Last week as D was on holiday we went to Herefordshire for a few nights.
It was raining heavily on the journey on Thursday - Timothy in the car!
Friday it rained heavily on and off most of the day but luckily yesterday was dry and sunny so we decided to visit Richard's Castle which has a motte and bailey castle (possibly the earliest in the country) and a historic church.
The castle, which gives the village its name, pre-dates the Conquest by about 16 years but it was thoroughly Norman. Edward the Confessor encouraged the settlement of his Norman kinsmen and friends in Herefordshire and gave them gifts of land. This land was granted to Richard FitzScrob who built a castle on it around c1050 and sited his keep on the hilltop. In 1086 it was held by his son Osbern FitzRichard and remained in the family for several generations until it passed by marriage to the family of Talbot under the overlordship of the Mortimers. Later it came into the possession of the Salweys where it remained for 370 years.
Leland's survey 1540 report reports the castle was mainly standing but ruinous and later it housed a farm and its buildings. A ditch remains and remains of a gatehouse, curtain wall and keep.
When you reach the village the church is signposted and there is a small area where you can park.
View on the walk to the church.
St Bartholomew's Church with its detached tower is situated in the outer bailey - I'll go back to the church in another post and I actually plucked up courage this time to go inside so there will be some interior photos too.
The views were stunning from the churchyard.
Luckily I had done some research into how to find the motte and bailey. You walk past the church into the area of churchyard where there are more recent graves and at the top is a gate and path leading to the castle.
Ditch surrounding the castle.
Remains of the gatehouse.
More of those stunning views.
A well
Here you can see parts of the keep.
In the background is part of what remains of the curtain wall. In the 13th century the original pallisade surrounding the castle was replaced by a stone curtain wall - parts of which can still be seen. One fragment is more or less its full original height of 8 metres. A wall walk (raised platform along the inside of the curtain wall) linked the towers which was important for the defence of the castle.
The square holes you can hopefully spot in the wall were probably post holes for supporting wooden scaffolding used to build the wall.
Remains of the Keep
The original tower would have been made of wood but at the end of the 12th century it was replaced by a stone octagonal keep (octagonal keeps are rare in Britain) made of finely dressed limestone. The keep was 13 metres across with walls 3 metres thick at the base and each of the 8 sides was 6 metres long.
It originally would have had four floors - a basement, first floor which may have been used as a chapel as part of a portable altar along with 13th and 14th century pottery have been found, a 2nd floor perhaps used as accommodation by the castle owner and then the battlements. Acess to the keep was probably from the curtain wall.
I took one look at the crumbling steps and decided not to attempt to go up due to my "past their use by date" knees but B and D did go up to the top.
Curtain wall remains. The ruins had a wonderful sense of place and were quite atmospheric but it was time to leave.
A few photos taken by D.
From the top of the Keep with me far below!
View from keep
Looking down - perhaps it was just as well I didn't attempt to go up!
Next post a look around St Bartholomew's church and churchyard.
*D Photos taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera
Rest of photos taken by me with the Pansonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
15 comments:
What a charming place to visit, the views are lovely and I do love how nature has taken over, it's so green! I'm glad the rain stopped for you :)
Well, just sitting here and looking down, my knees buckled! It looks a lovely area, and that you had the place to yourselves, which is a relief for you indeed. Happy to see Timothy is being taken out a bit, if not too much. I often wonder how safe those ancient scaffolding poles were, whether or not they had some other means of support. The scenery is very pretty too.
Pam - Thanks so much. My son saw it mentioned in a history magazine and really wanted to go! Was so glad we had one dry day. Friday with the 3 of us in the open plan living area proved a bit claustrophobic especially for my son and he didn't fancy escaping to his bedroom there as it so small. Walls paper thin so he could still hear tv OH insisted on having on all day!
Rustic Pumpkin - Thank you and same here re: looking down! I may have got up but the height and my knees being so awful going downhill might have meant I was stuck up there!!! Timothy in the main remains in the caravan which is a shame but for the best atm! Would be interesting to know more about the building of medieval castles! I must ask my son if he has a book.
