Volume 2 — WIGMORE, HEREFORDSHIRE.

THE Castle of Wigmore, the head of the Hundred and Honour of that name, the chief seat of the great House of Mortimer, and the centre of that territorial power which made its lords so formidable to their sovereigns, and at last brought about their fall, stands in the north-west corner of the border shire of Hereford, and about eight miles on the English side of Offa’s Dyke. It is one of a chain of strongholds of which Clun, Hopton, and Brampton Bryan, lay to its immediate north, and Lingen and Lyons Hall to its south; while in its rear were posted Croft and Richard’s Castle, assuring to its garrison a speedy communication with the great central fortresses of Ludlow and Shrewsbury.

Most of these castles are of ancient date, and their earthworks testify to the intensity and permanence of the struggle maintained by the Welsh against the encroachments of the colony planted by the English in the latter part of the eighth century, and protected by the mighty work which still bears the name of Offa. These traces of the footsteps of the invader from beyond the Severn may still be observed along the frontier marches of the Principality from Cardiff to Hawarden, posted wherever the valleys laid open the interior of the country; nor along the whole line is there a grander or stronger military work than that for which Wigmore was celebrated long before the Normans crossed the Channel.

But the military virtues, if not triumphs, of the Welsh, identified with this district, ascend to a period before even the common ancestors of Englishmen and Normans appeared in Britain, and were exercised, though equally in vain, against even a greater foe. The great British hill camps of Coxwall-Knoll, Caer Caradoc, Brandon, and Croft-Ambrey, are thought to be evidences of the fierce struggles of the Britons against the Roman legions, though with how little ultimate success against either Roman or Englishman, the parallel lines of Watling-street and the Dyke still give silent but overpowering testimony.

Wigmore, an English creation, bears an English name. It is first mentioned in A.D. 921, when the Saxon Chronicle relates that King Eadweard, in the Rogation days, that is about the 7th of May, “commanded the burh at Wisingamere to be built.” That this command was very rapidly as well as very completely obeyed, is clear from the fact, stated by the same authority, that, in the same year, probably at the commencement of autumn, the Danes with a great army laid siege to the new burh, “beset it round about, and fought against it far in the day, and took the cattle about it; and, nevertheless, the men defended the burh who were therein, and then they (the Danes) abandoned the burh and went away.” A strong place which was constructed in five months could not have been a work in masonry, and scarcely in dry walling; but with a proper force of men the earthworks of the mound and inner area might have been executed in that time. But earthworks alone would not have held an army of active Danes at bay. The slopes must have been strengthened with palisades, so as to protect the garrison and enable them to keep the enemy at a moderate distance. Fire was scarcely practicable, as the wood employed must have been green. Moreover, however hard Edward’s soldiers may have worked, it is scarcely probable that they could have done more than throw up the burh proper, or mound, and the banks containing the smaller area attached to it, or have prepared palisades for a larger front, even if formed. We are told that when Queen Æthelflæd’s warriors, in A.D. 916, took Brecenanmere, or Brecknock, by storm, they captured there the king’s wife, with thirty-four persons. The Burh of Brecknock, therefore, held probably but a small garrison: and its mound and inner circle, the parts, no doubt, then defended, are not, in point of size, greater than those of Wigmore, for which certainly one hundred and fifty to two hundred men would form, for a short time, a sufficient garrison. It was, then, to the passive strength of this position, and to its narrow front, that they owed their safety. The cattle taken probably pastured at the foot of the mound and upper area, within what is now the lower ward of the Castle, then, no doubt, but slightly protected.

Of the Lords of Wigmore during the century following the Danish attack, nothing is recorded, but the castle is named in Domesday, Ralph de Mortimer then held Wighemore. Edward had held it. There was half a hyde there, within which was the castle. Ralph held the castle. William the Earl (of Hereford) made it on the waste land called Merestun, which Gunnent held in the time of King Edward. There were two hydes geldable. Ralph had in demesne two plough-lands and four serfs. The burh there paid seven pounds. No doubt the earlier castle had been destroyed, that is, the destructible part of it, and William Fitz Osbern had restored it. That earl had been active in subduing the Welsh insurrection of 1068–9, and in reward for the services of Ralph de Mortimer on this occasion, and in putting down Edric the Forester, he had the grant recorded in Domesday. Dugdale says that he actually besieged Edric in the castle and took it, and thus laid the foundation of the greatness of his family as Lords of the March; but though Ralph de Mortimer put down Edric, there is no evidence that the latter ever owned or held out Wigmore.

