RICHARD’S CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE.
THE site of Richard’s Castle, a well-known and very ancient fortress in the county of Hereford, but near to Ludlow and the borders of Shropshire, is distinguished by one of those remarkable works in earth which have hitherto, in topographical books, passed undescribed, or described only in such general terms as afford no aid to any sound inference as to the people or the period by whom or at which they were thrown up. And yet, if there were correct plans and precise descriptions of the earthworks of this country, it is probable that some sound general conclusions as to their origin would be arrived at. Many, probably most, are no doubt pre-historic, but still something of their history may, it is probable, be established by a careful consideration of the evidence which they themselves afford.
Richard’s Castle is one of a series of works common on the Welsh border and the Middle Marshes. Such were Hereford and Worcester, in modern times despoiled of their mounds: Shrewsbury, still towering above the deep and rapid Severn: Tre-Faldwin or Montgomery, a single instance of a town and county bearing the name of the invader: Kilpeck and Ewias-Harold, already described: Builth, the extreme limit westward held for any time by the English: Cardiff, Caerleon, Wigmore, and Richard’s Castle.
Richard’s Castle, fortress and parish, takes name from a certain Richard Fitz-Scrob, one of the Normans attached to the court of the Confessor, and who was quartered by that prince upon probably the most exposed district upon the Welsh frontier; a position commanding some of the richest and most regretted of the lands conquered by the English, and sure to be assailed frequently and in force.
What invader originally threw up the magnificent earthwork which must have guided Fitz-Scrob in his choice of a residence, is not known, but from its summit is comprehended one of the noblest and most extensive prospects to be found even in a quarter of England very rich in pleasing combinations of wood and water, lofty hills and broad and fertile dales. As the new settler traversed the meads of the Severn, and left behind him the grassy meadows of the Team and the Lugg, and rode up the rising ground to the point where his own or his son’s devotion afterwards established a church, he must have blessed the fate that placed him amidst a country so rich, and in the possession of which the vast earthwork immediately before him would be an assurance of more than ordinary security.
The advent of Fitz-Scrob must have been viewed with profound dislike from opposite quarters. In those days, on the very eve of the coming in of William, Gruffydd, the Welsh Prince, well knew how formidable a neighbour was a Norman knight; and the English, who were aware what engines of local tyranny were the Norman castles, could not but have regarded with dismay the lofty walls and towers, which made impregnable a place already strong, and converted a well-known burh into a castle such as they had heard of with dread but had not before seen.
What were the precise works constructed by Richard it is difficult to say. That he converted the mound into his keep, and girt the annexed ward with a wall is possible, though the masonry, of which vast fragments still remain, is apparently of rather a later date. There is no reason to suppose that he built a rectangular keep. There was already a mound. His keep would be on its summit, and, if masonry were employed in its construction, it must have been a shell or low tower at most of 30 feet or 35 feet diameter, such as is seen on the mound of Cardiff.
The first danger to the new lord came from Earl Godwin and his sons, who represented the English, and therefore the anti-Norman feeling. One of the avowed grievances for the redress of which they met in arms at Beverston, in 1052, was the presence of Richard Fitz-Scrob upon English soil. That they failed, and that their failure led to the temporary exile of Earl Godwin is a matter of history. Richard remained unmolested, and, doubtless, employed himself in adding to his castle that strength which it could scarcely have in excess. It is not stated that he shared in the campaign and ignominious defeat of Earl Ralf the Timid against Prince Gruffydd, but probably he did so.
In 1056, Harold, then Earl of the West Saxons, entered the Marches against the Welsh, and advanced into Archerfield, where his probable godson, Harold, the son of Ralph, held the Castle of Ewias-Harold, the earthworks of which were constructed on the type of those of Richard’s Castle, and which, a few years later, was to receive additions in masonry after the same pattern. Whether Richard was in alliance with Earl Harold or Harold of Ewias is not known, but the position of his castle would scarcely allow him to be neuter.
In 1062, Gruffydd was again over the Herefordshire border, and Harold, then holding the Earldom of Hereford, was again at his post, and the Lord of Ewias joined him. This was followed by the larger expedition, in which Harold invaded Wales by sea from Bristol, conjointly with his brother Tostig from Northumberland. They met at Rhuddlan, and soon after the Welsh Prince was massacred by his own people. During these turbulent years the whole border must have been in constant turmoil, and we may fairly suppose that Richard, to whom both parties were in substance opposed, must have fortified his castle by every means then in use.