What a wonderful place to visit, RR, and by the sound of it you really had done your homework well. Thank you for being our guide on this virtual adventure. It looks as though you certainly found a very quiet corner, and it also looks as though the weather was a lot better than we have had here (until this afternoon). I think Berrington Hall must be as close as I have been to Richard's Castle. Timothy is being very sensible and at least he gets to spend his evenings with you all.
The walk looks lovely.
Timothy seems to be enjoying his adventure after being in lock down for several months.
Caroline Gill - Thanks so much. We did see a couple of other people and also a family but all in the distance. Weather was dire Thursday and Friday though! Berrington Hall is close and also Croft Castle - 2 places I want to visit at some stage although I think you would have to pre-book at the moment.
CherryPie - Thank you. Timothy mainly stays in the caravan but at least it is a change of scene!
Such a lovely post, I'm glad you are getting about and about and exploring places. We've passed through or nearby Richard's Castle a few times but never stopped to look at either castle or church. They both look fascinating and I'm looking forward to seeing inside the church:)
Rosie - Thanks so much. Now my daughter has had to go back to work and we are not all at home all the time I've started to try and do a bit more. There are still things I am not keen on doing though like pubs and supermarkets. If you are in the area again look out for the Castle Inn and there is a lane next to it signposed "Historic" Church and it is up there. Small amount of parking space on a green as the road turns sharply to the right. To get to the castle follow the instructions in the blog post (its not far)! Church was interesting!
We've seen it signposted many many times but never thought to try and find the castle. We did check out the village once, when we were looking a house near Clun and they said that was where they did their shopping. Perhaps we should go and explore next time we're in the area.
Lovely photos (and views). Thank you.
Looks lovely and so are the photos, glad the rain stoped for you and you managed to get out.
Amanda. X
Bovey Belle - Thanks so much - worth a look as is the church. Just follow the instructions given in my reply to Rosie above.
Amanda Peters - Thanks so much. To have a final dry day was a relief!!!
Looks like a really interesting place to visit. It's quite amazing that so much of the remains still stand, especially that tall wall. I don't think I would have liked those steps either! Love the rustic bench.
You have such lovely countryside - makes me miss England. I was over there a lot when mum was ill with dementia but the last time was last September when I went over to sprinkle mum's ashes around up on top of a hill (with views like in your pictures!).
Millymollymandy - Oh Mandy - I am so very sorry to hear about your mum - please accept my condolences. It must have been such an awful time for you - I know how sad and upsetting it is when a parent is suffering from dementia - such a cruel disease.
The castle was amazing - as you say such a lot remains for such an ancient castle. I think if I had managed to get up to the top I would never have been able to get down again. Sometimes with my knees these days I feel so unsteady on uneven areas :(
Caroline, thank you for your kind words. Thankfully my mum knew who everyone was, it was just everything else in her memory which was shot! We hadn't realised until we saw the death certificate that it was actually her breast cancer marked as primary cause of death - we had just assumed she had deteriorated healthwise due to the dementia. As she always refused scans etc we had no idea what was going on with the cancer which had gone on a long time. Anyway it was a relief she did not linger and we are SO glad it was last year and not this! Oh imagine how awful it is for people who have family in care homes at the moment. Doesn't bear thinking about. :-(
Millymollymandy - A relief that your mum still knew who you were but so sorry to hear about the breast cancer. Mum stopped recognising me quite a few years before she died and before that she went through a very aggressive phase lashing out at us and swearing (words I would never have thought she knew) - it was heartbreaking as so out of character she was such a sweet gentle person before. She was bedbound for about 18 months before she died - it really was awful but when she got worse thankfully too she did not linger and I was relieved to be honest that she was no longer suffering. As you say it would be awful if they were still here and in care/nursing homes you would be worried sick. So feel for people in that position.
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