- Richard's Castle
Richard's Castle is a
village on the border betweenHerefordshire andShropshire inEngland and lies betweenLeominster andLudlow .The Best of Both Worlds
The village is split by the county border, and constitutes two
civil parish es, one called Richard's Castle (Hereford), the other called Richard's Castle (Shropshire).Amenities
The
parish church is All Saints [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/101587] , a large and newchurch . [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/636864]History
Richard Fitz Scrob (or Fitz
Scrope ) was a Norman knight granted lands by the Saxon KingEdward the Confessor before theNorman Conquest , in Herefordshire,Worcestershire and Shropshire as recorded in theDomesday Book . He built Richard's Castle before1051 . The castle was amotte and bailey style construction, one of very few castles of this type built before the Norman conquest. Most were built after the conquest. Richard was last mentioned in1067 . His castle passed to his son,Osbern Fitz Richard , who married Nesta, the daughter of KingGruffydd ap Llywelyn ofWales .Osbern died around
1137 and was succeeded by his grandson,Osbern Fitz Hugh , who died in1187 . Richard's Castle then passed to his brother-in-law,Hugh de Say , who died in1190 , leaving the barony to his son, another Hugh Say. In1196 this Hugh fought at the battle atNew Radnor and was probably killed there, his castles eventually passing toRobert Mortimer ofAttleborough . In1264 his son,Hugh Mortimer , was forced to surrender himself and Richard's Castle toSimon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester . His grandson, the lastHugh Mortimer of Richard's Castle, was poisoned to death by his wife in1304 . The castle then passed to the Talbots. On December 3, 1329, Joan late the wife of Richard Thalebot, had noted in thePatent Rolls that she planned to leave Richard's Castle to John de Wotton, chaplain, and William Balle of Underlith, infee simple . [cite book |title= Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Henry VII, A.D. 1485-1509|last= Britain|first= Great|year=1891 |publisher= The Hereford Times|pages= 462|url= http://books.google.com/books?id=eJpmD5WUoZwC&pg=PA462&dq=Richard%27s+Castle&as_brr=0] The Talbots were still living there in the late14th century . By the16th century it was in ruins.The Castle
Today the fortress is reduced mainly to its earthworks and foundations. A polygonal
keep stood on the highmotte or mound. This was reached possibly via a semi-circularbarbican . The bailey wall still stands twenty feet high in places and there are remains of several towers and an early gatehouse around the perimeter. There earthwork remains of an outer ward enclosing the church and a borough defence.References
* Remfry, Paul Martin, (1997) "Richard's Castle, 1048 to 1219", Worcester: SCS Publishing, 39 pp, ISBN 1-899376-34-8
* Remfry, Paul Martin, "The Nine Castles of Burford Barony, 1048 to 1308", ISBN 1-899376-39-9External links
* [http://www.castlewales.com/richards.html CastleWales page]
* [http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/castles/castlesdata_az/richards_castle.htm Herefordshire Council info]
* [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SAL/RichardsCastle/index.html Genuki information]
* [http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/richards.html Anglo-Norman castles]
* [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/castle/ear_main.html Suggests Richard's Castle was the first castle in England]
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