The arrival of the Conqueror relieved Richard from his most formidable foe, the English people directed by an English leader. He and his son Osbert shared in the ascendancy of their race, and received from William large grants in Herefordshire and elsewhere which are duly recorded in Domesday.
RICHARD’S CASTLE.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.
The castle of Richard’s Castle occupies a position equally remarkable for beauty and for strength. It stands upon the eastern slope of the Vinnall Hill, an elevated ridge which extends hither from Ludlow, and a little to the west of the castle is cleft by two deep parallel gorges, beyond which the high ground reappears in two diverging ridges, of which one extends westward in the direction of Wigmore and the other more southerly to the river Lugg, at Mortimer’s Cross, having on its ridge the ancient British earthwork of Croft Ambrey, and below it the fortress of Croft Castle, reported to occupy an early English site. By this means, Richard’s Castle is protected from the Welsh side by a double defence of hill and valley, besides its more immediate and special works.
The castle, though far below the summit of the Vinnall, stands upon very high ground, sloping rapidly towards the east. An exceedingly deep and wide gorge descending from the west bounds the position on the south, while a smaller and tributary valley, descending from the north, falls into the greater valley below the castle, and thus completes its strength upon the north, west, and south points. The defence towards the east is wholly artificial.
Upon the point of the high land, above the meeting of the two valleys, a large and lofty mound has been piled up, the base of which is about 300 feet above the valley, and the summit 60 feet higher, that being its proper height. It is about 30 feet in diameter at the top, and the sides are very steep. It seems wholly artificial, and stands in its own very deep ditch, beyond which is a high bank. On the west side, this ditch is succeeded by the steep natural slope descending to the river, but towards the east the ditch seems to have been reinforced by a second, which encloses a larger area, more or less semilunar in shape, and which has a bank within and upon the scarp of the outer ditch, which is here artificial, and cuts off the fortress from the adjacent high ground now occupied as the churchyard.
These were the defences of the original fortress, and, as was almost invariably the case when the Normans converted such an earthwork into a castle, a round tower or shell was constructed upon the summit of the mound, constituting the keep. From this, on the north-east and south-west sides, a strong and lofty curtain wall descended the slope, and on reaching the edge of the ditch was bent eastward, and curved round so as to include the whole intrenched area south-east of the mound, and half the mound itself, of which the other or western half, strong in its great natural strength, augmented by its ditch, was left without any exterior or second line of defence in masonry. The domestic buildings stood in this base court or lower ward, the keep only being occupied during a siege, or under exceptional circumstances. The entrance was by an arch in the curtain on the south side. Thus, as at Shrewsbury, Berkhampstead, and Tamworth, and indeed very generally, the mound and keep stood on the general enceinte of the fortress, forming a part of its outer defence. The lower ward was accessible to wheeled carriages, but the keep could only be ascended by steps. At this time the summit of the mound is covered with débris and rubbish, upon which young timber trees and underwood have made vigorous growth, and the enclosure, naturally inaccessible, is strictly preserved. The curtain descending the slope on the north-east is tolerably perfect, as is the adjacent part along the north-west front of the lower ward. Farther on, the wall seems to have been lifted with gunpowder, and a vast fragment lies in the ditch. Beyond this the foundations here and there appear; the wall itself remains skirting the scarp of the ditch along the east and south fronts, and towards the latter side is the place where the arch of entrance pierced the wall, as shown by the gap in the masonry and the passage through the bank. Just beyond this the curtain ascends the mound and abutted on the keep tower, completing the circle of the defences in masonry.
From the density and offensive character of the vegetation it is difficult to get a good general view of the place or to follow its details, but the fragments of masonry lie about generally, and, if cleared of nettles and the thin upper soil removed, no doubt a correct plan of this most interesting place could be obtained, and the date of the masonry ascertained with some degree of certainty. The masonry above ground is probably Norman, but all the ashlar has disappeared. The great interest of the place is due to its very remarkable earthworks, and to the fact that it was occupied and fortified by a Norman master before the Conquest.
The adjacent church is a large and rather fine building in the Decorated style. It stands but a very few yards outside the castle ditch, up to which its burial-ground extends. It is remarkable in having a large square belfry tower, detached, and placed a few yards south-east of the chancel.