Note 1175 — Chapter IX · THE REIGN OF EADWARD FROM THE RETURN OF GODWINE TO THE DEATH OF EADWARD THE ÆTHELING.[921] 1052–1057. (continued 2)

I infer this from a comparison of the Chronicles, Florence, and Domesday. The Abingdon Chronicle says, “And Harald Eorl let dician ða dic abutan þæt port þa hwile.” Florence says more distinctly, “Herefordam rediens, vallo lato et alto illam cinxit, portis et seris munivit.” These accounts, as well as the probability of the case, point to a mere “vallum.” But in Domesday, 179, we read of there being a “murus” at Hereford in the time of King Eadward, which seems to imply a stone wall. Nothing is more likely than that Harold should throw up a hasty mound now, and afterwards make a more elaborate fortification, when, as I shall presently show, Hereford came under his immediate government. On the walls of Exeter and Towcester see vol. i. pp. 338, 346.