Europe · United Kingdom · Herefordshire
Goodrich Castle
The story
History of Goodrich Castle
Goodrich Castle is a ruined medieval castle north of the village of Goodrich in Herefordshire, England, controlling a key location between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye.
United Kingdom · Herefordshire
- Built
- 12th century
- Era
- Medieval
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Region
- Herefordshire
- UNESCO
- —
- Coordinates
- 51.877, -2.616
In depth
The fuller history
Goodrich Castle became the scene of one of the most desperate sieges during the English Civil War in the 1640s, which saw the rival factions of Parliament and the King vie for power across England. In the years before the war, there had been a resurgence of building at the castle. Richard Tyler, a local lawyer, became the tenant and constable of the castle, and during the early 1630s there had been considerable renovation work.
In June, Birch returned and besieged the castle itself. He found that it was too strong to be taken by direct attack, and instead began laying down trenches to allow him to bring artillery to bear on the structure. Parliamentary attacks broke the pipe carrying water into the castle, and the cisterns in the courtyard were destroyed by exploding shells, forcing the garrison to depend on the older castle well.
Key dates
- 1120It is uncertain, however, precisely who was responsible for this rebuilding or the date of the work, which may have been between 1120 and 1176.
- 1324Valence's son, Aymer de Valence built an additional line of outer defences before his death in 1324, including the external barbican, inspired by that at the Tower of London, and for which the earlier Valence barbican…
- 1460John Talbot died in the Lancastrian defeat at Northampton in 1460, and the castle was forfeited and transferred to the Yorkist William Herbert.
- 1782Goodrich Castle was one of the ruins he captured in his book Observations on the River Wye in 1782, writing that the castle was an example of the "correctly picturesque" landscape.
- 1828The new bridge over the river Wye, built in 1828, and the 1873 railway line added to the number of visitors.
- 1949The adjacent Victorian castle of Goodrich Court was demolished in 1949, restoring the original landscape.
Historical summary drawn from Wikipedia. Read the full article.
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