*HEREFORD, (Herefordshire) 112 cm. 130 mm. from London. The name imports that it was the ford of the army, it having been
for several hundred years before the Conquest the head-quarters of the Saxons, as it was of the English after it, who were
stationed here to awe the Welsh. It is one of the most ancient Bpks. in England, but suffered so much by the wars bet. the
Saxons and Britons, that at the Norman invasion it was almost in ruins. They rebuilt it, and erected a large strong
castle, now in ruins, it having been defended by the Empress Maud against K. Stephen, who took it; and having suffered
very much in the barons war, that bet. the houses of York and Lancaster, and in the late civil war, in which last it was
taken and retaken several times, by the forces of K. Cha. I. and the Pt. and two of its Chs. also destroyed, so that it
has only four, besides the cathedral. It gave title of Earl about the time of the Conq. to William, Fitz-Osborn, and for
200 years after to the heroic family of Bohun. It afterwards gave title of D. to Henry of Lancaster, (John of Gaunt' s
son) who was afterwards K. Hen. IV. of England, when it again gave title of Earl to Edm. Stafford Earl of Buckingham;
which being forfeited by the execution of Henry D. of Buckingham for treason, in the time of Rich. III. the earldom
remained vacant, and its honorary title sunk to that of Visc. in the family of Devereux Earl of Essex, whose descendants,
in a collateral branch, were premier Viscs. of England; but by the death of the last the title is extinct. The city is
about 1 m. and an half in com. but not very populous. The houses are old, and by reason of its low situation, the streets
are dirty, it being incompassed with rs. on all sides but the E. and often annoyed by the swell of the Wye on the S. side
of it, over which it has a stone-bridge, It is governed by a mayor and 12 ald. high-steward, deputy-steward, recorder, and
town clerk, with 31 C. C. (among whom are reckoned the mayor and 5 of the ald. who are justices of the peace) a sword-
bearer, and 4 serjeants at mace. The trading companies here have their distinct halls, laws and privileges, but gloves and
some other leathern wares are their only mf. and here are held the assizes, quartersessions, county-courts, &c. The
cathedral, which was built in 1050, and destroyed by the Welsh in 1060, but rebuilt in the R. of the Conq. or, as some
say, in that of Henry I. is a beautiful and magnificent structure. Its Mts. are on W. F. and S. The S's. Mt. is chiefly
for cattle, sheep and hogs, the others for corn, and all sorts of provisions. Fairs for 3 days each, viz. March 20,
Easter-W. May 19, June 19, Oct. 8 and 21, and Tu. after Candlemas. Here is an hos. founded in the R. of Q. Eliz. and well
endowed, for 12 poor people; and 2 ch. scs. one for 60 boys, the other for 40 girls. Here were formerly 2 or 3 priories.
On the other side of the Wye is a seat which bel. formerly to the Bodenhams, and since to the heirs of Mr. Vanaker, which
is one of the pleasantest in all this part of the Co. having a spacious park before it, and the r. Wye behind it, and on
each side verdant meadows, and fruitful corn-fields. Almost the only drink here is cyder, which is both cheap and good,
the very hedges in the country being planted with appletrees. The Redstreak-tree is a large Inn near the T.-hall, where
one ald. Ford got and saved several thousand pounds.