Historical Attractions

The Heritage Centre is a short walk from Bromyard town centre. This museum is dedicated to Hops and Hop Picking. The displays explore the history of hops and hop growing in some detail and follow the year of the hop from winter maintenance of the hop fields through to the summer and autumn picking. The displays include life-size scenes from hop picking life and many original artifacts and tools.There are workshops for children, which take place during the school holidays. The displays are on the ground floor and accessible to wheelchair users. Admission is free

If you are a member of the Bromyard community and would like to stage a small exhibition at the Heritage Centre, please contact a member of staff on site to discuss the project

This 1700 acre estate was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1946 and still maintains traditional farms and extensive areas of woodland, including ancient oak and beech. Located on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire borders.

At the heart of the Brockhampton estate lies Lower Brockhampton House - a medieval 14th-C moated manor house with a beautiful timber framed gatehouse. Visitors can see the Great Hall, open to the rafters which were constructed from wood from the estate.
Discover the ruined Norman Chapel near to Lower Brockhampton.

There are miles of walks across the Brockhampton estate through park and woodland and includes sculptures with a local theme.

The Brockhampton Estate is home to a rich variety of wildlife including the dormouse, buzzard and raven.

Sample the local specialities in the tearoom and visit the imaginatively stocked shop selling mostly local produce and crafts.

The ground floor of Lower Brockhampton House and tearoom are accessible. Please telephone 01885 488099 for details of facilities for visitors with disabilities.

Founded by the Normans, developed in royal hands as a stronghold in the Middle Ages and restored as a Victorian family home, the castle is set in 55 acres of beautiful parkland. take an audio tour, explore the medieval towers and enjoy breath-taking views from the battlements.

The Children's Activity Station includes puzzles and games, tree and leaf identification, draw your own shields and armour and the chance to make a castle to take home. Find out about footwear in the past and try on a selection of shoes copied from original historical examples. From medieval slippers and a Tudor buckle shoe, to a shoe from the time of the English Civil War and a Victorian lady's ankle boot, this activity lets you step back in time.

The river Neddern winds its way through areas of woodland and pasture and the wildlife pond is complete with a pond-dipping station.The park offers an ideal setting for picnics and walks against the magnificent backdrop of the medieval castle walls, with picnic tables and barbecue hearths on site.

The Chained Library at Hereford Cathedral is a unique and fascinating treasure in Britain's rich heritage of library history.
There were books at Hereford Cathedral long before there was a 'library' in the modern sense. The cathedral's earliest and most important book is the eight-century Hereford Gospels; it is one of 229 medieval manuscripts which now occupy two bays of the Chained Library.
Chaining books was the most widespread and effective security system in European libraries from the middle ages to the eighteenth century, and Hereford Cathedral's seventeenth-century Chained Library is the largest to survive with all its chains, rods and locks intact.
A chain is attached at one end to the front cover of each book; the other end is slotted on to a rod running along the bottom of each shelf. The system allows a book to be taken from the shelf and read at the desk, but not to be removed from the bookcase. The books are shelved with their for edges, rather than their spines, facing the reader (the wrong way round to us); this allows the book to be lifted down and opened without needing to be turned around - thus avoiding tangling the chain. The specially designed chamber in the New Library Building not only means that the whole library can now be seen in its original arrangement as it was from 1611 to 1841, but also allows the books to be kept in controlled environmental conditions according to modern standards of presentation.There has been a working theological library at the cathedral since the twelfth century, and the whole library continues to serve the cathedral's work and witness both as a research centre and as a tourist attraction.

Looking like a Medieval Welsh border fortress, Eastnor Castle was built in the early 19th Century, by John, First Lord Somers, and is a good example of the great Norman and Gothic revival in architecture of that time.

The Castle is dramatically situated in a 5000 acre estate in the Malvern Hills and remains the family home of the Hervey-Bathursts, his direct descendants.

The Castle is as dramatic inside as it is outside, a vast 60 foot high hall leads to a series of State rooms, including a Gothic drawing room designed by Pugin, with its original furniture, and a Library in the style of the Italian renaissance, with views across the lake.

The Fairytale Georgian Castle is surrounded by deer park, lake and famous arboretum. Richly decorated Gothic and Italianate interiors with Medieval Armour. Children's playground, garden centre and maze, special events programme. Eastnor Castle is also a popular venue for corporate private entertainment with luxury overnight accommodation.

Eastnor is all about trees. The arboretum planted by Lord Somers from 1852 to 1883 is now mature, and full of champion specimens. Many are rare, including a tall American beech ({Fagus grandifolia}) and an enormous red hickory ({Carya ovalis}). It is however the conifers which dominate the setting for the neo-Norman Castle, largely because they were planted so thickly and in such great numbers.

Gloucester Folk Museum is one of the oldest-established museums dedicated to social history. The collections have been drawn together through mainly gifts from the entire county of Gloucestershire, and represent one of the most fascinating collections of such material.

From treen (small wooden items), to the intriguing story of the river Severn fisheries; from historic costume to the life of the dairy; from the reconstructed Victorian classroom to the original pin factory - all of these plus hundreds of other elements of our local history are to be found here.

Set in Tudor timber-framed buildings, one of which was traditionally associated with the final night of the protestant martyr, Bishop Hooper, the Folk Museum is a complex of rooms on different levels and with a unique ambience that makes it a popular sight for locals and visitors. Behind the chocolate-box facade is a museum which is both larger than seems possible, and constantly surprising. No visit to Gloucestershire is complete without seeing the treasures and curiosities on display here.

