Lea 1876
LEA is a parish and village in Ross Union, containing, by the census of 1861, 226, and in 1871, 199 inhabitants, and 702 acres of land, formerly partly in Gloucestershire and partly in Herefordshire, but in 1844 it was added for all civil purposes to the latter county, by virtue of the Acts of 2nd and 3rd William 4th, cap. 64, and 7 and 8 Victoria, cap. 61; it is in the hundred of Greytree, Herefordshire; in the northern division of the deanery of the Forest, archdeaconry of Gloucester, diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; 4 miles south-east from Ross, 11 and a half north-west from Gloucester, 18 and a half south-east from Hereford, and 126 from London. The vicarage, in the incumbency of the Rev. William David Hall, M.A., is valued at £85 per annum, with residence and 2 acres of glebe land, and is in the patronage of the Vicar of Linton. The church is an Anglo-Norman edifice, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, consisting of nave, chancel, north aisles, and porch, with tower surmounted by a spire and containing three bells; it was restored in 1854, and is seated with open benches. There is a National School for children of both sexes. Mrs. Davies is lady of the manor.
Clergy, Gentry and Private Residents
BENNETT Mr. Benjamin, New House
CADLE Mr. Cornelius, Lea cottage
HALL Rev. William David, M.A., vicar, The Vicarage
LANE Mr. Richard
PALMER Mr. Thomas, New house, and Noakes
POWELL Mrs. Mary
PRITCHARD, Mr. Thomas, Lea Hall
ROOTES Mrs. Elizabeth, Castle End house
Trades and Professions
AMBURY Joseph, farmer, Castle End farm
BENNETT John, farmer, Moors farm
BENNETT Robert, farmer, Rock farm
BENNETT William, farmer, Norton farm
CHINN Mrs. Eliza, grocer, Brook house
CHINN William, stationmaster
CHRISTOPHER George, blacksmith
GRIFFITHS William, builder
JAMES Henry, carpenter, wheelwright, and parish clerk
JAMES John, carpenter and wheelwright
LAMBETH Miss Mary Ann, National schoolmistress
LITTLE Mrs. Eliza, shopkeeper
LITTLE George, shoemaker
LITTLE Thomas, grocer and sub-postmaster
LODGE James, farmer, "Crown" inn
MORGAN Thomas, farmer
MORRIS Joseph, corn merchant
SKINNER Mrs Susannah, beer retailer
YEMM Charles, farmer, New house
Post Office - Thomas Little, sub-postmaster. Letters through Ross delivered at 7.45 a.m.; dispatched at 6.15 p.m. Weston-under-Penyard is the nearest money order office, and Mitcheldean is the nearest telegraph office.
Assistant Overseer and Collector of Poor Rates - Thomas Palmer
National School - Miss Mary Ann Lambeth, mistress
Great Western Railway Station - (Ross and Hereford Branch), Mitcheldean road - William Chinn, stationmaster