HEREFORD CASTLE.
THE borderers of England, whether on the north or on the west, were bold, hardy, and aggressive races of men, having for their patrimony the moor and the morass, the wild bleak upland which occurs on the Scottish frontier, or the steep crags and rugged defiles which gave strength and, in ordinary cases, impunity to the Welsh. The Scots, indeed, came of the same stock with the English, and had recently formed a part of the same kingdom, under the same lords; nor was the land immediately south of the Tyne or the Tweed materially richer than that to its immediate north. But the Welsh had other more potent and better causes for their continual and ferocious transgressions. They were the earlier possessors of the whole country, a possession still attested by the names of hills and rivers, and, indeed, of many of the chief cities of England. They were of an entirely different blood and language from either Saxon or Norman: by the one they had been gradually driven into the western and less fertile tracts of the island, and the other held them cooped up and at bay within their mountain fastnesses, and responded to their continual partisan warfare by occasional invasions on a large, and, for the time, irresistible scale.
Full in view of the Welsh mountains were spread out some of the most fertile lands in Britain—cultivated, inhabited, and fortified by the invaders, who, not content with the slopes of the Cotteswold and the velvet meads on the left bank of the Severn, had pushed their conquests far beyond the right bank, holding the stately ridge of Malvern and the rich pastures of the Teme, the Lug, the Frome, the Worm, and the Wye, even up to the Dyke of Offa. That dyke, still to be traced along much of its length, between the estuaries of the Severn and the Dee, was felt to be a perpetual mark of inferiority, an abiding affront to the patriotic feelings of every Welshman. No marvel, then, that the Welsh were ever insurgent, ever breaking forth with fire and sword into the English territory, and especially into the most rich and, by nature, least-protected tract of it, the fair county of Hereford.
Herefordshire was first subjugated by the Romans. Three miles north of the city are the remains of a camp, probably British, covering about thirty acres of ground, and now known as Sutton Walls, a little south of which runs the line of the road which led to the Roman town of Magna Castra, four miles to the west, and was continued onward in the same direction.
At what precise period Herefordshire passed under the Saxon yoke, and became annexed to Mercia, is unknown—probably under Creoda, early in the seventh century. The see was founded in 680, when a synod was held here under Putta, the first bishop. Sutton, or Southton, so called from its position close south of the Roman camp to which it has given its name, was at a very early period a residence of the Mercian kings. Here, in the middle of the eighth century, resided the celebrated Offa, probably during the construction of his dyke, which passes about six miles to the west; and here in 794 was committed the murder of Ethelbert, his intended son-in-law, a deed which led to the aggrandisement of the cathedral church, to which Offa’s penitential donations were largely paid. A charter of King Cœnulf, A.D. 799, mentions Hereford, as do others by Deneberht, in 802 and 803, the last recording certain “monasteria quæ olim in antiquis dictis ad Herefordensem ecclesiam præstita fuerunt.” Sutton continued a Mercian palace until the union of the seven kingdoms, under Egbert of Wessex, in 827.
Edward the Elder, a great constructor of strong places, who repaired the citadel and walls of Chester in 909, is said by Grafton also to have fortified Hereford, erecting a strong castle there. His sister Ethelfleda, a still greater castle-builder than he, and to whom are due the mounds of Tutbury, Tamworth, Leicester, and some others, was the widow of Ethelred, Duke of Mercia, in 915, when the Danes had advanced by the Wye, and taken captive the Bishop of Archenfield. She attacked and defeated them before Hereford, no doubt making use of the new defences. She died shortly afterwards.
Early in the eleventh century, the Saxon sway had been so far extended as to have left the Dyke behind, and Wales was regarded as a part of England, and an attempt made to force it to contribute to the common tax for the defence of the island against the Danes. For this purpose Edwin, the Ealderman of the Mercians, led an army as far as St. David’s, punishing the people for their refusal. At that period, and during the reign of the Confessor, the Welsh were led by Griffith-ap-Llewelyn, the ablest of their princes, and, indeed, the only one who ever held the Welsh together, or gave the English cause for anything like serious apprehension. Aided sometimes by the Danes from Ireland, sometimes by traitorous Saxon chiefs, and sometimes even by the discontented Normans, he is found during the first half of the eleventh century waging on the whole a successful war against Herefordshire. It is certain, from the number, magnitude, and character of the existing earthworks, that Irchen or Archenfield, called from its beech-trees “Trefawrth” by the Welsh, and sometimes by the English “Fernley,” had from a very early period been inhabited by the English; but either distrusting these, or because he wished to quarter afar off the visitors whom he attracted, but of whom he was afraid, the Confessor made large grants of land along this district to his Norman courtiers, with whom, therefore, Griffith had not unfrequently to deal.
