Early history An early
settlement on a hill close by the location of the present village seems to have been called
Merestone or
Merestun (from the Old English
Mersc, meaning
mere or marsh and
Tūn, meaning enclosure, farmstead, village, manor or estate - thus literally "village by the marsh"). The name of the marsh itself seems to have been applied to the later village. Although
Roman remains have been found in the area (near Bury Farm, to the east) on the western branch of
Watling Street (which crosses Wigmore Moor).
Wigmore Church is an
Anglo-Saxon foundation, with substantial surviving wall portions dating to the 10th century.
The Mortimer period At the time of the reign of
Edward the Confessor, the
barony of Wigmore belonged to
Edric Sylvaticus, the
English thegn. However, he refused to submit after the
Norman Conquest and was defeated in battle and taken prisoner. His possessions were subsequently granted to the Norman
William FitzOsbern, the
Earl of Hereford under
William I from 1068 to 1072, as a reward for his services. FitzOsbern built
Wigmore Castle, as it became known. Although it was probably initially only built of earth and
timber, it was to become one of the main English border castles along the
Welsh Marches during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. However, FitzOsbern's son
Roger de Breteuil took part in the
Revolt of the Earls; after the Earl's subsequent defeat William I seized the castle and gave it to another of his supporters,
Ranulph de Mortimer. From this time on Wigmore became the head of the barony of the
Mortimers,
Earls of March. Wigmore is one of very few Herefordshire
boroughs recorded in the
Domesday Book of 1086. Although
Hereford was the only borough in the county in 1066, boroughs were attached to the castles of Clifford (also built by FitzOsbern) and Wigmore by 1086. Wigmore, at the time situated in the Hazeltree hundred, is mentioned three times in the Domesday Book. The first entry is under the lands held by Ranulph Mortimer and records that he holds Wigmore Castle, which Earl William built on wasteland that was called
Merestun, which Gunfrid held before 1066. It also records that there were two
hides that paid tax, two
ploughs in lordship and four
slaves. The borough of Wigmore is recorded to have paid
£ 7 - "
bergu qd ibi est redd vii lib". Secondly, in the section recording the lands of the
king, Merestone is recorded as being a part of the
manor of
Kingsland which Ranulph Mortimer held for the king. A third section mentions that Ranulph Mortimer holds Wigmore, which Alfward held, and that there is half a hide, which Wigmore Castle is situated upon. If a rental of 12
d per
burgage (as was customary with other rental properties at the time), the money paid by the borough may represent about 140 burgages. Although it is not considered to have been a failed borough, as it was a fairly prosperous small market town during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, Wigmore does not seem to have flourished as much as others in the region, such as
Bromyard. There are two 14th-century extents (assessments or valuations of land for taxation purposes) preserved in the
Public Record Office which include the settlement. In the one of 1304 it was recorded that there were 102 tenants who held 140 and a quarter burgages. It was also recorded that there was a weekly market and a fair, which was held on the feast of
St Andrew. The importance of Wigmore as a market town was at least partly due to the influence of the Mortimer family and their castle, which probably attracted much local and regional business to the town. However, Wigmore's prosperity probably waned somewhat in the mid-14th century when the Mortimer family moved its administrative centre to
Ludlow Castle, which they had inherited through marriage in 1314. However, Wigmore Castle still remained the family's official seat for the next 250 years, until the demise of their house; when the male line of the Mortimers died out in 1424, the castle passed to the crown. It was maintained throughout the sixteenth century, partly as a
prison, although the castle was already in decay. The town of Wigmore shared the fate of the castle and it declined to village status by the 16th century. The castle was finally dismantled in 1643 to prevent it being garrisoned during the
English Civil War.
Modern history Wigmore was one of the first areas in England to have an
inclosure act. The ''''
(12 Geo. 3. c. 137'' ) affected the moor and woods nearby. The dividing earth banks still survive. In 1870–1872 it was recorded in the
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales that Wigmore village was a seat of petty-sessions and that it had a
post office, a
police station, two
Methodist chapels and a national
school.
Fairs were held on 6 May and 5 August. The parish included part of
Limebrook and was in the
Ludlow district. The size of the village was , it had a population of 499 and 104 houses. Regarding the Wigmore hundred, it was recorded that it contained 14 parishes and 5 parts. It had a size of , a population of 6,309 and contained 1,234 houses. The
Gazetteer of the British Isles of 1887 showed that the village of Wigmore had not changed much in fifteen years – the number of inhabitants had declined slightly: contained a population of 417. Similarly, the Wigmore hundred's contained a population of 5,665. ==Schools==