Hereford Castle

Description

There are grounds for thinking that there was already a castle in Hereford in 1066. The post-Conquest castle consisted of a motte, now entirely destroyed, and a Kite-shaped bailey to the east, surrounded on three sides by a moat and on the fourth by the R Wye. Leland described the castle as having being one of the fairest, strongest and largest in England, the walls 'highe and stronge and full of great towres'. The bailey with its enclosing banks is now a recreation ground; the rampart on the north rises 21.5 ft above the water level of the castle-pool (part of the moat still filled with water) and beyond the moat to the east the ground outside is 29 ft below the top of the rampart. The ditch has been obliterated by a modern road on the east and there is only a low rampart on the south towards the river. On the west a slight scarp indicates the position of the ditch between the bailey and the former motte. The curtain wall and buildings within the castle were mainly 13th c although part of the wall is mentioned as being in need of repair in the L 12th c. It was much damaged in the Civil War, and what remained was mostly demolished in 1660. The house at the SW angle of the bailey was long used as the city Bridewell and has been largely reconstructed in modern times, but the north front retains a doorway of c. 1300. (PastScape ref. HKW and RCHME)

Comments

The form of the remains that survive are an embanked square (kite shaped) enclosure, with the north-east corner raised up to make Hoggs Mount. This form is not dissimilar to some Saxon burhs (Wareham; Wallingford) and Oakham Castle. The suggestion may be that the Saxon castle was the whole surviving bailey with the the lost motte being a later addition.