The earliest of these grants seems to have been made to Richard Fitz-Scrob, whose fortress, built after a fashion till then unknown in England, gave great and general offence. His original castle has been replaced by later structures, now also in ruin, but the earthworks are probably original; and the name of Richard’s Castle shows how deeply the fear of its builders was impressed upon the people; and it is, moreover, a very rare example of a parish bearing a purely Norman name.
These grants were opposed by Earl Godwin and his sons, and it was to enforce his remonstrances against them that the English Thane led a force from Beverstone, and challenged the Confessor to give up his stranger favourites—a struggle which finally ended in the temporary banishment of that truly English noble.
In 1052, during Godwin’s exile, Griffith invaded Herefordshire, and advanced as far as Leominster before Fitz-Scrob and his Normans were in the field to meet him. They were beaten in a pitched battle, and upon open ground.
In 1055, the earldom of Hereford was in the hands of Ralph, surnamed “the Timid.” Griffith, uniting with Ælfgar, the Saxon lord of the East Angles, who was accompanied by an Irish force, burst into Archenfield, and again laid waste the border. Two miles from Hereford, Griffith and Ælfgar were met by Earl Ralph, who seems, with the Norman contempt for infantry, to have placed undue weight upon his cavalry, the result of which was a complete defeat. Griffith entered Hereford, which was undefended, sacked and burnt the city, treated the cathedral and the clergy with excessive severity, and destroyed what the “Brut” calls the gaer, that is, the castrum or fort. The account seems to imply that the city was not then fortified. Mr. Freeman thinks the gaer was a work of masonry. However that may be, there is little doubt but that it was a work on the site of the later castle, for by the riverside, for defence, it would certainly be placed; and as the position of the cathedral has doubtless always been the same, there would scarcely be room for a fortress between its precincts and the western marsh. The position of the bridge, too, is probably ancient, and this would lead into the city, not into the gaer. The appearances of the earthworks, as they existed before the removal of the mound and the filling up of its proper ditch, much resembled those of Tamworth, and other works attributed to Edward and Ethelfleda, and the gaer may well have been of that date, so far as the earthworks were concerned. This inroad of the Welsh in 1055 was the most severe and the most lasting in its effects of any on record. All Archenfield suffered, and traces of the spoiler are recorded long afterwards in Domesday.
Although Godwin’s return from banishment in 1052 had been followed by the putting forth of most of the Norman intruders, Richard Fitz-Scrob, one of the most offensive, seems to have remained, and long afterwards to have put down Edric the Wild; and his son Osborn, after a short exile in Scotland, came back to Herefordshire, and held office and dignities both before and after the Conquest.
In 1055 Godwin was dead, and to Harold, as Earl of the West Saxons, it belonged to redeem the disgrace incurred by Ralph the Timid. He lost no time in preparation. In the course of the same year he mustered his forces at Gloucester, and by his mere presence cleared Hereford of the Welsh and Ælfgar. He at once fortified Hereford. Whether he restored the castle is unknown, but he surrounded the city with a wall, no doubt along the line of the later structure. Mr. Freeman supposes Harold’s work to have been a mere “dyke of earth and loose stones,” Florence of Worcester describes it as “Vallum latum et altum.” Domesday, however, records a “murus” at Hereford as having stood in the time of the Confessor, so that Harold, when Hereford came under his immediate government, may, as Mr. Freeman suggests, have replaced his vallum with a wall of masonry. Harold’s defences probably did not include the suburb, which even then must have existed, since we read in Domesday of burghers within and burghers without the walls; though the latter would derive a not incomplete protection from the broad belt of marsh which then surrounded the city.
Griffith had sought and received terms of peace. Nevertheless it did not suit him to allow Hereford to become a strong post. Early in 1056 he again crossed the border. He was opposed by Leofgar, the new bishop, who, however, was slain in the first combat. His successor, Ealdred—a man of equal determination with better fortune,—held the Welsh in check, and negotiated a peace, and the fortifications of Hereford were completed.
In 1062 Griffith again appears upon the scene. Probably he traversed Herefordshire, for he crossed the Severn in the diocese of Worcester. On this occasion Harold—appearing, not as the defender of this or that province, but of the whole kingdom—executed a counter movement, and invaded North Wales. This was followed in 1063 by Harold’s great invasion, in which Griffith was murdered by his own countrymen, and Wales submitted, having deprived herself of her greatest son. It was at the conclusion of this war that Harold employed himself in constructing a sort of hunting-lodge for his sovereign in the low lands of Gwent, at Port-skewet, where earthworks are still seen. The lodge was attacked and destroyed while in progress by Caradoc-ap-Griffith-ap-Rhydderch, of South Wales.
