Did You Know?

The name "Hereford" is said to come from the Anglo-Saxon "here", an army or formation of soldiers, and the "ford", a place for crossing a river.

It is now known chiefly as a trading centre for a wider agricultural and rural area. Products from Hereford include: cider, beer, leather goods, nickel alloys, poultry, chemicals, and cattle.

In Medieval Hereford the main industry making wool. The wool was woven then it was fulled. That means the wool was cleaned and thickened by being pounded in a mixture of clay and water. The wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by watermills. 

Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Cookie monster and Yoda – born in Herefordshire they were. That is, Hollywod director, Emmy-winning co-creator, voice over star and puppeteer in a raft of Muppet productions, as well as the creator and voice behind Yoda in the Star Wars trilogy, Frank Oz, was born in Herefordshire in 1944.

Catherine Cookson found her writing mojo in Herefordshire. The world-renowned author spent some time in a psychiatric hospital just outside Hereford in 1950, and found the inspiration for her first novel Kate Hanagan.

Did you know that Hereford United set a new record for the Football League  in 1992 when they had the most players ever sent off from one team.

In 1999, the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) moved from their base at Stirling Lines in Hereford since 1960 to a former Royal Air Force base RAF Credenhill in Credenhill that had been redeveloped and was designated as Stirling Lines in 2000.

Did you know that under an old - and legend has it - un-repealed law it is it seems (in theory) legal to shoot a Welshman on a Sunday in Hereford, provided it’s with a longbow and within the Cathedral close.

Hereford’s Bulmer’s factory is the largest cider making factory in the world? It contains the world’s largest vat too – stainless steel tanks installed in 1975 hold 15 million gallons of cider.

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles east of the border with Wales, 24 miles southwest of Worcester, and 23 miles northwest of Gloucester.

The annual Three Choirs Festival, originating in the 18th century and one of the oldest music festivals in the British Isles, is held in Hereford every third year, the other venues being Gloucester and Worcester.

In the 19th century leather working continued to be an important industry in the city. Brewing also flourished as did cider making. There was also a boat building industry and a brick and tile industry.

An early town charter from 1189 granted by Richard I of England describes it as "Hereford in Wales". The city has been recognised as a city since time immemorial, with the status being reconfirmed as recently as October 2000.