The possession of so strong a country, and at the same time of so exposed a frontier, was the secret of the Marcher independence. It was a dangerous power, often selfishly exercised, inasmuch as the lords combined frequently with the public enemy to gain their private ends against the sovereign. At all times, also, it stood in the way of an equal administration of justice, and much retarded the consolidation of the empire.

Happily for the greatness of England, Edward I. not only saw this, but on coming to the crown made that consolidation his earliest care. He saw that so long as Wales remained an insurrectionary power, so long would the Marchers be independent, and not to be relied upon as subjects; and with that bold sagacity which marked his character, he proceeded, not merely to put down insurrection as it rose, but to cut off its root. This he attained in 1276–1282, by the destruction of Llewelyn and the erection of the castles of Flint, Denbigh, Ruthin, Conway, Beaumaris, Caernarvon, and Harlech, and the restoration or recovery of those of Hawarden, Rhuddlan, Eulo, Chirk, Bere, Dinas Brân, the tower of Dolbadarn, and some others.

Next, as occasion served, he reduced the Marcher prerogatives, of which a very memorable instance occurred about 1292, when he took advantage of a petty war between De Clare and De Bohun, on the borders of Morganwg, to confiscate the estates of both, which he then regranted, withholding their most objectionable privileges. At the same time, by engaging in the Scottish wars, he both drew from Wales her best men and employed them in the service of England and opened to the Marchers a safe field for their military prowess.

Ralph, the first English Mortimer, died seized of above one hundred and thirty manors, of which sixty-nine lay in Hereford and Salop. Hugh, his son, held also the castles of Cleobury and Bridgenorth, and was active in opposition to Henry II., who laid siege at once to his three castles and so brought him to terms. He died in penitence as a canon of Wigmore abbey in 1185, having confirmed and much augmented his father’s grants thereto. He was buried before the high altar. Lord Hugh is reputed to have built the castles of Caermarthen, Mapudrith, and Cymaron, whichever those latter may be, in South Wales, and therefore may well have been the author of the Norman work still to be traced around the outer ward of Wigmore.

Roger, his son, seems to have found full employment in keeping down the Welsh. He died 1215, and was succeeded by his son Hugh.

Hugh, the fourth lord, adhered to King John. In his time Llewelyn attended a conference at Wigmore. He held for the king the castles of Stratton-dale and Holgot in Salop. He died from wounds received in a tournament, 1227; and was succeeded by his brother.

Ralph, fifth lord, flourished in the first half of the reign of Henry III., very turbulent on the Marches. He built, in Melenydd, the castles of Keventles and Knoclas, and to them added a social strength, marrying dark Gwladys, Llewelyn’s daughter, widow of Reginald de Braose. He died 1246.

Roger, his son, sixth lord, took a lead in Welsh affairs, but with no great success. Llewelyn took four of his castles, Melenydd, Keventles, Radnor, and another. He adhered to Henry, fought at Northampton, and had to flee from Lewes. He aided in the flight of Prince Edward from Hereford, brought him to Wigmore, had a command at Evesham, and for his services received the forfeited estates of the earldom of Oxford, opposing on that account the wise restoration proposed by the Dictum de Kenilworth. It was he who at that celebrated castle held the famous tournament, in honour of which the great gatehouse, it is thought, gained its name of Mortimer Tower. It has been supposed that he rebuilt the castle of Wigmore, but most of the work now seen seems of a rather later date. He died in 1282–3, and, said his epitaph at Wigmore—

Edmund, seventh lord, eldest surviving son, succeeded, and commenced his career by attacking the Welsh at Builth, and receiving and transmitting Llewelyn’s head to the king. As some suspicion attached to his loyalty owing to his Welsh blood, he was particularly active in quelling the disturbances that followed on the death of the prince, and it was in putting down one of them in 1303–4, also at Builth, that he received a wound of which he soon after died at Wigmore.

