Immensely wealthy members of the clergy like William Poole were not uncommon once upon a time. Older sons of the landed gentry rarely went into the church; but younger ones often did - and older sons often died before younger ones.

The personal wealth which enabled Rev William Poole to renovate St Dubricius and rebuild St Catherine's at Hoarwithy had accumulated over long period of time.

His kin group included two Herefordshire landowning families; the Pooles and the Hoptons: the families intermarrying at least three times in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Hopton family had lived at Canon Frome, the neighbouring parish to Stretton Grandison, for 300 years, the succession often being through the female line. The Canon Frome estate was one of the largest in the county.

Richard Hopton (1498-1536) of Hopton married Joane Langford (1501-1596) and had two sons and three daughters. The older son William (1521-1590) married Elizabeth (born 1526) daughter of William Fox of Ludlow. The couple had eight sons, which might have been considered to be sufficient to ensure the male descent. But one after the other the sons died.

The fifth son, Michael, married Martha, the widow of Richard Harford, who had died in 1575 leaving no issue. (On 1st June, 1588, Martha Harford, widow, Co. Hereford, contributed £25 to the fund for defence against the Spanish Armada.)

It was Richard Harford's family who owned the Canon Frome estate, and Martha retained it on his death. Martha and Michael Hopton built a moated manor house as the first Canon Frome Court.

Michael willed the estate to his niece, Elizabeth Hopton, the daughter of his youngest brother John. John had been a merchant in Southampton.

In or before 1602 the unlikely heiress, Elizabeth Hopton, married Sir Richard Hopton of Rockhill. Richard (1580-1634) was from another branch of the family, based in Herefordshire.

The Herefordshire Hoptons, who although they can be traced back to 1408, were very minor gentry until Elizabeth brought the Canon Frome estate to the marriage with Richard.

Sir Richard Hopton was High Sheriff of Herefordshire in or before 1610.

Sir Richard and Lady Elizabeth had five sons and two daughters - William (1602-1647), Edward (1603 - 1668), Walter, James (b 1605), Richard (1608-1696), Elizabeth and Frances. The second son, Edward, was created a knight banneret at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Sir Edward was Deputy Lieutenant of Herefordshire and colonel of the county militia. He died in 1688 and was buried at Stretton Grandison. The youngest son Richard was chief justice of North Wales in the reigns of Charles II amd James II. Sir Edward's eldest son, born 8th April 1655 and also called Edward, married Hannah Clarkson. Edward's only son and successor, Richard Hopton, married Elizabeth Geers (1682-1748) taking the family's connections up a notch.

Elizabeth's mother was Elizabeth Cope, and subsequent Hopton male children were given Cope as a second name. Elizabeth Cope's mother, Lady Elizabeth Fane, was a daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland. Her marrige to Richard Hopson was was Elizabeth's second, as at this time, aged 23, she was the widow of William Gregory of How Caple, Herefordshire, who she had been married to when she was sixteen.

Through Elizabeth Geers the Hoptons and the Pooles could claim descent from the great medieval families as the the Woodvilles, the Staffords, the Nevilles and the Percys.

Richard and Elizabeth's children demonstrate the attrition which even upper middle class families suffered in this period. Their first child and eldest son, Richard Cope Hopton (1706-1707) only lived a year; twins Deborah and Elizabeth, born in February 1707 lived a few weeks; another baby girl, also named Elizabeth (it was common practice to name babies after one who had already died) was born in September 1710 and died in May 1712. Michael Cope Hopton, born in May 1715, died in August 1716; Thomas Cope Hopton was born in February 1717 and died in April 1722. Of Richard and Elizabeth's thirteen children, only three reached adulthood.

Rev William Cope Hopton (1718-1801) was Richard and Elizabeth's tenth child. He was rector of Stretton and Canon Frome.

Rev Ralph Cope Hopton (1726-1797) was Richard and Elizabeth's youngest child. He married as his second wife William Poole's great aunt Mary Poole (1741-1821) - her second husband. The marriage was childless. Ralph Cope Hopton was vicar of Bishop's Frome, the adjacent parish to Canon Frome, for nearly fifty years.

Richard and Elizabeth's second son, Edward Cope Hopton (1707-1754), was returned as a Tory MP for Hereford in 1741. Hopton voted consistently against the Government. On the opposition motion of 21 Jan 1742 to set up a secret committee to inquire into the war, he was 'carried in with crutches’. He did not stand again, dying 24 Apr 1754.

