LADY Godiva woz ‘ere, the village of Norton Canon can rightly claim. Indeed, King Leofric’s sartorially challenged wife and her sister, Wulviva, even owned the place.

There’s much more to this area than passers-by might imagine, and that’s why moves are afoot to gather together historical facts and figures for posterity.

The wheels have been set in motion following a meeting in Norton Canon village hall last weekend, called by David Lovelace, who lives in the village. More than 60 responded to the call to share local lore, family photographs and documents, both ancient and modern.

There was a general feeling that old stories, passed down from generation to generation, should be committed to paper before they are lost forever.

One thousand years ago, Leofric’s wife and sister-in-law owned large tracts of land and including manors in Herefordshire. Among these was Norton Canon, and the sisters kindly handed them over to the canons at Hereford Cathedral.

The esteemed Nikolaus Pevsner, in his well-thumbed Buildings of England, gave a detailed description of the church of St Nicholas with its 13th century tower, but didn’t feel moved to describe the rest of Norton Canon parish. Yet the village’s new drive to search out more about its past is already yielding new and fascinating pieces to add to the jigsaw.

Said David Mr Lovelace said: “The meeting was a great success and everyone enjoyed the event, sharing memories, photos and other memorabilia.”

One man drove from Abergavenny to be at the gathering, and Mr Lovelace is in correspondence with a woman in Australia with family links to the village. Her 99-year-old mother, who died recently, was born in Pig Street. “She is keen to be involved too,” said David.

Mr Lovelace gave a short presentation, giving details of Norton Canon’s Saxon origins, a dash of archaeology and photographs of the local characters who once lived here, including one of a fondly remembered farmer and contractor, Sid Davies, who baled hay and combined cornfields all over the parish with his brothers, Fred and Tom.

David’s invitation to bring people together to share their knowledge of the village clearly struck a chord. Those who attended brought with them old photographs, deeds, school logs, maps and other documents, and recollections of the ‘lost’ buildings of Norton Canon. There was a general desire for this to be regular event, with the aim to write a definitive history of the parish.

Once upon a time, villagers here would have talked about ardistraws (shrews), quists (wood pigeon), chitlins (chitterlings), scratting (rummaging around), a nisgal (runt of a litter) or a glat (a hole in the hedge).

They might have used adjectives such as beethy (over-ripe fruit or vegetables), cake that was ‘boughten’, daddicky (rotten wood), or even describe someone as being ‘market piert’ (the condition of one who has indulged in a few drinks).

These lost pieces of conversation in villages like Norton Canon and other parts of north west Herefordshire were still spoken in the latter half of the 20th century. The late Winifred Leeds, who lived at Ross-on-Wye, knew and understood the importance of all these old words and phrases used across the county at one time. She listed them in her fascinating book Herefordshire Speech, saving for posterity a major part of local culture.

At Norton Canon, where Godiva and Wulviva may once have roamed, the hunt is on to discover more of its remembered, and forgotten past. A second meeting is planned in the New Year.: so, unlike Lady Godiva, it’s time for locals to pull their socks up…