Established 40 years ago, the Society was formed to encourage interest, knowledge and research of the history of the district within the local community.

Longtown, a village in the parish of Clodock in Herefordshire, lies in the Marches of England and Wales and is one of the parishes of the old Hundred of Ewyas Lacy. Until 1536, Longtown was a part of Wales, when the border was moved by Henry VIII putting us firmly inside England. It has the ruin of a Norman castle with its circular keep and inner bailey still readily accessible. Elsewhere in the parish there is the remains of an earlier motte from the time of the Conquest while the parish church with its dedication to St Clydawg reminds us of our Welsh roots and its pre-Norman Conquest foundation.
The Society with a membership of about 80, holds monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month between September and April in the village hall.  Talks are given by speakers, usually on aspects of local history but, from time to time topics of a wider historic context are included.  During the summer months a couple of field trips are conducted and in July the Society’s AGM is held.
 In 2002, after a talk on the recording of oral history, the Society realised that many of the older members of our community had tales to tell of living and farming in the early years of the 20th Century. Some recordings had been made previously as a private venture but no systematic attempt had been made to record these memories for posterity. At the same time other members of the Society felt that local researches were hampered by the wide scattering of the documentary history of the area . So this project  ‘EWYAS LACY HUNDRED FROM EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY’ was born.
The Local Heritage Initiative sponsored us for 3 years, and work started in July 2004. All the work was  carried out by volunteers. This site, set up with the professional assistance of Mr Paul Freeland, is primarily concerned with the collection of the documentary archive. County archive offices, and anywhere that written records of the manors and parishes of Ewyas Lacy can be found, were visited.
An Oral history group has at the same time been making audio and video recordings of the memories of some of our senior citizens and their work is also briefly recorded on this web site.
The Society has a good library of books on local historical topics which is available to members.
Subscription is currently £10.00 per year, visitors to individual lectures are admitted on payment of £3.

 Officers of the Society for 2009/10

Events for the next Season 2011 - 2012

Sept 24th 2011	2.00 pm	40 year celebration lecture followed by tea Peter Morgan Jones - Hills of Iron and Fire
October 4th		No Meeting
November 7th	7.30 pm	Alec Hamilton - Friends of Friendless Churchues.
December 5th	7.30  pm	Penny Platts - The History of Cider
February 13th 2012	7.30 pm	An evening with Owen Sheers. REGRET MEETING CANCELLED
March  5th	7.30 pm	Frank Olding - Archaeology of the Balck Mountains
April 3rd	7.30 pm	Stephen Marshall - Henry Purcell & the Music of the Restoration
May		Visit tba
June		Visit tba
July 4th	AGM	followed by John Hughes- Garway & the knights Templar and     Hospitallers

For further information contact jones5be@btinternet.com