Hereford played no part in the Conquest; but the city and shire occupy a respectable place in the Domesday Survey, where the customs are related in great detail. The king had six moneyers there, and the bishop one. Of the city burgesses 103 held of the king, and twenty-seven had held of Earl Harold. All the tenants of the burgh were liable to military service against the Welsh.
The customs called of the Welsh in King Edward’s land in Arcenefeld, or Irchenfield, also there recorded, are curious, and show not only the early existence of a local militia to resist the Welsh, but that the people were mostly of Welsh blood, and were employed against their countrymen. The king held three churches there, and the priests of them were to be the king’s legates or ambassadors in Wales, and when the army marched against an enemy, to the men of Archenfield was committed the post of trust and danger. During the advance they were to form the “Auantwarde,” and in retreat the “Redrewarde.”
Such, then, having been the antecedents of Herefordshire, it is not to be wondered at that it bristled with strong places, nearly all of which show indications of early dates, and in many may be traced the mount or motte, which in England there is strong reason to regard as in favour in the tenth century. Domesday, usually so silent as to fortresses, and enumerating only forty-nine in all England, mentions in this county eight, and two strong houses. There were, however, many more, and at this day there remain traces more or less considerable of twenty-eight, of which many preserve the mount, and others earthworks of an early character. Similar works are found at Brecon and Builth, places known to have been held by the English at an early period. No doubt these strongholds, originally strengthened with timber, were burned again and again by the insurgent Welsh; but the positions of most of them were well chosen, and each had its surrounding estate, so that when, after the Conquest, the great Norman barons marched into Wales, they constructed upon these sites castles of masonry after their fashion, of which a few remain, though many, having been destroyed, have been rebuilt in the reign of Henry III., or later.
William’s arrival no doubt confirmed and extended any local power that may have been allowed to Richard Fitz-Scrob and his son, under Harold. Osborn, as sheriff, held Hereford, and either he or the first Norman earl probably rebuilt the castle in the Norman manner.
William FitzOsborn, the great Norman chief, “Magister militum bellicosus,” Earl of Hereford from 1067 to 1071, was a fearful scourge of the Welsh, whom he drove back and vanquished on the banks of the distant Rhymny. To him are attributed the castles of Strigwil, Clifford, Wigmore, and Ewias—that is, the Norman part of them, for some at least preserve older earthworks.
Roger de Bretuil, William’s third son, succeeded him in the earldom. He plays no part in the history of shire or castle. Failing in rebellion in the eastern counties, he ended his days in prison.
When Bretuil died is unknown, but in 1138 Hereford, commanded by William Talbot, held out successfully against Stephen during a long siege. The defence was much aided by Milo, the Constable of England, who received the earldom of Hereford from Maud, in 1140, and it remained in his family till the end of the century. Milo’s patent gave him the moat, probably the “motte,” and all the castle. As earl, however, he was unfortunate. Stephen returned and took the castle, and wore his crown in state in the cathedral.
Roger, son of Milo, was in opposition to Henry II., but escaped by the wise counsels of Foliot, the bishop. In the reign of John, a less discreet or bolder prelate—Giles, Baron de Braose—united with Llewelyn; but failing to bring over the men of Hereford to support him, died in exile. The castle seems then to have fallen into the possession of the Crown, and so to have remained. Prince John gave the custody of it to Roger Bigod, and in the sixth of his reign as king, and in the seventh of Henry III., William, brother to Thomas, Lord Cantelupe, and sheriff, was also governor. The turbulent reign of Henry III. gave value to the castle of Hereford. 15 Henry III., John Fitz-Terrick and William de Stowe, surveyors of works at Hereford Castle, were allowed £20 for repairing the walls. 16 Henry III., Terrick and Roger Carlton were surveyors of mangonels and petards within the castle. 26 Henry III., John and Roger le Werrur were surveyors, and had spent £7. 8s. 6½d. on artillery, and £12. 1s. 4d. in making a trebuchet called “Blythe,” and £40. 14s. 4d. in building a tower in the castle. 42 Henry III., the castle was in the hands of the sheriff, Henry de Pembridge, until the barons forced the king to appoint John de Grey.
