Editing Pembridge (section)

==History==
The [[Toponymy|toponym]] "Pembridge" may be derived from the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] {{lang|cy|Pen-y-Bont}}, anglicised to its current spelling.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Offa's Dyke |journal=[[The Gentleman's Magazine]] |date=June 1833 |volume=103 |issue=1 |page=504 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=N043AAAAYAAJ&q=corrupted+welsh+place+name&pg=PA504 }}</ref> A more likely origin of the name Pembridge is that it is derived from the Old English Penebrug(g)e, which probably meant "Pena's bridge".<ref>(Bruce Coplestone-Crow, Herefordshire Place-Names, British Archaeological Reports British Series 214, 1989, p. 156).</ref>

[[File:King's House, Pembridge - geograph.org.uk - 1105441.jpg|thumb|The former Greyhound Inn in East Street, now the King's House restaurant]]
In 1239, Pembridge was granted a royal charter to hold a market and two fairs: the Cowslip Fair held each May and the Woodcock Fair held each November. In the [[England in the Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] they were important events for agricultural labourers across the county to seek work from landowners.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

The village is noted for its historic [[Timber framing#English Styles|timber-framed]] buildings. It is promoted to visitors as "the heart of the [[Black and White Village Trail]]".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://mediaeval-pembridge.com/ |title=Home |work=Mediaeval Pembridge |access-date=29 December 2015}}</ref>

In West Street, Swan House and School View are two parts of a single building. It was built in the 14th century a [[hall house]], but had an intermediate floor inserted late in the 16th or early in the 17th century. It was further altered in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a [[Listed building#Categories of listed building|Grade II* listed building]].<ref>{{NHLE |num=1301065 |desc=Swan House and School View |grade=II* |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref> Also in West Street, Forsythia and West Leigh are two parts of another former hall house. It was built in the 14th or 15th century, and altered in the 17th and 19th centuries. It is a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1349914 |desc=Forsythia and West Leigh |grade=II* |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref>

In the Market Place, the core of the Post Office and Stores is another 14th-century house. It was remodelled in the 17th and late 19th centuries and is a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1081730 |desc=Pembridge Post Office and Stores |grade=II* |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref> Also in Market Place is the Market Hall. This timber-framed building, which has been dated by dendrochronology to c.1520, is not actually a market hall, but merely a covered market. Eight oak pillars support a roof tiled with stone slates. These pillars are supported on unworked stone bases except for one, which stands on the remains of the medieval cross base. It is a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1081729 |desc=The Market Hall |grade=II* |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref><ref>SHE15434 - Unpublished Report: Tyers, Ian. 2002. The tree-ring analysis of the Market Hall, Pembridge, Herefordshire. ARCUS Dendrochronology Laboratory Report. Arcus. 574w.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/her-search/monuments-search/search/Monument?ID=360 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125073328/https://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/her-search/monuments-search/search/Monument?ID=360 |archive-date=25 January 2019 |title=Herefordshire Through Time - Welcome}}</ref>

In East Street is the former post office. It is a 15th-century house altered in the 17th and 19th centuries.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1301160 |desc=Old Post Office and Old Post Office Cottage |grade=II |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Duppa Almshouses (former), Pembridge - geograph.org.uk - 1105397.jpg|thumb|Duppa's Almshouses in Bridge Street, founded in 1661]]
Pembridge had two sets of [[almshouse]]s, each divided into six [[tenement]]s. Duppa's Almshouses in Bridge Street were endowed by Jeffrey Duppa and founded in 1661. They were augmented by his son [[Brian Duppa]],<ref>{{NHLE |num=1081719 |desc=Duppa's Almshouses |grade=II |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref> a [[Cavalier|Royalist]] who was [[Bishop of Winchester]] from 1660 until his death in 1662. Trafford's Almshouses in East Street were endowed by the Rev Dr Thomas Trafford, [[Doctor of Divinity|DD]], and built in 1686.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1081726 |desc=Trafford's Almshouses |grade=II |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref>

Elsewhere in the parish, Clear Brook is a mainly 17th-century house with a 16th-century rear wing.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1081755 |desc=Clear Brook |grade=II* |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref> The Court of Noke is an 18th-century country house, and the most notable brick-built house in the parish.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1349923 |desc=Court of Noke |grade=II* |accessdate=29 December 2015}}</ref>

[[Gavin Plumley]] has written about the history of the village in ''A Home for All Seasons'' (2022).<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Tinniswood | first=Adrian| title=Call the Dendrochronologist: A Home for All Seasons by Gavin Plumley | work=Literary Review | date=1 December 2024 | url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/call-the-dendrochronologist | access-date=1 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Eden | first=Michael | title=Author tells of love for Herefordshire village's characters and history | work=Hereford Times | date=25 June 2022 | url=https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/20228500.author-tells-love-herefordshire-villages-characters-history/ | access-date=1 December 2024}}</ref>

===Former railway===
Building of the [[Leominster and Kington Railway]] linking {{rws|Leominster}} and {{rws|Kington}} was started in 1855 and completed in 1857. It passed through Pembridge parish, where [[Pembridge railway station]] served the village. The [[Great Western Railway]] leased the line from the 1860s and absorbed it in 1898. [[British Rail]]ways closed the line to passenger traffic in February 1955 and to freight in late September 1964.<ref>Great Western Branch Lines 1955-1965; C.J. Gammell; Oxford Publishing Company; 1975; pp 62</ref>