Description:

ROWLSTONE, or ROLLSTONE, is a small parish and village, 1 mile and a half west from Pontrilas station on the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford section of the Great Western railway and 13 south-west from Hereford, in the Hereford division of the county, Ewyas Lacy hundred, Dore and Bredwardine rural district, Dore petty sessional division, Hereford county court district, rural deanery of Abbeydore, and archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. The picturesque little parish church of St. Peter is an edifice of stone in the Norman Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel. nave, south porch and a western tower containing 3 bells: the nave is Norman and has an ancient and very interesting doorway, with a tympanum of Norman date, representing our Saviour seated in Glory, the right hand raised in benediction and the left resting on a book supported on the knee, all enclosed by an elliptical aureole, and supported by four angels: the porch is of Early English date: the north wall retains two small Norman windows and the font is also of Early Norman character: the chancel retains a fine Norman arch, carved with figures of cocks: on the south side are two figures with heads downwards, supposed to refer to the crucifixion of St. Peter: the church also possesses candelabra of curious design and probably unique in England; they are clearly earlier than the Reformation, and are embellished with numerous cocks, emblematic of the patron saint: the communion table still has its original altar stone: the church was restored in 1865, and further restoration took place in 1898, when a new north window was added: in the churchyard are several extremely fine yew trees of great age. The register dates from the year 1723. The living is a vicarage, consolidated with that of Llancillo, joint net yearly value £150, including 40 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of R. A. Freeman esq. and held since 1938 by the Rev. William Bichard Thomas B.A. of St. David's College, Lampeter : the vicarage house was erected in 1872. The trustees of the late Col. E. S. Lucas-Scudamore are lords of the manor. Messrs. Herbert Farr and William Bowen Williams are the chief landowners. The soil is loamy clay; subsoil, red sandstone. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The area is 1,667 acres; the population in 1931 was 99 in the civil, and of the ecclesiastical parish, 152.

Letters through Hereford, via Pontrilas, which is the nearest M. O. & T. office

PRIVATE   RESIDENT.

(For T N see general list of Private Residents at end of book.)

Thomas Rev.  William  Richard B.A. (vicar), Vicarage

COMMERCIAL.

Marked thus ° farm 150 acres or over.

Castree Frank, farmer, New House farm (letters addressed Walter-stone, Abergavenny)

Davies Oliver Geo. miller (water), Rowlstone mill

°Farr Herbert, farmer, Pen-y-wyrlod & Pwlyrhunt

°Farr Jas. Herbt. farmer, Fedw

°Langford Geo. Jsph. farmr. The Park

Price Rt. farmer, Rowlstone house

°Watkins Arthur, farmer, Wigga

Williams Arth. farmer, New Bilbo

Williams G. Herbert, farmer, Vroe

Williams Wm. Bowen, farmer, Rowlstone court

Observations:

This directory is not comprehensive in its coverage of all farms and commercial premises in the parish at the time.