Edward Cope Hopton married Mary Briggenshaw in Worcester cathedral in February 1732. Their child-rearing experience was a near copy of that of his parents. They had seven children in 16 years; only two of them, Anne Hopton and Richard Cope Hopton (1738-1810) surviving to adulthood. Richard Cope Hopton was High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1787. He married Dorothy Nelson in 1770, but the marriage was childless. Richard died in 1810, having willed the Canon Frome estate to to the son of his aunt Deborah, his first cousin Rev William Parsons. Dorothy died at Canon Frome in January 1817.

Richard and Elizabeth's fifth child, Deborah Hopton (1708-1788) married John Parsons of Kemerton Court, Gloucestershire.

Deborah and John had nine children. William Parsons (1782 -1870), the inheritor of the Canon Frome estate, was their only surviving son. William matriculated Trinity College Oxford, 14 May, 1777, aged 26; Bachelor of Civil Law 1783.

In 1809 their seventh child, Frances, William's sister, married Rev Joseph Biddle. Frances and Joseph were the maternal grandparents of William Poole; their daughter Katherine married Edward Poole of Homend, Stretton Grandison.

With the male line of the Hoptons extinct, in order to inherit the Canon Frome estate Rev William Parsons took the name of Hopton by Royal decree of 21 March 1817.

Rev William Hopton (née Parsons) married Mary Graves 7th Nov 1781. Mary was the neice of the eccentric Rev Richard Graves (1715-1804, poet, novelist and health faddist physician - 'plain food and exercise'. Richard and his brother, Mary's father, Morgan Graves were sons of Richard Graves of Mickleton in Gloucestershire. Mary's mother, Anne, was from the Walwyn family of Longworth Hall in Herefordshire.

In 1782 William Hopton (Parsons) and Mary's son, John, was born. Mary died in 1800 and Hopton married as his second wife, Anne Poole, the daughter of William Poole's Great uncle, James Poole, re-establishing the link between the area's major landowning families.

In 1825 William (Parsons) Hopton retired to his paternal estate at Kemerton in Gloucestershire, leaving his Canon Frome estate to his his eldest son by Mary Graves, his heir, the Rev John Hopton. John Hopton became vicar of Canon Frome too, remaining in post until his death in 1870. William and Mary's second son, Charles, became a Captain in the 27th Regiment of Foot, and died of a wound received in Spain. He was buried at Stretton Grandison.

Rev John Hopton was the eighth generation of the Hopton family to live at Canon Frome Court. John Hopton was the archetypical 'squarson' - a combination of squire and parson: an Anglican parish priest who is also main local landowner. Rev John Hopton married Grace Ann Williams.

William Parsons-Hopton's eldest son with Anne Poole, William Hopton, was ordained deacon on 6 August 1826 and appointed curate of Bishop's Frome the next day. He was ordained priest on 3rd December; and on 4th July 1827 was appointed Vicar of Bishop's Frome. It seems at least likely that this accelerated promotion was helped by his connections.

The Rev. William (Parsons) Hopton died on 14th April 1879. He was was a Magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Herefordshire. He acted as chairman of the Bromyard Board of Guardians for 40 years. He married Diana, daughter of Rev Charles William Shuckburgh, with whom he had three children. His son became the most illustrious military member of the family - Lt General Sir Edward Hopton (1837-1912).

In October 1839, The Rev. John Hopton's wife, Grace Ann, aged 53, died at Canon Frome Court. In 1870-72 John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales noted that 'Canon-Frome Court is the seat of the Rev. John Hopton'. The squire-parsons had 'seats' rather than vicarages or rectories. in 1861 the household at Canon Frome Court, had included Rev John Hopton himself; his unmarried daughter Mary aged 50; his married daughter Caroline and her husband Guy Trafford and their four children.

As well as the family there were twelve servants in the house: Rev John Hopton's gamekeeper lived in the keeper's lodge.

In September 1841, Grace Anne Hopton, eldest daughter of John and Grace Anne, married James Poole, the elder brother of Rev William Poole.

On June 15th 1857, Anna Maria, the youngest daughter of Rev John Hopton, died at Canon Frome. Rev. John Hopton himself died in December 1870, aged 88.

By 1871 John Hopton, aged 61, was a landowner and magistrate at the Parsons' home at Kemerton.