Roger, eighth lord, styled Lord Mortimer of Wigmore, created Earl of March in 1328; served both in Ireland and Scotland. He was governor of Builth Castle, took Cardiff from Hugh le Despenser, and had a grant of Clun. He joined the party of Thomas of Lancaster against Edward II., had a narrow escape for his life while in prison, and in gratitude built St. Peter’s Chapel in the outer ward of Ludlow Castle. In 1322, after the battle of Boroughbridge, he fled to France, and the king seized on Wigmore, causing an inventory to be drawn up of its contents by John de Cherleton, the keeper. There were springholds, the artillery of the age, cross-bows, English and Oriental armour and weapons, a chess-board and a board for talles and draughts, five peacocks in the courtyard, and grain and cattle in quantity. On the earl’s return, followed his intimacy with the “she-wolf of France,” his acquisition of a prodigious number of manors in England, Wales, and Ireland; his seizure at Nottingham Castle, his attainder, and his execution by hanging in 1330. It seems probable that this lord rebuilt the castle, superseding the Norman work by that, in the Decorated style, which still remains.

Edmund, his son, did not recover the earldom. He died young, a few months after his father, in 1331, leaving a son, a minor.

Roger, tenth lord, who succeeded, had livery of Wigmore Castle before he came of age. He obtained the reversal of the attainder and the restoration of the earldom of March in 1352. He served Edward III. in France, recovered much of the Welsh property, including Ludlow and other estates coming by his grandmother, the heiress of Genville; and finally died 1360, being then commander of the English forces in Burgundy.

Edmund, eleventh lord and third Earl of March, his son, succeeded. His abilities were early turned to account by Edward, who employed him while under age in negotiating a peace with France, and afterwards as Lieutenant of Ireland. He married Philippa, heiress of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and thus maintained the ancient honours and influence of his name. He died at Cork 1381.

Roger, his eldest son, became fourth Earl of March. He was by Richard II. made Lieutenant of Ireland, and by descent from the Duke of Clarence declared heir of the Crown. His service was entirely in Ireland, where he was slain. He was followed by Edmund, his son.

Edmund, fifth and last Earl of March, was regarded with excessive jealousy by Henry IV., as heir to the throne, and was kept, during his reign, under surveillance. Henry V., however, employed him in Normandy, and in the next reign he, like his immediate forefathers, became Lieutenant of Ireland. He died 1425, aged twenty-four years, and with him ended the male line of Mortimer of Wigmore.

Among the castles returned as held by him, at his death, in the Marches, were Blaenlevenny, Builth, Clifford, Dinas by Talgarth, Dolveren, Denbigh, Knoclas, Kevenles, Ludlow, Montgomery, Norton, Nerberth, Raidrey, Radnor, Usk, and Wigmore.

Richard, Duke of York, as his sister’s son, was heir of the vast estates of the Mortimers, and transmitted them to his son, Edward IV., when all became merged in the Crown. It was from the Honour of Wigmore that Edward raised most of the power that enabled him to defeat Owen Tudor at no great distance from the castle, and still nearer to Mortimer’s Cross. The castle remained in the Crown till granted away by Elizabeth. In 1601 it was purchased by Thomas Harley, and in 1643 dismantled by the Parliamentary forces, since which it has been a gradually diminishing ruin.

THE CASTLE.

The tract of high and wooded land which lies towards the Radnorshire border, between the waters of the Teme and the Lugg, converges and descends towards the east until it forms a long spit or spur of rock which terminates in the knoll now occupied by the parish church of Wigmore. This ridge—straight, steep, and well defined—is bounded on the south by a narrow valley, down which descends a brook from the high ground of Wigmore Rolls, to fall, just below the church, into the Allcox brook. To the north the ridge is still more strongly protected by the broad expanse that probably gave its termination to the name of the place, and is still called, by reduplication, Wigmore moor and lake, and Leinthal lake; formerly, as their names import, watery tracts, and which are still alternately drained and flooded by the united channels of the Clun and the Teme on their way to Ludlow.

Low on the ridge, and astride upon and occupying its whole breadth, is what remains of the castle. Those who selected the spot were attracted by an immense depression, clear, sharp, and steep, as if cut by art, which here traverses the ridge, and cuts off its eastern portion from the higher and broader ground to the west. Upon the eastern verge of this ravine is piled up a mound of earth, in form conical and about 30 feet high, above its rocky base, though 100 feet or more above the bottom of the ravine. The mound is about 30 feet diameter at its flat top. It is probable that when this was formed the natural ravine was slightly deepened, and on the near side rendered steeper by art.