This fortified baronial palace stands majestically on a red sandstone crag, commanding the passage of the river Wye into the picturesque wooded valley of Symonds Yat. Much of the stone used was quarried from the rock around the base of the castle, creating a deep moat.

The history of Goodrich castle can be traced back almost a thousand years to it's early establishment by Godric Marplestone hence it's original name of 'Godric's Castle'. The ruins that remain are those of a castle that was built in the late 1130's in the reign of King Stephen by Gilbert de Clare and later the outer stone walls and turrets were added by Walter Marshal the 5th Earl of Pembroke between 1220AD and 1245AD.

Walter Marshall died in 1245AD childless and the castle passed to the Crown and so to Henry III's half brother William de Valence who continued to add to the castle's defences.

The castle is said to be haunted by Alice Birch (Colonel Birch's niece) and her lover Charles Clifford who were drowned while trying to flee across the swollen River Wye during the siege, it's claimed that on a stormy night their ghostly figures can be seen riding a phantom horse and again trying to make that fateful crossing.

Hampton Court was the estate of King Henry IV of England prior to his ascension to the throne. The estate was then bestowed as a reward for a knight's bravery at Agincourt, and the manor home took shape in the 1430s. Hampton Court became famous throughout Europe in the eighteenth century for its formal gardens. Since its acquisition in 1994, Hampton Court has been carefully restored to its former splendour, and its gardens are once again a sight to behold.

There is a maze of a thousand yews with a gothic tower at its centre. Climb to the top for a panoramic view of the gardens or descend underground to a tunnel that leads to a waterfall in the sunken garden. Beautiful herbaceous borders stretch out from a one hundred and fifty year old wisteria tunnel that leads to vast lawns and ancient trees beside the castle. Beyond the lawns are riverside and woodland walks.

Adjoining the castle, in a grand conservatory designed by Joseph Paxton, is the Orangery Restaurant. Here delicious lunches and teas can be enjoyed.

Clustered around Hartpury church are a unique group of ancient buildings lovingly maintained over the centuries by the parishioners. Many of these now need the careful attention of experts to continue to keep them in good order. Hartpury Historic Buildings Trust was established both arrange this and equally importantly to let others know about this gem lying off the beaten track. Find out more by exploring this site or ideally by visiting Hartpury village.
The most significant addition to the group of buildings that surround the church was the construction in 1829 of a chapel attached to a wing of Hartpury Court. It was built for the Dominican nuns who fled to Hartpury during the French revolution. Account books for the period show that Robert Canning, the Lord of the Manor, erected the shell of the building and the nuns were then responsible for the internal fittings. A small cottage consisting of two rooms on the ground floor and two above, was built adjoining the chapel. The ground floor room to the north had a connecting door to the Chapel and was probably used as a vestry. The two rooms on the first floor were no doubt occupied by the nuns' priest.

The published histories were all agreed, the Bee Shelter was medieval, built for the convent of Holy Trinity at Caen in Normandy. The stone came from Caen and the honey and wax when harvested were taken there. The fascinating structure comprised 28 stone recesses or boles supported on Tudor arches ?Tudor? - ?medieval? the 'listing' description said 17th century! The experts even questioned whether it was Caen stone!

Standing on the peaceful banks of the beautiful River Wye, Hereford Cathedral occupies a site on which cathedral buildings have stood since Saxon times.
The present building contains some of the finest examples of architectural excellence from Norman times up to the present day, including the beautifully restored Shrine of St. Thomas of Hereford in the North Transept, the exquisite Early English Lady Chapel and the ' high-tech Medieval ' New Library Building completed in 1996. Hereford Cathedral's medieval Mappa Mundi and Chained library - two of Britain's most important historical treasures - are now exhibited together in the award -winning New Library Building (designed by Whitfield Partners and funded by a generous gift from Mr. John Paul Getty Jr.) at the West end of Hereford Cathedral.
Here the Chained Library can be seen together in its original glory for the first time in 150 years.

The exhibition is open all year round.
The stories of these national treasures are told through models, original artifacts and the latest interactive computer technology.

The Hereford Mappa Mundi is unique in Britain's heritage; an outstanding treasure of the medieval world, it records how thirteenth-century scholars interpreted the world in spiritual as well as geographical terms.

The map bears the name of its author 'Richard of Haldingham or Lafford' (Holdingham and Sleaford in Lincolnshire). Recent research suggests a date of about 1300 for the creation of the map. Mappa Mundi is drawn on a single sheet of vellum (calf skin) measuring 64" by 52" (1.58 x 1.33 meters), tapering towards the top with a rounded apex. The geographical material of the map is contained within a circle measuring 52" in diameter and reflects the thinking of the medieval church with Jerusalem at the centre of the world.

Superimposed on to the continents are drawings of the history of humankind and the marvels of the natural world. These 500 or so drawings include of around 420 cities and towns, 15 Biblical events, 33 plants, animals, birds and strange creatures, 32 images of the peoples of the world and 8 pictures from classical mythology.

Christopher de Hamel, a leading authority on medieval manuscripts, has said of the Mappa Mundi, '... it is without parallel the most important and most celebrated medieval map in any form, the most remarkable illustrated English manuscript of any kind, and certainly the greatest extant thirteenth-century pictorial manuscript.'