The Woor family of Herefordshire, England

The Woor (Warr, Woore, Wooer) Tree of Goodrich, Herefordshire, England

The following has been extracted from the Goodrich parish registers and while it is considered correct, it is possible that incorrect assumptions have been made. I thank Gillian Kendrigan of Canberra for her compilation of the Woor tree from the parish registers on microfilm.

Henry Wooer

possible baptism 14 October 1630, Hope Mansell, Herefordshire, England
buried 16 September 1692, Goodrich, Herefordshire, England
married Mary ? (buried 20 June 1708, Goodrich)
children
Thomas, baptised 7 May 1665, Goodrich
George, see below
Jerusha, baptised 13 July 1670, Goodrich
Isaac, baptised 26 January 1672/73, buried 30 September 1678, Goodrich
Henry, baptised 24 October 1675, Goodrich
Elizabeth, baptised 21 October 1677, Goodrich
William, baptised 16 May 1680, buried 20 June 1680, Goodrich
Mary, baptised 4 February 1681/82, Goodrich
Philip, baptised 7 September 1684, Goodrich
John, baptised 10 April 1687, Goodrich

Hope Mansell is about 5km east of Goodrich; the village stands in a valley engirt with wooded hills, adjacent to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. Henry was only 12 when the civil war broke out and Goodrich was caught up.

In 1642, at the start of the civil war, Goodrich was seized by the Earl of Stamford for Parliament, but the surrounding countryside was against him and he withdrew. A Royalist force under Colonel Sir Henry Lingen occupied the castle and held it for four years, but after Hereford fell to Parliament in 1644, the garrison of Goodrich became rather isolated and in May 1646 Colonel John Birch, the Parliamentary commander of Hereford was given orders to advance on the castle and secure it. The castle walls however were unaffected by the Parliamentary cannon so Birch ordered that the castle’s water supply be cut off and a siege mortar made to help in the attack. This weapon, which was capable of firing a 200lb /90kg explosive shell, was cast locally (ether at nearby Whitchuch or Lydbrook) and earned the nickname ‘Roaring Meg’ (it still survives today in the grounds of the castle, previously being at Churchill Gardens Museum in Hereford). In mid June the weapon arrived and after being moved into a position, its first few rounds soon breached the South wall. By this time, conditions inside were desperate and when news reached the castle that the king had been captured, the defenders finally surrendered.

After the Civil War, the castle was left uninhabitable and it remained in ruins until 1920, when the last private owner placed it into the care of the Commissioners of the Works (now English Heritage), who carried out a preservation programme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodrich,_Herefordshire =- Dec 2011.

I thank Gaye Gibbs for the general background notes.

George Wooer

baptised 24 February 1667/68, Goodrich
buried 8 August 1708, Goodrich
married Mary ? (buried 10 May 1718, of Coppit Wood, Goodrich)
children
George, baptised 22 April 1693, Goodrich
Henry, born 20 March 1696, Goodrich, see below
Thomas, baptised 19 November 1699, Goodrich
John, baptised 3 May 1702, Goodrich, see below
Mary, baptised 2 January 1704/05, buried 15 January 1704/05, Goodrich
James, baptised 2 June 1706, Goodrich
Mary, baptised 29 November 1708, Goodrich

Henry Woor

born 20 March 1696, Goodrich
baptised 26 April 1696, Goodrich
buried 29 November 1748, Goodrich
married 4 September 1721, Goodrich, to Sybil Cox (buried 13 August 1765, Goodrich)
children
Ann, baptised 26 August 1722, Goodrich
Isaac, baptised 10 November 1728, Goodrich
Eleanor, baptised 14 January 1732/33, Goodrich
Elizabeth, baptised 3 April 1737, Goodrich, married 10 February 1766 to Benjamin Lane, buried 26 December 1802, Goodrich, click Lane Generations on link below

John Woore

baptised 3 May 1702
buried 21 December 1748, of Copped Wood, Goodrich
married first 23 December 1725, Goodrich, to Margaret Pritchard (buried 6 September 1733, Goodrich)
married second Anne ? (buried 17 March 1789, Goodrich)
children
Philip, baptised 29 September 1735, Goodrich
Margaret, baptised 26 November 1738, buried 3 September 1740, Goodrich
Abel, baptised 6 February 1740/41, buried 6 April 1744, Goodrich
William, baptised 18 September 1743, Goodrich
Anne, baptised 12 January 1746/47, Goodrich
John, baptised 13 April 1748, buried 14 April 1748, Goodrich
Mary, baptised 23 July 1749, Goodrich, see below

Mary Woor

baptised 23 July 1749, Goodrich,
married 27 October 1769, Goodrich to Henry Jones of Caerwent, Monmouthshire
children
Ann, baptised 11 February 1768, Goodrich, married 22 April 1790, St Peters, Hereford to William Lane, click on Lane Generations link below.