Kilpeck

Coordinates: 51°58′11″N 2°48′36″W / 51.9697°N 2.8100°W / 51.9697; -2.8100

Kilpeck is a small village in Herefordshire, England. It is about 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Hereford, just south of the A465 road and Welsh Marches Line to Abergavenny, and about 5 miles (8 km) from the border with Wales.

It is renowned for its small but outstanding Norman (Romanesque) church, SS Mary and David's, but also has the earthworks of a Norman motte and bailey castle, no longer standing.

History

Until the 9th century, when it was taken over by Mercia, the area around Kilpeck was within the Welsh kingdom of Ergyng. After the Norman conquest, the area became known as Archenfield and was governed as part of the Welsh Marches. It became part of Herefordshire, and England, in the 16th century, although the use of Welsh in the area remained strong until the 19th century. The English name for the village derives from the Welsh name, Llanddewi Kil Peddeg, with Llanddewi meaning "church of St. David" and Kil Peddeg probably meaning the "cell of Pedic", an otherwise unknown local early Christian hermit.