Place:Michaelchurch Escley, Herefordshire, England

Watchers
NameMichaelchurch Escley
Alt namesMichaelchurch-Eskleysource: alternate spelling
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.92°N 2.697°W
Located inHerefordshire, England
Also located inHereford and Worcester, England     (1974 - 1998)
Herefordshire, England     (1998 - )
See alsoEwyas Lacy Hundred, Herefordshire, Englandhundred of which the parish was a part
Dore Rural, Herefordshire, Englandrural district 1894-1934
Dore and Bredwardine Rural, Herefordshire, Englandrural district 1934-1974
South Herefordshire District, Hereford and Worcester, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area 1974-1998
Herefordshire District, Herefordshire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since 1998
source: Family History Library Catalog


A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Michaelchurch Escley from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"MICHAELCHURCH-ESKLEY, a parish, with a village, in the district and county of Hereford[shire]; on the river Eskley, an affluent of the river Monnow, under the Black mountains, 3½ miles E of the boundary with Brecon, 7 miles NW of Pontrilas [railway] station, and 7¾ SE of Hay [on Wye]. Post town: Abergavenny. Acres: 4,567. Real property: £3,043. Population: 448. Houses: 87. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the vicarage of St. Margaret's, in the diocese of Hereford. The church is early English, with a tower; and was recently in disrepair. There are an endowed school with £5 a year, and charities £18."

In Wikipedia there is an article on St. Michael's Church, Michaelchurch, but no description of the village or the parish.

Research Tips

  • Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre, Fir Tree Lane, Rotherwas, Hereford HR2 6LA is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for Herefordshire are stored. The Archives Centre has a website where the index to the archives (and also the wills catalog) can be searched. One item in the catalog is List of all Herefordshire parish register and bishops transcripts holdings which is a PDF file with information provided in an old version of Excel.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

  • GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish in the county. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
  • A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki for Herefordshire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
  • A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
  • Unfortunately, only one volume on Herefordshire has been published in the Victoria County History series. British History Online have produced a series of Ordnance Survey first edition maps for the county which may be helpful for mid-nineteenth century inquiries
  • Ancestry.co.uk lists its collections of Herefordshire genealogical material.
  • FindMyPast collections of historical records can be searched for Herefordshire. They have collections of parish records for the pre-1837 period.