Sonja Smith

Canon Pyon Sonja Smith

The parish of Canon Pyon lies in the centre of the county of Herefordshire, approximately 6 miles north-east of the county town of Hereford. Being one of four manors belonging to the Cathedral Church of Hereford since Anglo-Saxon times, Canon Pyon can claim a long and relatively stable past.




But that stability very nearly changed forever in the seventeenth century. From the very first decade, trouble at the manor house led to a court case which reveals a heart-warming love story. In the 1620s, the tenant of the manor's demesne lands made one mistake too many and left the parish under a cloud. By 1639, the vicar of many years standing passed away and his well-connected replacement was to suffer personal upheaval in the tumult of the Civil Wars. The manor itself was lucky to escape being sold by the Parliamentarians; like many others it was surveyed soon after the execution of Charles I in 1649 with a view to raising funds. Luckily, the manor remained intact and was returned into the hands of the Dean & Chapter at the Restoration. Manorial life continued, albeit with subtle differences.




The seventeenth century was an era of fluctuating attitudes and fortunes but many of the families in Canon Pyon had been there long before that time and continued to thrive there long after. They sometimes left clues in the name of a field or cottage. Using surviving documentary evidence, this book aims to discover something of the lives of the people living in the manor and parish. For some, little is known other than a name but for others, parts of their life stories have been pieced together.
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