A Herefordshire village is being readied to star in a big-studio historic drama being shot in the county this month.

Alterations are currently being made to six listed buildings in Weobley between Hereford and Kington, one of the county's “black and white villages” named for their many historic half-timbered buildings.

An application for listed building consent seeks permission to alter façades of the Red Lion Hotel, the Old Corner House, and numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 5a in Broad Street in the village between July 22 and August 23.

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Dating from the 14th to 17th centuries, the buildings “closely match the requirements of the production”, a statement with the application says.

They will be given a “dirty wash” to make them look less pristine, while modern signs, lamps, cables, vents and other external features will be removed or obscured and some temporary façades added.

Currently 1 Broad Street houses a hairdresser, number 2 is a small garage, while 3, 5 and 5a are private homes.


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There is speculation locally that the film being shot is an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s million-selling novel Hamnet which won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Extras casting agency Key Casting used the name “The Rowan Tree” in a casting call last month for what it described as “a feature film from Oscar-winning director and producers”.

Rowan trees play a symbolic role in Hamnet, a fictionalised account of one of playwright William Shakespeare’s three children who died aged 11 and the impact this has.

It has already been turned into a successful stage show co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Industry new source Deadline announced in April last year that Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao would direct the film adaptation.

Other industry sources have since listed Irish actor Paul Mescal, nominated for an Oscar in 2022 for his role in Aftersun, as taking the Shakespeare role.

Fellow Irish actor Jessie Buckley, Oscar-nominated for her performance in The Lost Daughter, will play his wife, named Agnes in the novel.

It appears from a separate planning application that filming on the same project will also take place this month at The National Trust-owned Cwmmau Farmhouse, 13 miles to the west near the Welsh border.