
Herefordshire |
Herefordshire lies in western England and borders Wales to the west.
In
1974 Herefordshire and Worcestershire were united into one county.
The two counties have since regained their separate county status.
The
world's first and largest book town is at Hay-on-Wye
on the border with Wales.
Towns include the county seat of Hereford. |
Anglo-Saxons
and Danes |
Hereford was the capital of the smaller kingdom of West
Mercia, itself
part of the kingdom of Mercia. Occupying
a large part of central England, Mercia stretched from Wales in the
west to the kingdom of the East Angles (East Anglia) in the east and
from the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex in the south to Northumbria
in the north.
The
smaller kingdom of the Magonsaete,
also known as the West Angles, was
located to the west of the river Severn in the county.

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Areas of Outstanding
Natural Beauty |
The Malvern
Hills form a ridge running from north to south providing spectacular
uninterrupted views west into Wales and east over the Cotswolds. The
relatively small AONB is spread over three counties, with the majority
of it lying in Herefordshire. It includes a mixture landscapes and
it was this variety which was the main reason for its designation
as an AONB in 1959.
Malvern Hills in 1801
The limestone gorges, woodlands and meadows of the Wye
Valley stretch from Hereford in the north to near Chepstow
Castle in the south and were designated an AONB in 1971. The northern
part of the AONB lies in Herefordshire with the southern half split
between Gloucestershire in the east and Wales in the west.

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