- Almeley
Almeley is a village and
civil parish inHerefordshire ,England .Location
Almeley is in the west of the county, about convert|18|mi|km north-west of
Hereford , convert|13|mi|km south-west ofLeominster and convert|7|mi|km from the border withWales [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=almeley&ie=UTF8&ll=52.159401,-2.976007&spn=0.011215,0.042615&t=h&z=15&om=1 (map)] .Land Use
Its agriculture is largely based around
sheep , pasture andcider orchard s.History
It is mentioned as a small village in the
Domesday Book of 1086 [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7577943&queryType=1&resultcount=24210] and also in 14th century land records [http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/fines/abstracts/CP_25_1_83_50.shtml "feet of fines"] . There is an entry for it in Lewis' "Topographical Dictionary of England" in 1848 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=50752&strquery=almeley#s6] . It has a largely fourteenth-century church, and is notable as the birthplace of SirJohn Oldcastle , a Lollard sympathizer who was eventually executed for treason in 1417; he is presumed to be the basis forShakespeare 's character ofFalstaff .One of the early
Quaker meeting houses is to be found in Almeley Wootton, a hamlet about half a mile north of Almeley village, but within the parish. It was given to the Quakers in 1672 by its owner, Roger Prichard, and is still in use by Quakers today. Two of the Quakers who worshipped there (Roger's son, Edward Prichard, and Edward's brother-in-law, John Eckley) were involved withWilliam Penn in setting up the colony ofPennsylvania in 1682 [http://www.hmwquakers.org.uk/html/almeley_memorabilia.html Almeley Quakers' website] .Demography
United Kingdom
census data show that the population of Almeley has fallen overall by about 30% from 1801 to 1971 (from 753 to 521) [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10085123&c_id=10001043&add=N] but the ratio of males to females has remained at 1:1 over the same period [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_Gender&u_id=10085123&c_id=10001043&add=Y] . As a rural parish, it is not surprising that its population density has remained low (at about 1 person per five acres) from 1850 to 1950. During this 100 year period the national average rose from approximately 2 people per four acres to about 5 people per convert|4|acre|m2 [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_rate_page.jsp?u_id=10085123&c_id=10001043&data_theme=T_POP&id=0]Sundry
It received the award of "Best Kept Herefordshire Village" in 1990, and is often visited by tourists exploring the "
Black and White Village Trail ".
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