44 Henry III., Roger Mortimer was governor, and penetrated into Wales as far as Builth. He was, however, in turn attacked, and held the castle, though for a few weeks only, against Simon de Montford and Prince Llewelyn. Bishop Acqua Blanca was taken and imprisoned at Eardesley. Peter de Montford, the Earl’s son, had charge of the county, and employed its issues in the repairs of the castle. After the battle of Lewes, Prince Edward was a prisoner here.
Edward’s escape hence has often been related. Widemarsh, whence he galloped off, still bears that name, and lies about a mile north of the city.
During the whole of this time, from 1199, the title of Earl of Hereford had been borne by Henry de Bohun, whose mother was a co-heir of a previous earl, but neither he nor his celebrated descendants, Earls of Hereford and Essex, although they held Huntington Castle and the lordship of Brecknock, and built the Castle of Caldecot, ever seem to have been seized of that of Hereford, which remained in the Crown.
Soon after the time of Edward’s flight, John le Werrur and William Valet were surveyors of works for the king, at Hereford, and charged £45. 6s. 10½d. for repairs of the walls and of the king’s houses. William Capon also held lands at Marden, by the serjeantry of keeping the door of the castle, and this, under Henry III., was commuted into military service in the field.
Possibly the castle was employed as a local treasury; for, 1 Edward I., Henry Pigot held 46 acres in capite by the tenure of transporting the king’s treasure from Hereford Castle to London. In the same year Richard Porter and Richard le Panner, surveyors, charged £21. 1s. 6d. for expenses and repairs of the king’s house in the castle, and in the next year they had fifteen oaks from the king’s forest of Haywood, a mile south-west of the city, allowed for repairs.
2 Edward I., Giles Berkeley, sheriff, had spent £4. 15s. in repairs, and in 7–8 Edward I., Roger Burghull, his successor, had spent £2. 5s. 4d. Hugh Turberville, one of a very unruly race, had, it appeared, when sheriff, burnt and destroyed in the castle the king’s house, and certain engines of war and military stores, to the value of £100. For this he had a pardon, November 5, 48 Henry III.; but the debt remained, and, 9 Edward I., the sheriff was ordered to distrain upon his goods.
12 Edward I., a new chapel was erected in the castle, and the barons of the exchequer, by the king’s precept, allowed Roger de Burghull £10. 6s. 8d. on that account. 15 Edward I., Henry de Solers, a Herefordshire man, had charge of the castle, with arms and stores. 32 Edward I., Miles Pychard charged 40 marks for repairs, which were disallowed because not certified by the surveyor. John de Acton was governor, 33 Edward I.
1 Edward II., Alan Plukenet, keeper of the king’s forest of Haywood, was to allow twelve oaks and stone for the repairs of the castle walls and towers. Ralph Freeman held lands in capite, in Fromyngton, by the service of carrying the cord round the castle walls when they were measured. 5 Edward II., he paid half a mark for his relief, and commuted future payments for 7s. 7d. per week. 10 Edward II., Hugh de Hacluyt charged £5 for repairs.
13 Edward II., Sheriff Richard Walwyn charged £6. 13s. 6d. for repairs. At the close of the reign the queen held a great council at Hereford, and Hugh le Despenser, the younger, was hanged upon a tall gibbet, outside Friar’s Gate. During the reign of Edward II., Wales was loyal, and Hereford, therefore, neglected. John of Gaunt was its governor, 1 Richard II., but even his great love of building was not exercised here. As late as 8 Henry VI., the city had a grant of timber to replace the wall where wanting.
The castle lay unnoticed, and more or less of a ruin for some centuries, until it became the scene of one of the struggles between Charles and his people. It was first seized by Sir William Waller for the Parliament in 1643, with the city, then also walled, and the position of which is naturally strong. He retired from it before Prince Maurice, but shortly afterwards, without stroke of sword, recovered possession, again to retire, so that in 1644 it was still held by the king. In 1645, however, its troubles began in good earnest. Leslie and the Scots laid regular siege to it, and from the south of the Wye opened a destructive fire upon the castle, cathedral, and bishop’s palace. Sir Barnabas Scudamore, with eleven guns, held out stoutly, beat off an attempt at a storm, and forced the enemy to be content with a blockade. As the mills without the walls were destroyed, others were extemporised within them. The Scots then encamped on Burtonshaw Meads, close under the castle, between it and the river. Scudamore, whose defences were out of repair, and his garrison weak, sent out for country folks to assist as workmen. The enemy found this out, and, entering under the guise of workmen, succeeded in taking the place. Much injury was then done to the public buildings, and the castle, as belonging to the Crown, and a ruin, was sold about 1652, for the value of the materials.