in the 1850s included the parish vicar, the schoolmistress of the free school, eight farmers, one of whom was also a miller, a builder, two blacksmiths, a wheelwright, carpenter, butcher, mason, shopkeeper, linen weaver, and a boot & shoe maker.Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1885, pp.1231-32Jakeman & Carver's Directory of Herefordshire, 1890, pp.673-74Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire & Shropshire, 1895, (Part 1 Herefordshire) pp.162-63Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1913, p187
In the 1880s and 1890s the parish land and subsoil is described as 'various'. Area had risen to , on which were grown wheat, barley and oats, with some land as pasture. Population was 340 in 1881, 286 in 1891, and 311 in 1911. Glebe land by the first decade of the 20th century had reduced to . By 1890 the 1842 free school had become a mixed National School supported by subscription, and with a new classroom added, accommodating 61 children with an average attendance of 53. Following the 1902 Education Act, the school became a Public Elementary. St Peter's Church was restored in 1900 as a commemoration to the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Titley to Presteigne branch of the Great Western Railway ran through the west of the parish, with its Railway Sub Office part of the parish sub post office where other mail arrived by mail cart from Leominster. The nearest money order and telegraph offices were at Pembridge and Shobden. By the early 20th century the parish post office was its own telegraph office. Staunton Court was the residence of the King-King family, who had been resident "for 300 years" and were chief landowners, and whose late 19th-century occupant, William Edward King-King was at the time a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Herefordshire. Residencies and occupations from 1880 included the local JP, the schoolmistress and her assistant mistress, the parish clerk, and the parish priest at the vicarage. There were, variously, eight to nine farmers, one of whom was also a shopkeeper & sub-postmaster, a miller, two wheelwrights, one of whom was also a shopkeeper & machinist and another, a carpenter. There were a tailor and a blacksmith at Stansbatch, a stonemason at Horseway Head, and a boot & shoe maker. Later were listed a gamekeeper, a gardener, a farm bailiff, and a farmer who was a breeder of registered shire and hackney horses.
Governance
Staunton on Arrow is represented in the lowest tier of UK governance on the ten-member Titley Group Parish Council, which also includes the parishes of Knill, Rodd, Nash and Little Brampton, and Titley."Tilty and District Group Parish Council", Herefordshire County Council. Retrieved 5 December 2020"Tilty Group Parish Council". Retrieved 5 December 2020Titley Group Neighbourhood Area. Retrieved 5 December 2020 As Herefordshire is a unitary authority—no district council between parish and county councils—the parish is represented as part of the Arrow Ward on Herefordshire County Council."Arrow ward", City Population. Retrieved 26 November 2020 Staunton on Arrow is represented in the UK parliament as part of the North Herefordshire constituency.
In 1974 Staunton on Arrow became part of the now defunct Leominster District of the county of Hereford and Worcester, instituted under the Local Government Act 1972.Statutory Instruments (1976), Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2020 In 2002 the parish, with the parishes of Knill, Lyonshall, Pembridge, Shobdon, Rodd, Nash and Little Brampton and Titley, had been reassessed to be part of Pembridge and Lyonshall with Titley Ward which elected one councillor to Herefordshire district council."The County of Herefordshire District Council (Electoral Changes) Order 2002", Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2020
Geography The parish, of , is approximately from north to south and east to west, with a 2011 population of 234 at a density of 18.58 per km2. Adjacent parishes are Combe at the north, Byton at the north-east, Rodd, Nash and Little Brampton at the north-west, Pembridge at the south and east, and Titley at the west. The parish is rural, of farms, fields, managed woodland and coppices, water courses, lakes, isolated and dispersed businesses, and residential properties, the village of Staunton on Arrow, and the hamlets of Burcher, Stansbatch and Horseway Head. The parish is within, and exclusively on the northern bank of, the catchment basin of the River Arrow which flows west to east and forms the parish border with Pembridge, the valley bottom at AMSL, rising to at Wapley Hill."Staunton on Arrow", Citypopulation.de. Retrieved 8 December 2020Extracted from "Staunton on Arrow", Grid Reference Finder. Retrieved 8 December 2020Extracted from "Staunton on Arrow", Google Maps. Retrieved 8 December 2020Extracted from "Staunton on Arrow", GetOutside, Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 8 December 2020Extracted from "Staunton on Arrow", OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 8 December 2020
The only numbered minor route is the north to south B4355 Presteigne to Kington road through the west of the parish, and north from Burcher. There are two adopted minor highways—maintained by the local council—both west to east and linking from the B4533 to Pembridge, the northern route running through Stansbatch, the southern from Burcher through Horseway Head and Staunton on Arrow village. At the village are two roads connecting to the northern road, one of which continues out of the parish to the Combe Moor hamlet in Byton. A farther route to the west of the village runs north-east from Stansbatch, along the south-east edge of Wapley Hill, to Combe Moor. Other routes include country lanes, bridleways, woodland walks, footpaths, and private farm tracks.
Community The nearest hospital is Knighton Community Hospital to the north at Knighton in Wales, with the nearest major hospital Hereford County Hospital to the south-east at Hereford.Knighton Community Hospital, NHS Wales. Retrieved 8 December 2020"About Wye Valley NHS Trust", Wye Valley NHS Trust. Retrieved 8 December 2020 The nearest primary school is Pembridge C of E School at Pembridge. The parish falls for state education under the mixed secondary school catchment area for Weobley High School at Weobley, to the south-east. Lucton School, an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school at Lucton, is to the north-east.Pembridge CE Primary School. Retrieved 8 December 2020Weobley High School. Retrieved 8 December 2020Lucton School. Retrieved 8 December 2020
The Anglican parish church of St Peter's, in Staunton on Arrow village, is in the 31-parish Kington and Weobley Deanery of the Diocese of Hereford. It is part of the rural six-parish Arrowvale Group benefice comprising, with St Peter's, St Mary's at Byton, St Michael and All Angels at Lyonshall, St John the Evangelist at Shobdon, St Mary's at Pembridge, and Moorcourt Chapel (St Mary's) at Moorcot in Pembridge."Kington & Weobley", Diocese of Hereford. Retrieved 8 December 2020Arrowvale Group of Parishes. Retrieved 8 December 2020 To the north of the church is the village hall."Staunton on Arrow Village Hall", Herefordshire County Council. Retrieved 5 December 2020