Eardisley Castle

Eardisley Castle was in the village of Eardisley, some 11 km north-east of Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire (gbmapping|SO311491).

This was an 11th century motte and bailey castle with a moat around the bailey filled by a stream. It is recorded in the Domesday Survey as being held by Robert ( probably Robert de Basqueville, father of Ralph de Baskerville) from Roger de Lacy.

In 1263 the castle was in the possession of Roger de Clifford where he imprisoned the Bishop of Hereford, Peter de Aquablanca. From around 1272 the castle was probably the chief residence of the Baskerville family although its ownership changed frequently. The de Bohuns, Earls of Hereford were for some time overlords of Eardisley until 1372 when the earldom of Hereford ceased and it passed to the Crown

In 1403 Henry IV ordered the castle to be fortified against attacks by Owain Glyndŵr although by 1374 the castle had already been ruined.

By the 1640s the castle was in the possession of Sir Humphrey Baskerville, a Royalist, and in the Civil War it was burnt down to the ground with only one of the gatehouses escaping ruin. A member of the Baskerville family was still living in this ruin in 1670 in comparable poverty.

The mound and wet ditches are the only traces now remaining.

References

* [http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/castles/castlesdata_az/eardisley.htm Eardisley Castle 1]
* [http://www.ecastles.co.uk/eardisley.html Eardisley Castle 2]
*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, "The David & Charles Book of Castles", David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3