Shobdon
Encyclopedia
Shobdon is a small village in Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 situated north of Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

 and west of Leominster
Leominster
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...

. It is also only 2 miles north of the Mortimer's Cross
Mortimer's Cross
Mortimer's Cross can refer to:*Battle of Mortimer's Cross*The title of a children's book by Joan Aiken...

. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the parish of Shobdon was 769, consisting of 386 males and 383 females.

Village places

The village has a primary school with no more than 55 children attending. When the children leave Shobdon Primary they mostly progress to Wigmore High School, although some go to either Weobley or Kington. Co-located with the Primary School is Shobdon Village Hall which consists of a community room and kitchen, as well as shared access to the school hall. Occasional fundraising activities are undertaken by the village hall committee, the most significant of which is the Village Fete and Produce Show held in mid September.

Shobdon is probably most famous for its church (St John the Evangelist) which is located in the grounds of Shobdon Court to the north of the village. Nearby is the visitor centre/cafe together with the Shobdon Arches folly and the grounds of Shobdon Cricket Club.

At the western end of the village is Pearl Lake caravan park, which has a number of permanent caravans as well as access for tourers. This is situated adjacent to Pearl Lake, the largest natural body of water in Herefordshire.

To the south is situated Shobdon Aerodrome
Shobdon Aerodrome
Shobdon Aerodrome is an airport west of Leominster, Herefordshire, England.-RAF Shobdon:Shobdon started as a British Army camp. Out of range of long range German Luftwaffe bombers, it acted as a reception point for casualties received from Southampton distributed to existing local hospitals...

, formerly a WWII RAF glider training facility, now used for commercial and recreational flying.

Football team

Shobdon has a football team, Shobdon F.C, which is situated immediately to the east of Shobdon Aerodrome
Shobdon Aerodrome
Shobdon Aerodrome is an airport west of Leominster, Herefordshire, England.-RAF Shobdon:Shobdon started as a British Army camp. Out of range of long range German Luftwaffe bombers, it acted as a reception point for casualties received from Southampton distributed to existing local hospitals...

. The football team are currently sitting in the middle of the Hereford Times League 1. They aren't a very largely known team but they did recently get into the Herefordshire junior cup final but lost to Pegusus Juniors F.C. The game was played at Westfields F.C. They also got into the Leominster cup semi-final but lost. It didn't go into extra time or penalties as the team playing against Shobdon had scored more goals than Shobdon by the 90th minute.
The team play in dark blue shirts with light blue trim.

Village pubs

The village of Shobdon has only one pub, the Bateman Arms. The Bateman Arms is a traditional village pub with a bar, restaurant and en-suite letting rooms, it is located in the centre of the village and has a four star **** AA Inn rating. Shobdon also has an Aero Club by the air field. The Aero Club has a bar and restaurant and is located on Shobdon Airfield in a Nissen hut
Nissen hut
A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel, a variant of which was used extensively during World War II.-Description:...

which was formerly a pilots rest room.

History

In the 17th century the village of Shobdon was run by the Bateman family (hence the Bateman Arms). They were living in Shobdon Court.

Shobdon Airfield was constructed in 1942. Possibly originally conceived as a bomber base out of range of German attackers, in operation it was only used as a Glider Training based. Pilots trained here took part in both the Normandy Landings and Operation Market garden at Arnhem in the Netherlands.

Shobdon Festival

Every third year Shobdon church hosts a flower festival. This has been expanded into an annual food, drink & flower festival which is held on the last weekend in June. The 2010 festival was held on the 25th - 27th June.

External links

  • http://batemanarms.co.uk/
  • http://www.shobdonvillage.co.uk/
  • http://www.ukvillages.co.uk/ukvillages.nsf/villages/Shobdon-Herefordshire
  • http://www.aeroclub.co.uk/
  • http://www.shobdongliding.co.uk/
  • http://www.shobdonchurch.org.uk/
  • http://www.localtoleominster.co.uk/
  • http://www.shobdonfestival.co.uk
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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