Wellington Parish History Society

09/04/2026

Herefordshire Histories Festival (HHF) is coming up next month. It runs 9th - 25th May, with events all round the county. In Wellington the dovecote will be open for visitors any day during the festival in daylight hours. It was open last year for HHF and proved very popular.

A few years ago we had a wonderful talk on the Elizabethan wall paintings at Church House Farm, followed by a chance to view the room. The painted room is open again for HHF on timed slots on a couple of days. We wanted to give people in Wellington "priority booking" on these days. We've set up booking via Eventbrite which you can access via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/.../elizabethan-wall-paintings...
The dates are 20th and 23rd May.

For both these events, they are by kind permission of the house owners.

22/03/2026

A reminder that on Thursday 26th March at 7.30pm at the Community Centre, Bill Laws will give us a talk on The White Stuff: dairying, milkmen and milkmaids in Wellington and Herefordshire. We've dipped into the village archive to find photos of the families and farms involved in dairying in Wellington that will complement Bill's talk.

07/03/2026

Thursday 26th March 7.30pm at Wellington Community Centre: The White Stuff: dairying, milkmen and milkmaids in Wellington and Herefordshire by Bill Laws.
'You can whip our cream - but you can't beat our milk'. A source of health, wealth and happiness for years, milk was sold on the doorstep, with an added drop for luck. Herefordshire boasted some of Britain's best milk meadows - one Wellington farmer even opened a cheese factory to cope with the spring rush. Herefordshire Lore's Bill Laws, author of MILK, unravels some local milky tales.
There will be a quick dip into our village archives on this topic, plus a couple of bits of milk-related memorabilia on display.
All very welcome.

25/02/2026

An absolute treat to have this sign on loan from the new owners of Corner End, Lisa and Spencer. It was found in their garden, along with a metal carrier for a dozen milk bottles. Both these items will be at the meeting on 26th March, 7.30 at the Community Centre.

18/02/2026

Our meeting next month (26th March) is a talk by Bill Laws titled: The White Stuff: dairying, milkmen and milkmaids in Wellington and Herefordshire.
This photo comes out of our village archive - can anyone tell us more?

01/02/2026

A great turn out to hear Peter McIntosh's talk on Wellington, the Viking and the lost Queen of Wales. Those of you who were there might appreciate this image of Thurkill riding with all haste to the Cathedral to record the mother's statement in the matter of the land and property dispute.
Peter's talk was well received and enjoyed. I've asked if Peter can shed a little more light on the matter of the Hundred which Wellington is / was in: Cutestornes or Grimsworth. I'm turning up sources which indicate both may be true. Perhaps the nub of it is, as stated by the Woolhope Club, that "The boundaries and names of Herefordshire hundreds varied considerably over time."
Watch this space!

29/01/2026

TONIGHT 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Here's the 2026 talks for Wellington Parish History Society. All 7.30pm at the Community Centre, followed by refreshments.

£3 visitors; £8 single membership; £12 couple membership.

**29th January - Wellington, the Viking, and the Lost Queen of Wales - Peter McIntosh
**26th March - The White Stuff: dairying, milkmen and milkmaids in Wellington and Herefordshire - Bill Laws
**28th May - Timber-Framed Buildings - What's Not to Like? - David Clayton
**24th September - Wellington Charities - Gill Bullock
**26th November - Wellington Court - Marc Willimont

For our January talk, Peter writes, "At the rear of the Hereford Gospels is a document written a thousand years ago that contains the earliest known reference to Wellington. It recounts the efforts of the landowner to keep her land and property, despite a case being brought against her in the Shire court for its return by her son. Who was she? Was she successful? What is the connection to Welsh Royalty? These questions, and more, will be explored by an examination of these too often overlooked documents looking at what they can tell us about the History of Wellington and Herefordshire at the very end of the Anglo-Saxon period."

11/01/2026

Here's the 2026 talks for Wellington Parish History Society. All 7.30pm at the Community Centre, followed by refreshments.

£3 visitors; £8 single membership; £12 couple membership.

**29th January - Wellington, the Viking, and the Lost Queen of Wales - Peter McIntosh
**26th March - The White Stuff: dairying, milkmen and milkmaids in Wellington and Herefordshire - Bill Laws
**28th May - Timber-Framed Buildings - What's Not to Like? - David Clayton
**24th September - Wellington Charities - Gill Bullock
**26th November - Wellington Court - Marc Willimont

For our January talk, Peter writes, "At the rear of the Hereford Gospels is a document written a thousand years ago that contains the earliest known reference to Wellington. It recounts the efforts of the landowner to keep her land and property, despite a case being brought against her in the Shire court for its return by her son. Who was she? Was she successful? What is the connection to Welsh Royalty? These questions, and more, will be explored by an examination of these too often overlooked documents looking at what they can tell us about the History of Wellington and Herefordshire at the very end of the Anglo-Saxon period."

04/01/2026

A few lovely photos from a folder titled "Thomas" in the "People" section of the village archive.

Anyone recognise themselves, or name village folk on these photos?

The link to the People folder is here:

https://shorturl.at/8QuiT

23/12/2025

A few snowy and Christmassy photos from the archive for you to enjoy. Wishing you a wonderful time this Christmas and all good wishes for 2026. We'll be sharing our programme for 2026 soon and would warmly welcome you to join the society or come to meetings as a visitor. Or just keep enjoying the Facebook photos.
Are you in either of the Nativity photos? They are labelled 1975 and 1981. If you'd like to take a closer look at the archive, follow the link https://bit.ly/462sa66

01/12/2025

The presentation and audio recording (from 12 minutes in) of the Orchards, apples and cider talk are available in the Orchard folder on the archive.
https://shorturl.at/XMBvc
The 8 minutes long apple picking film is in the same folder.
What a thirst for mulled cider the evening generated!