In 2017 the BBC's The One Show selected Weobley as one of the most attractive villages in the country. It has an outstanding Norman church whose spire can be seen for miles around and many timber framed buildings over 500 years old.
Not only is Weobley a wonderful place to live in, it is also a great place to visit for a day, a weekend or to use as a base for your holiday in Herefordshire or The Marches. Indeed, in 2015 the Daily Mail included Weobley in the top 20 most idyllic villages you MUST visit.
A recent visitor to Weobley made this comment on Trip Advisor. “We prepared in advance by visiting the website and learning about the Heritage Trail. I printed the PDF map which guides you around the village, and downloaded the mp3 files to my phone so we could listen to the commentary without requiring any phone signal - a good move as it turned out because Weobley is an EE deadspot. The commentary is printed at all the various points anyway, but looking and listening is a fun way to do it, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. It doesn't take long to do and the village is relatively compact, so not a lot of trekking. We did it with my parents who are both over 70 and they had no problems.”
Another visitor to Weobley said "There are many different building styles including a Cruck Cottage and two Wealden houses with attractive curved straps to the roof. The village is seriously photogenic. The magpie is the village symbol, and a sculpture of Magnus the Magpie was erected in 2001 to celebrate Weobley winning a best kept village in England award in 1999. To complete your visit, walk down past the Red Lion Inn and the Cruck cottage to the church."
The method of building houses with timber frames began in the Stone Age. However, substantial and long-lasting houses were not built until the medieval period. Most of the timber framed houses in Weobley were built about 1500.They were constructed of wood frames of recently felled oak cut to size off site. A number was scratched into the timber at each joint position so a house could be assembled like a kit. As the oak dried, the joints tightened, making them stronger.
It is almost impossible to believe that a market hall and several substantial houses stood here on the Rose Garden and presumably part of the roadway. Evidence from the fire in the 1930's and early photographs and paintings show the garden covered with buildings.To the left is one such painting which you can see in the Museum. You can see the market hall on the left of the painting with the ground floor unenclosed.
In a large house which stood on what is now the Rose Garden in the village centre, James Tomkins lived. He fathered 33 children with two successive wives in the latter half of the 16th century. All the children survived. The poem below was written about Tomkins.
“Reader draw near! If e’er thou chance to climb
By gradual steps this chamber for to view,
I’ll tell thee what in they great Grandsire’s time
Here came to pass, which though ‘tis strange ‘tis true.
Babes thirty three did from two mothers spring
To famous Tomkins, O, admired thing!
And may the loud resounding trump of fame,
Proclaime great Tomkins for a man of men.
In golden letter, O! engrave his name
In marble tablets with an iron pen
Let this survive this house and last when all
Its beams doe tremble and rafters fall.”
Poppies Bloom in Weobley. The displays have been created by societies, clubs, the two schools and many individuals, who have been beavering away over the last six months to make thousands of poppies from card, felt, paper and plastic, knitted and crocheted. They also painted pictures, made cushions, cards, brooches and wreaths.
The shop owners and businesses have generously given their windows for adoption of the displays, and other installations can be seen in the Rose Garden and in the bus shelter until the 12th of November. Do come along and take time to reflect on the men, women and animals, who gave us our freedom.
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