Herefordshire - Part 3: Pembridge, Scarecrows, St Mary the Virgin and the Moated Mound

 

On Monday the weather had improved - dry warm and sunny so D and I decided to pop to Pembridge. B was happy gardening and E wanted to study her course so we went on our own.  Some of you will have seen my posts on Pembridge before but we did visit a few new areas of the village.  Pembridge is very picturesque and another of those villages on the "North Herefordshire Black and White Village Trail".  I've liked all the villages we have visited so far although Weobley is my favourite closely followed by Pembridge.

Be warned there are a lot of photos. Sorry but it is SO photogenic there :)

Pembridge had a weekly market and fair granted to Henry de Pembridge in 1239 followed by borough status.  There are many timber framed cottages to be seen dating back to 1425-1525.

There were scarecrows here too from the Jubilee weekend celebrations I assume.

Pavement Plants

War Memorial outside the village school.

A Gatekeeper.  We have two of these one at home and one at the caravan although ours are smaller than this one.

West End Farm is 15th century and

the Brick House mid 15th century.  I would love to live in one of these villages and keep my eye on the housing market.

The 17th century New Inn.  

I love this part of the village with the old market hall.  In fact I always half expect Merrily or Jane Watkins from the Phil Rickman books to suddenly appear!!! I haven't got my book "Merrily's Border" at home so can't check but I seem to remember he based their village on a combination of places including Weobley, Pembridge and Dilwyn.  I am currently reading the latest and new Merrily book!!!

The market hall is 16th century.

And into the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin.  The chancel and nave are early to mid C14th and there is a  C13th detached bell tower erected between 1207 and 1214.  The wooden structure was encased in stone in the 15th century.  In structure it is similar to bell towers in Norway and Sweden.  I have been inside in the past and to be honest found it rather spooky very much like something out of a Rickman Merrily novel!

I didn't go in the church this time and, in fact, I have never had a proper look round as I have always been limited in time due to the family! But if you would like to see a few photos of the interior please see St Mary the Virgin Pembridge  and here is another post but you will have to scroll down past a few other villages to reach it St Mary Pembridge

Although I have been to Pembridge several times I have always forgotten to look for Pembridge castle mound and moat. It is viewable from the churchyard but you can't access it as it is on private land belonging to Court House Farm.  The site was a castle in the 12th century but by the mid 1300's it had become a fortified manor house.

The moated site was excavated in Autumn 2004 along with desk based research.  The site is an Ancient Scheduled Monument and consists of a large, irregular, D shaped mound which is 40 metres wide and 50 metres long surrounded by a deep, wide moat.  Its location close to the church suggests it was occupied early.  The earliest written record of the site is a royal grant of 1222.

The mound probably dates from the late C11th to early C12th although the site itself may have been occupied in Anglo Saxon times prior to the mound being built.  It was initially the chief seat of the de Pembridge family from 1090 to 1265 and was then held by the Mortimer family from 1265 until 1425 (please see more below).  It became a favourite residence of the Mortimers and they are likely to have rebuilt and altered buildings on the site.  The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Hereford stayed here in the 1280s.

The castle was Crown property from 1461 until ~1600. By the early C17th the site was abandoned and by 1800 the mound had been cleared and was being used as an orchard.  Excavations revealed a lot of stone rubble and the lower courses of two masonry walls running North to South. These may have been foundations of a large stone building.  Evidence of two other walls were found and other finds included a Roman tile, early medieval pottery and an iron stirrup.

Mortimer Connections

• When the de Pembridge family supported Simon de Montfort against King Henry III in 1365, they were forced to forfeit the Pembridge estates and Pembridge was granted to Roger III Mortimer- a Marcher lord.
• The de Pembridge lands were eventually returned to the Pembridge family with the exception of Pembridge itself which they signed permanently over to Roger III in court willingly although Roger  had the sons captive at the time!!
• It is believed Roger's Widow Maud lived at Pembridge after he died and afterwards it became the dower property for Mortimer widows. For example, Margaret de Fiennes, widow of Edmund I Mortimer (from 1304 to 1333) and then Joan de Geneville, widow of Roger IV Mortimer who lived there from 1330 to 1356.
• Roger IV Mortimer married Joan at Pembridge 20th September 1301.  She brought large estates to the Mortimers including Ludlow castle.  Legend suggests that a large comet appeared in the sky the day after the marriage and remained for a week.
• Although there is no evidence it is possible they may have married at Pembridge rather than Wigmore or Ludlow as they planned to live here as Roger's parents were living at Wigmore and Joan did not fully inherit Ludlow until 1308.
• The Mortimers supported the rebuilding of St Mary's church between the late 1320's and the early 1330's.
• Roger and Joan had married in the church that existed before the present building and all that remains of the earlier church are two C12th arches in the chancel and the South window of the chancel by the altar which dates from 1240.
• In the chancel are C14th stone effigies probably of some of the Gour family (Please see link earlier in post to photos of the interior which include this tomb) who were in the Mortimer's service. These effigies represent Nicholas Gour, his son John and their wives.
• John Gour,  a local landowner, worked for the Mortimers, mainly as steward, from the 1350's until his death in the late 1370's.
• He was a witness to Mortimer charters and was an executor of the will of Roger V Mortimer in 1360 and during the minority of Edmund III Mortimer he was appointed as keeper of the Mortimer estates.

Continuing our stroll round the village.

Plants in Walls

I wanted to see if an art gallery in the village was open as it sometimes stocks works by a stained glass artist who lives in Herefordshire. Sadly, it was closed but I got a few photos of sculptures in the garden.

Pavement Plants

The Old Forge - C15th cruck framed house

The Old Wheelwrights was a C15th hall house - I assume now resurfaced.

Timothy was not impressed with the above statue!!!

*D

*D

*D

Before we left I drove down to the river Arrow as someone on twitter had mentioned there is a walk along the river - there does seem to be and a rather lovely community wildflower meadow. Somewhere to walk on a future visit.

*D

*D

We really enjoyed our walk and I hope you like the many photos.

On Tuesday afternoon we returned home. B, D and E did visit Queenswood Arboretum in the morning but I didn't so we will leave Herefordshire now until the next visit.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.Photos marked *D taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera.  If anyone ever wishes to use any of the photos I would be grateful for an email first. Thanks.

Reference: Pevsner "The Building of England Herefordshire" by Alan Brooks and Nikolaus Pevsner Yale University Press 2017.

Information Board in the churchyard on Pembridge Castle Mound and Moat

"On the Trail of the Mortimers"  by Philip Hume Logaston Press