Close east of the mound, and above 40 feet below its top, is a roughly oval area, about 100 feet east and west by 50 feet north and south, encircled by a bank of earth, outside of which was a ditch, which included also the mound, and was probably the work thrown up by King Edward, and so gallantly held against the Danes. It is very strong, the ground falling away steeply on every side, and especially to the north and west. Upon the mound stood the Norman shell keep; the oval contained within a wall, most of which remains, was the inner ward. The mound and its appended oval stood within, and partly on the edge of a far larger area, which included the slopes, and extended nearly to the base of the hill towards the south and south-east, and on those sides protected the citadel. Towards the north and the west the steepness of the ground rendered a second line of defence unnecessary, and the mound and its oval formed there a part of the outer enceinte. This second area was also covered by a ditch which descended from the south side of the mound, and from the north-east part of the oval, and thus formed the outer ward of the castle, in which probably were pastured the cattle driven off by the Danes. The Normans enclosed this also within a wall. This ward was covered by a deep and wide ditch, wholly artificial; and this, again, at one point, by a second ditch across the ridge, towards the south. Within the outer ward, attached to the southern and south-eastern slope of the inner ward, was an enclosure of moderate area, taken, of course, out of the outer ward. The earthworks of this are slight, and it seems to be wholly of Norman origin, and intended as a middle ward.

Thus, then, the original work was composed of a mound with a deep ravine to its west, and placed on the edge of, and in part within, an oval area on its east, the whole encircled by a common ditch. Then, as the mound stood on the edge of the inner ward, so the mound and inner ward together stood on the edge of the outer ward, which covered them to the south and east, and included an area strong indeed, but which required a considerable garrison to defend it. The outermost and partial ditch, as well as the middle ward, were probably later works.

The Norman who first took possession of these formidable works evidently laid his additions upon the English lines, either he or his successor superseding the timber palisades by walls of masonry. Upon the summit of the mound he built, as the foundations still show, a circular or polygonal tower as a keep. From thence a curtain wall sprang from its opposite sides and encircled the small eastern area, forming the inner ward. The wall was so placed that it became a revetment to the old bank, which thus took a place as a sort of ramp within the area. The apex of the area, that is, the end opposite to the mound, was capped by what appears to have been a round tower, of which only a heap of ruin remains. North of this, the curtain, which was the outer wall, is still seen to be of considerable strength. What remains is about 6 feet thick and 30 feet high, and is strengthened outside by a square mural buttress, or bastion. To the south a large window-opening and some cross-walls indicate a domestic building. At the south-west angle, next to the mound, is a fragment of a lofty tower containing a well-stair. This marks the junction of one end of the outer curtain with the wall of the inner ward, as the ruined round tower does of its other end. Near this, in the south wall, much choked with rubbish, is an opening with a low, pointed arch, once the gateway between the inner and the outer ward, and which, combined with various indications to be observed in the remaining fragments of the curtain and its tower, shows that, whatever may have been the Norman defences of this ward, they were removed and replaced by what is now seen in the Decorated period.

The tower, of which a tall fragment remains on the south-western side of the inner ward, marks the point of junction between the wall of that ward, the keep, and the wall of the outer ward. This latter wall, descending the steep natural slope, protects the inner ward gate from the west, and shows what appears to have been a postern, and beyond it a rectangular mural tower of bold projection, and marked outside by a bold cordon above its base. This is evidently an original Norman tower. Beyond it, being the southern wall of the ward, the Norman work is distinctly seen. The wall was in process of being rebuilt, and its imperfect junction with the new work is apparent. Of this later date is a curious large rectangular building, on the wall, of bold projection, and divided by a cross-wall into an eastern and a western chamber. It was of two floors, and below them a basement which has been vaulted over and fitted with exterior steps and doorways in the Perpendicular period. The building itself is early and excellent Decorated, as shown especially by the form and detail of a pair of two-light windows. From this tower the curtain, of the same date, extends to the great gatehouse which is to the south-east. This is much broken. It is rectangular, with a portal-vault below and two chambers above; one for the working of the outer, and one for that of the inner portcullis. The rib of the central portal remains, with a drop-arch and a square portcullis groove. In the inner chamber is seen part of a large fireplace with a good Decorated hood. Only one portal-arch remains, but from its position it is pretty clear that there were three. The archway is much choked with rubbish. From the great gatehouse the curtain curves sharply towards the north, enclosing the east face of the ward. Upon it is a bold half-round tower, of which the lower part, well seen from the ditch, and probably solid, is very perfect. It rises only to the level of the ward. Thence the curtain turns the north-east corner of the ward to the remains of a polygonal tower, or more probably a square tower with the angles boldly chamfered; and from this it ascended the slope so as to join the inner ward at its north-east angle, where the traces have been mentioned of a large and probably round tower; and thus is completed the circuit of the outer ward.

