Bridstow


Bridstow is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. The village lies 2 km west of Ross-on-Wye and 17 km south east of Hereford. The parish is bounded to the east and south by the River Wye. The A40 road linking the M50 motorway to South Wales runs through the parish, crossing the Wye at Bridstow Bridge. The parish had a population of 906 in the 2011 UK Census and estimated population of 941 in 2018.

Heritage

The largest village in the parish is Wilton, site of the Grade I listed Wilton Castle and Wilton Bridge. The Liber Llandavensis records that in 1066, Herewald, Bishop of Llandaff, appointed Guollguinn as priest there.
Wilton and Ashe Ingen appear in the 1086 Domesday Book.
The parish church, dedicated to St Bridget, has a tower in the Perpendicular style, but the rest of the exterior was rebuilt in 1862 to a design by Thomas Nicholson. The stained glass is by Charles Kempe.

1870s

Writing in 1870–1872, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Bridstow as "a parish in Ross district, Hereford; on the River Wye, adjacent to the Monmouth and Hereford railway, 1 mile W by N of Ross. Post Town, Ross. Acres, 2,199. Real property, £5,506. Pop., 717. Houses, 143. Wilton Castle here is an old seat of the Lords Grey de Wilton, burnt in the civil wars, and now an ivy-clad ruin. The living is a vicarage in the Diocese of Hereford. Value, £276.* Patron, the Bishop of Hereford."

Amenities

is a Voluntary Aided Church of England co-educational school for pupils between 4 and 11 years of age. The School's motto is "Shine as a light in the World". In May 2016, the school entered into a "soft federation" agreement with the school at Brampton Abbotts, under which the two schools share a principal and some other functions.
Retail, medical and other facilities are available at Ross-on-Wye. Accommodation is available at Bridstow Guest House, a converted Victorian house. The village also has a village hall.

Transport

Bridstow has daytime, weekday bus services in the direction of Gloucester and of Hereford. The nearest mainline railway stations are at Hereford and Gloucester.
The M50 motorway towards Worcester terminates near the village, and the A49 and A40 pass nearby.