their house; when the male line of the Mortimers died out in 1424, the castle passed to the crown. It was maintained throughout the sixteenth century, partly as a prison, although the castle was already in decay. The town of Wigmore shared the fate of the castle and it declined to village status by the 16th century. The castle was finally dismantled in 1643 to prevent it being garrisoned during the English Civil War. Modern history Wigmore was one of the first areas in England to have an Enclosure Act. Dating from 1772, this act affected the moor and woods nearby. The dividing earth banks still survive. In 1870–1872 it was recorded in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales that Wigmore village was a seat of petty-sessions and that it had a post office, a police station, two Methodist chapels and a national school. Fairs were held on 6 May and 5 August. The parish included part of Limebrook and was in the Ludlow district. The size of the village was , it had a population of 499 and 104 houses. Regarding the Wigmore hundred, it was recorded that it contained 14 parishes and 5 parts. It had a size of , a population of 6,309 and contained 1,234 houses. The Gazetteer of the British Isles of 1887 showed that the village of Wigmore had not changed much in fifteen years – the number of inhabitants had declined slightly: contained a population of 417. Similarly, the Wigmore hundred's contained a population of 5,665. Schools The village has one primary school and one secondary school (Wigmore High School) which became a federated school in 2007. The school has a catchment area of North Herefordshire although some pupils attend from southern Shropshire and from across the border in Wales. Places of interest Wigmore Abbey, an Augustinian abbey and grange about a mile (2 km) north of Wigmore was founded by Ranulph de Mortimer and his son, Hugh de Mortimer in 1179. In the abbey church many of the Mortimers were buried, among them five holders of the title Earl of March. The abbey continued to flourish until the period of the dissolution of the monasteries, when it was destroyed. Wigmore Church, dedicated to St James, is also a landmark in the village and surrounding areas, as it stands on the pinnacle of a hill overlooking the village. It was built as