The middle ward is less easily traced. It seems to have been concentric with the outer ward; like it, appended to the south-east face of the inner ward, but of much smaller area, and much of that area occupied by the steep hill-side.

The most considerable remains of its wall are towards the south-east, and it probably had, on this side, a ditch of its own. The hall and other of the domestic buildings seem to have stood here, on the level part, judging from the very rude outline of the foundations.

Besides these defences, along the east front of the works of the outer ward is a second ditch, carried across the ridge, here very low. Between the two ditches is a platform of no great breadth, the rear of which forms the counterscarp of the outer ward ditch, while the front is scarped into three solid half-round bastions of earth, the outline of which is followed by the counterscarp of the outer ditch. The figure of this earthwork and the freshness of the cutting show that the whole is a late addition, probably by the latter Mortimers, to cover the foot of the outer wall, and, no doubt, strongly palisaded. Again, in advance about a hundred yards on this front, and lower down the hill, a deep ditch has been cut across the ridge, and its contents thrown inwards as a high and steep bank. Again, in advance of this line of defence, the hill, for 60 yards or 70 yards, is scarred with other earthworks of an uncertain and subordinate character and purpose, but evidently old.

A good deal of masonry remains standing in various parts of the castle area, and, no doubt, the main foundations of the whole fortress could, with a little labour, be exposed. Although most of this masonry is of Decorated date, there is evidence that a good deal of it is built upon the Norman outlines; and probably, if search were made, a good deal of buried Norman work would be exposed; and it would be shown, as indeed it now is, to some extent, that the Norman castle covered pretty much the area of the present works.

With the exception of the Norman tower and wall above mentioned, the masonry above ground seems of Decorated date and of excellent character. Enough remains to show, that with the slight exceptions already mentioned, the whole castle was rebuilt in the Decorated period in the earlier part of the fourteenth century. The work is of a very substantial character, and the appearance of the castle when complete, with its large enceinte, deep ditches, and lofty inner ward and keep, must have been grand. The main approach lay from the east. The road branched off from the Watling-street and was carried along the south side of the ridge, between the high ground and the brook, on a sort of shelf commanded by the works along the ridge.

It is evident that the earliest fortress was confined to the mound and the small area immediately attached to it, but that the defences of the outer area were speedily added to provide space for flocks, herds, and herdsmen, and a sufficient garrison. The defences, in so thickly wooded a country, would probably be of timber.

Whether the earliest Norman lord erected works in masonry is doubtful; probably not. Probably these were added by his successor at the end of the eleventh or early in the twelfth century. So protected it must have been very nearly impregnable. The walls of the keep and inner ward were quite out of the reach of any catapult, ram, or temporary wooden tower, owing to the steepness of the ground outside. Probably also the wet character of the low ground to the north and south would effectually cover these fronts, as the ravine would the west front. To the east the ground was firm and the country around open, but here the artificer’s defences were multiplied.

The parish church was no doubt built by the Mortimers, though it contains no record of them either in tombs, arms, or inscriptions. It is of large size, and much of the north wall of the nave at its west end is of herring-bone masonry, and an unusually extensive example of it. The opposite or south wall, though faced inside and out with modern plaster, exhibits, high up, a Norman loop, and is evidently of the same, rather early Norman date. It is curious that a rural church of the Norman period should have been laid out with walls so high and a span so considerable. Possibly this was intended for the seat of the religious house which Ralph, the first Mortimer, founded before his death, and which was known as Wigmore Abbey.