Text extracted from 'Weobley Trail' published by the Society.

The numbers in (..) refer to particular buildings of interest around the village.
For copies of the trail see publication

At the time of Domesday Book, 1086. the manor of ‘Wibelai’ was held by Roger de Lacy. having been held pre-conquest by Edwi cilt, i.e. Edwi the prince. The suffix ‘ley’ in Weobley and as a place-name in the Ley implies that Saxons had settled here, ‘ley’ being an open place normally in a wood and later describing pasture. The name Weobley derives from Wibba’s ‘ley’. Wibba probably being a Saxon who was given this area, or took it by force.

Clearly there was yet no evidence of the future borough as there was at Clifford, Ewyas Harold. Richard’s Castle and Wigmore. There was, however, assart land for one plough. As assart land it had been won from the forest and since it could support one plough team it seems likely that this is the area which becamee the park and the site of Garnstone Castle (now demolished.)

A priest is mentioned in Domesday and there is Norman work in the Church.

From the evidence of Florence of Worcester there appears to have been a castle here c1138. and although the stonework has long since collapsed and no doubt been used as a local quarry the site with its moat still partially surviving is quite impressive (17).

Immediately south of the castle is some evidence of an earth bank and ditch which can he followed for much of the way around the old ‘town’ and can be seen quite clearly just north and east of the church (4). This is the old town ‘ditch’ not so much in the defensive sense as the demarcation of borough privileges for tolls given to the burgesses by their charters to hold a market and fair. These were granted by the king in 1261, 1310, 1340 and 1381. There was already a fair being held by 1231.

In 1291 the Lord of Weobley was claiming the right to hang and try thieves. while in 1402 Sir Simon de Burley gave to the borough the right to imprison thieves. In later years the governing body was the court leet.

Markets would have been held in the triangular market place at the southern end of Broad Street and this is where the old market hall stood (19) until it was pulled down in the 1860’s on the orders of the Marquess of Bath. As a market town Weobley grew and prospered on into the 17th century. Two Jews are noted as holding property here prior to their expulsion in 1290, which may suggest a base for financial dealings.
From 1295 to 1306 Weobley sent two members to Parliament but after this complained, as did Bromyard and Ledbury, that it was unable to pay 2s per day to support them and was not re-enfranchised until 1628. From then it sent two M.P.s to Parliament until it lost them as a result of the Reform Act of 1832. For much of this time it was a "pocket" borough of the Thynne family of Longleat.

As early as 1318 the list of the possessions of Theobald de Verdon, lord of the manor, includes two watermills, which were probably one close to the castle and the other on the site of what is today Games’ works (IS). There must have been much more flow of water near the castle than there is today, if that is the correct identification of its position. A terrier (land survey) of 1403 also includes two watermills and a windmill; the site of which still keeps the name
(8).

From the evidence of its buildings Weobley was a wealthy town in the later medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods just as was its neighbour Pembridge. Unfortunately the fire of November, 1943, burned down the remaining buildings on the marketplace triangle (19); from the photographs and paintings which remain it seems that a fascinating block of 15th to 17th century timber-framed work was destroyed.

During the Civil War Charles I came to Weobley and on 5th September. 1645. stayed at the then ‘Unicorn’ Inn. This is the present ‘Throne’ (21).

It was about this time that in 1659 William Crowther founded his Grammar School which still stands in Hereford Road with its timber-framing showing the influence of the Renaissance (22). This had a room for the master at one end upstairs and what is apparently a dormitory adjoining over the classroom on the ground floor. Probably the sons of yeomen and better-off artisans attended.

In 1661 Colonel John Birch, who had taken Hereford for Parliament in December. 1645. acquired Garnstone, marrying a local woman as his second wife in 1676 and representing Weobley in Parliament from 1678 until his death in 1691. His monument is in the church on the north wall of the sanctuary.

In 1707 Lord Weymouth. son of the Marquess of Bath, left money for a school which was built in Broad Street two years later and became two schools. for girls and for boys in 1734. In 1851 both of these and the Grammar School were much out of repair and in 1853 the Grammar School combined with the Girls’ part of these which appear to have been helped by the National Society from c 1836. After education became compulsory for all in 1870 this body built a new school for Boys. Girls and Infants in 1873 (3 1). which continued until a new Elementary School was built in wood by the LEA. in 1934 just off Hereford Road and not far from Crowther’s original school. This was replaced by a new building to the east of the High School. opened in 1998 (27). In 1963 a new Secondary Modern School was built close by for pupils over the age of 11. becoming Comprehensive in 1972 (26).