Lyonshall (St. Michael)

LYONSHALL (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Kington, hundred of Stretford, county of Hereford, 2½ miles (E. S. E.) from Kington; containing 912 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Kington to Leominster, and bounded on the north by the river Arrow. It comprises 4658a. 2r. 2p., of which 360 acres are woodland, and the remainder arable and pasture in nearly equal portions; the soil is clayey, and the surface presents a variety of picturesque scenery, in many places finely wooded. Limestone is quarried for building and for the roads; coal is brought from Brecon, and lime from kilns near Radnor, by a tramroad which runs through the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 10. 7½.; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Hereford. The appropriate tithes have been commuted for £430, and the vicarial for £330; the appropriate glebe contains 130 acres, and the vicarial 12. The church is in the early English style, with some details of Norman character. Here are the remains of a moated castle, which, in the early part of the reign of Henry III., belonged to Sir Stephen de Ebroicis, lord of the manor.