Herefordshire in November - Part 3: St Faith's (exterior), Dorstone Motte and Bailey and Village

 

After we left Arthur's Stone I did consider a trip to Hay on Wye but then decided that needed a day to itself so we decided to visit the nearby village of Dorstone.

Dorstone was called Torchestone in the Domesday Book but the name was changed to Dorstone due to its proximity to the River Dore.

St Faith's

was rebuilt by Nicholson and Son 1881/90 re-using medieval parts.

The Medieval West Tower was truncated for structural reasons in 1950.

The large oak porch dates back to 1889/90.

I am not quite sure what the ghostly light is on the right as I don't remember it being sunny during the visit.

D spotted these shells which I said were a symbol of St James and pilgrims. Anyway a google search suggests St Faith's is on the Golden Valley Pilgrim Way which is a 59 mile trail and takes in orchards, castles, churches and holy wells.

Different members of the Powell family served as rectors of the church for around 300 years from 1633 to 1953.

While we were looking round the churchyard I noticed a couple leaving  the church and when I tried the door to have a look round the interior it was locked or at least appeared to be locked - sometimes these big old doors can need  a bit of a shoulder shove!  According to the website it should have been open. A lesson to be learnt there perhaps to go inside the church before exploring the exterior!

Dorstone Motte and Bailey Castle

I knew there was a motte and bailey at Dorstone and D does love his castles! So a short walk along a footpath and we were there.  It once had a shell keep but presumably the remains of this have long since been buried. But the motte and dry ditch remain.

It is unusual in that it once had two baileys.

It was probably founded by the de Brito family, one of whom was Richard de Brito one of the knights who murderedThomas Beckett. The castle would have protected a vulnerable valley route into Wales and it was later the main holding of the Solers family.

Either Richard de Brito or his family founded a chapel on the site of the present day of church as an act of expiation for the murder of Beckett.

The Pandy Inn which dates back to the  C12th was closed at lunchtime as was the village shop. Fortunately I had brought a flask of tea and some sandwiches which we ate in the car.

Dorstone Standing Stone on the village green had a sundial added on top in 1812.

Record shot of a Red Kite - we saw many on the Thursday. The nearer you get to the borders the more you see.

Plants in Walls

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I stopped off on the way back to get some photos of the view towards Bredwardine

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I got D to take this photo of the Red Lion Hotel in Bredwardine as I don't think I managed one when I visited Kilvert's church earlier this year.  Francis Kilvert, the Victorian diarist, was vicar of Bredwardine church between November 1877 and his premature death in September 1879.

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We stopped off at Monklands Dairy Cheese Shop on the way back to buy some cheese. Friday we stayed closer to Hatfield and just had a walk round Leominster which I'll cover in the final post.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and those marked *D were taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera.  (I don't particularly rate most of my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first. Thanks).

Reference:  Buildings of England Herefordshire by A Brookes and N Pevsner. Yale University Press

Website: britishpilgrimage.org

Herefordshire in November - Part Two : Arthur's Stone

 

Thursday was dry and mild with sunshine at times so leaving B to garden D and I journeyed to Arthur's Stone.  It took about 50 minutes and in actual fact is only about 5 minutes further than Brobury House Gardens and Bredwardine.  D has wanted to visit the chambered tomb for ages.

Arthur's Stone, looked after by English Heritage, is an atmospheric 5000 year old burial chamber made of stone slabs set on Merbach Hill 280 metres above sea level.   It overlooks Herefordshire's Golden Valley.  It dates from around 3500BC and is 1 of the most northerly chambered tombs of the Severn Cotswold Group which is a series of 200 Middle and Late Neolithic monuments scattered all over the SW Midlands and Central Wales.

It is one of a possible five tombs that are found in the Neolithic landscape of the Northern Marches of the Golden Valley.  This area is rich in long barrows and standing stones. Flint scatters and stone axes have been found which illustrate use of the Upper Golden Valley throughout the Neolithic.  Originally Arthur's Stone was covered by an oval mound 26 metres by 17 metres and the tomb has nine upright stones which form a polygonal chamber.  An unusual right angled passage at the entrance can be seen in one of the photos below.  The huge capstone is believed to weigh about 25 tonnes.

The size and weight of the uprights and capstone suggest it took a long time to build and many people would have been involved in its construction.  Bill Startin (1981) suggests a tomb like this might have taken between 7000 and 15000 hours labour to construct.

Folklore

One legend suggests it gets its name because King Arthur fought a batttle here.  Arthur was killed and buried inside the chamber. Another story suggest that there was a battle between Arthur and a giant. The latter was killed and fell on the stones with his elbows creating hollows on one of the stones.

The stones marking what is probably a false entrance contain cupmarks.  Little is known about these but they date from the Bronze Age.  They may have been due to defacement or re-use of the tomb for social and political rather than ritual purposes. The one upright has 12 cupmarks. I did look for them but failed to find any! However later research suggests they are only a few cms in diameter and I was looking for something much bigger.

The capstone split into pieces is orientated NE to SW with the latter end pointing towards the southern section of the Golden Valley and towards the Black Mountains.

It is unlikely it was was just used as a tomb.  Rituals of the ancestors when claims to a particular area of land could be made, may have taken place here.  The tomb is in an area of summer pasture and Neolithic people may have met here on a seasonal basis.

It is possible the stone provided inspiration for CS Lewis as in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the stone table on which Aslan was sacrificed may have been based on the monument. I believe Tolkien and C S Lewis used to walk in the area.

Some people who have visited the stone have heard a strange low frequency buzzing sound that gets louder and louder before suddenly ceasing.  No normal source for this noise has been found.

 

 Last summer archaelogists were granted permisssion to excavate part of the site.  

Features unearthed include what could be stone steps leading up to the tomb and Neolithic tools.  Drones were used to look for possible signs of other ancient burial sites nearby which could mean that Arthur's Stone was an important meeting place like Avebury or Stone Henge.

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After leaving Arthur's Stone we drove to the village of Dorstone to look round and visit the church but I will write about that in a separate post.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and those marked *D by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate most of my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)

Reference - English Heritage Website pages on Arthur's Stone

"Prehistoric Site of Herefordshire" by George Nash Logaston Press

"Haunted Herefordshire" by Rupert Matthews Logaston Press