Holme Lacy
Holme Lacy is a village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 466 at the 2011 [United Kingdom census|2011 census].
Etymology
The name of Holme Lacy is not from Old Norse holmr "island" like other places of the name Holme, but from the fairly similar Old English hamm "land in a river-bend". The name was recorded as Hamme in the Domesday Book in 1086. The name has varied through history; it has also been known as Homme Lacy Hamlayce, Humlachie and Hom Lacy.History
In 1086, as recorded in the Domesday Book, the village was an estate of the Bishop of Hereford and held by Roger de Lacy, which is where the "Lacy" affix comes from. De Lacy was a Lord of the manor, indicating that a feudal system was in existence during the Middle Ages. It was in Dinedor hundred in Herefordshire.William I of England had returned Hamme to Bishop Walter and in 1086 the total population included:
- 16 villeins
- 4 bordars
- 1 reeve
- 1 male and 2 female slaves
- 1 priest
- and 1 Frenchman who between them had 20½ ploughs.
St Cuthbert's Church
The grade I listed St Cuthbert's Church, which dates in part from the late 13th century, is a redundant church about one mile south east of the village. It has been under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since 1994.Holme Lacy House and its estate
Holme Lacy House is a grade I listed building, now a Warner Leisure Hotel.Holme Lacy was for some centuries in the ancient family of Scudamore. Philip Scudamore settled here in the 14th century, and his descendant John Scudamore esq. was created a baronet in 1620, and in 1628 Baron Dromore and Viscount Scudamore, of Sligo. His successor, the second viscount, commissioned Anthony Deane in 1674 to build a new country mansion on the estate.
Holme Lacy House continued to be the principal seat of the family till the year 1716, when on the death of James, the 3rd and last Viscount Scudamore, the estate was vested in Frances Scudamore, his only daughter and heiress. In 1729 Frances married Henry Somerset 3rd Duke of Beaufort, who in 1730 assumed the name and arms of Scudamore. Frances was divorced in 1744 and there were no children of the marriage.
Frances then married as her second husband Charles Fitzroy esq. He also assumed the name and arms of Scudamore, and had by her an only daughter and heiress, Frances. Frances married Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk to whom the property then in part descended, and, together with other valuable estates in this county and Gloucestershire, was added to the princely domain of the Howards.
The Duke and Duchess died without surviving children and after extensive litigation the Holme Lacy estate devolved in 1819 upon Capt. Sir Edwyn Francis Stanhope, Bart., R. N., who assumed the additional name and arms of Scudamore and whose son succeeded in 1883 as 9th Earl of Chesterfield.
The mansion of Holme Lacy built by the 2nd Viscount Scudamore remained, renovated in 1828-31 and again in the early 20th century, the family seat of the Earls of Chesterfield until 1902, when the contents were sold. In 1909 the house was sold to Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth, an Australian brewing millionaire. His heirs sold it in 1924 to Noel Wills, on whose death in 1929 his widow donated it to Herefordshire County Council. For some years it was used as a training college and psychiatric hospital. Several owners later it was leased to the Warner Leisure Hotels group.