Hereford Castle

Hereford Castle was a castle in the cathedral city of Hereford (gbmapping|SO511396) in Herefordshire.

Pre Norman Castle

It stood on a site to the south and east of the modern city overlooking the River Wye. It is thought that the first castle on the site was a motte-and-bailey castle built of timber and actually erected before the Norman conquest in 1052 under Saxon rule by Ralph the Timid, son of the Count of Vexin, who had been made Saxon Earl of Hereford in 1046. In 1055 the town was overrun by the Welsh under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and the early castle was destroyed.

Norman Castle

In 1066 after the Norman conquest, William FitzOsbern, Lord of Breteuil in Normandy, was created first Norman Earl of Hereford. He restored the castle which was a motte and bailey castle with the river on one side and a moat on the other three sides. In 1071 William FitzOsbern died and his son Roger took over possession of the castle. He was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to depose King William and consequently forfeited the castle.

In 1138 during the Anarchy Geoffrey Talbot garrisoned the castle on behalf of Matilda. Stephen de Blois and his men marched on the city and took the castle. The following year Matilda landed in Hereford via the River Wye by boat and after routing Stephen’s men seized the city. In 1154 Matilda’s son Henry II granted the motte of Hereford to Roger of Gloucester but a rebellion followed and Henry retook possession and for the rest of its history the castle remained Royal.

In 1216 John made Walter de Lacy sheriff of the county of Herefordshire and granted him the custody of the Royal castle at Hereford and the following year work was undertaken at to strengthen the castle against the Welsh attacks.

Welsh Attacks

During the Second Barons' War the castle came for a time the headquarters of the baronial party headed by Simon de Montfort in the 13th century.

During the Owain Glyndwr rebellion from 1400 to 1411 King Henry IV based himself at Hereford castle preparing sorties and campaigns into Wales.

During the Civil War Herefordshire was very much a Royalist stronghold but the castle does not appear to have played a significant part. It was eventually sold to Sir Richard Harley and several of his friends but it then went into decline. Most of what remained of the castle seems to have been destroyed in the 1650s and the stone used for other buildings within the city.

"Nearly as Large as Windsor"

According to John Leland, the antiquary, the castle at Hereford was once 'nearly as large as that of Windsor' and 'one of the fairest and strongest in all England'.

Today

In 1746 the ruins were ordered to be dismantled and the site was transformed into what is today Castle Green, the moat being turned into Castle Pool lake.

In 1833 the Castle Green (which had been the bailey of the castle) was leased to the city council for a period of 200 years. The council is still responsible today for the maintenance and upkeep of the area in its present form of a recreation area.

In the centre of the bailey stands a monument to Lord Nelson. A footbridge, the Victoria Bridge, crosses the River Wye linked to riverside walks and walks around Hereford Cathedral.

ee also

*History of Herefordshire

References

* [http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/castles/castlesdata_az/hereford.htm Hereford Castle 1]
* [http://homepage.mac.com/philipdavis/English%20sites/1394.html Hereford Castle 2]
* [http://www.ecastles.co.uk/hereford.html Hereford Castle 3]
*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, "The David & Charles Book of Castles", David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3