Kenchester (St. Michael)
KENCHESTER (St. Michael), a parish, in the hundred of Grimsworth, union and county of Hereford, 5 miles (W. N. W.) from Hereford; containing 99 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the left bank of the river Wye, and intersected by the road from Hereford to Kington; and consists of 509 acres. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 5. 7., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £182. According to Camden, this place was the Ariconium, but Dr. Horsley considers it as the Magna, of the Romans. The form of the station is an irregular hexagon: the remains principally consist of fragments of a temple at the eastern end, with a niche of Roman brick and mortar, called the Chair; around this are foundations and holes, similar to vaults. At different periods large vaults, tessellated pavements, a fine Mosaic floor, relics of pottery, urns, and large bones, have been discovered. An hypocaust, about seven feet square, with the leaden pipes entire, and those of brick measuring a foot in length and three inches square, was found in 1670; and at the close of the last century, a stone altar was dug up from the foundation of the northern wall of the station, bearing an inscription implying its dedication to the Emperor Cæsar Marcus Aurelius.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.