Weobley | |
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Sargeants Bros bus in Weobley |
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Weobley shown within Herefordshire | |
Population | 1,255 (2011) |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | HEREFORD |
Postcode district | HR4 |
Dialling code | 01544 |
Police | West Mercia |
Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
EU Parliament | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Weobley (/ˈwɛbli/ WEB-lee) is a large village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. Formerly a market town, it is today one of the county's black and white villages.
The name possibly derives from 'Wibba's Ley', a ley being a woodland glade and Wibba being a local Saxon landowner. In the Domesday Book the village name was transcribed as Wibelai. It is still pronounced as "Web-ley" (the spelling being similar to nearby Leominster which also does not pronounce the letter 'o' in its name).
It is known that brewing and glove-making were carried out in the village during the Saxon period.
The village has an historic church, the Church of St Peter and St Paul, with a Norman south doorway, a 13th-century chancel and 14th-century tower and a spire that is the second-tallest in the county; castle ruins; a high school (Weobley High School) and a primary school with a pioneering system of heating.
In the village is 'the Throne', a large 400-year-old building - King Charles I spent the night here on 5 September 1645, after the Battle of Naseby during the English Civil War.
It was once incorporated as a borough, sending two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons until the Reform Act 1832, (see Weobley (UK Parliament constituency)) and once had a borough corporation.