Her'eford, the county town of Herefordshire, on the left bank of the Wye, 144 miles by rail WNW. of London, and 51 S. of Shrewsbury. Its noble cathedral was built between 1079 and 1535, and so exhibits every variety of style from Norman to Perpendicular. Measuring 342 feet by 146 across the transept, it has a central tower 165 feet high. It suffered much at Wyatt's hands after the fall of the western tower in 1786, but has been judiciously restored by Cottingham (1841-52) and Sir G. G. Scott (1856-63). Special features are the elaborate metal-work screen, the shrine of St Thomas de Cantilupe (1282), the organ, and the 'Mappa Mundi,' or map of the world (c. 1314). Hereford, with Gloucester and Worcester, is one of the meeting-places of the 'Three Choirs.' Other edifices are the Doric shire-hall (1817), in front of it a statue (1864) of Sir G. C. Lewis; the corn exchange (1858), the episcopal palace (formed out of a Norman hall), the college of vicars choral (c. 1474), the 14th-century grammar-school, the half-timbered 'Old House,' the guildhall, the butchers' guildhall, the Coningsby Hospital (1610), the free library (1876), etc. The Nelson column (1807) marks the site of the almost obliterated castle; and the White Cross, one mile out on the Hay road, commemorates the Black Death of 1347. Nell Gwynne and Garrick were natives. A large trade is done in agricultural produce; and the rose-gardens of Hereford are famous. The seat of a bishopric from 676, the city was chartered by Henry III., and returned two members to parliament - now only one - from Edward I.'s reign till 1885. It has stood many sieges from Stephen's time down to the Great Rebellion. Pop. (1851) 12,108; (1881) 19,822; (1901) 21,382. See works by Britton (1831) and Havergal (1869).