Richard Strongbow de Clare - and family

Chepstow Castle (Striguil)

   The de Clare family was rich, powerful and extremely prominent in the Welsh Marches of Medieval times and one of the most interesting of them was Richard Strongbow. Confusingly (and I sometimes feel it was done deliberately in order to muddle me!) they called alternate eldest sons Richard or Gilbert.
   The Richard who interests us at this moment was nicknamed Strongbow - but so was his father! Despite the tendency at this period to accord a cognomen that commented on some physical peculiarity (Rufus, Wryneck or Curthose - short arse  - springs to mind) neither of these men seems to have had oddly shaped legs.
The nickname was probably a mistranscription in a Latin entry in the Domesday Exchequer annals of the early 14th century which appended the word "Stranghose" to his given name. The chronicler thought this meant "foreign leggings" but it probably referred to Striguil (Chepstow) which could also be spelled Strangboge, Stranboue or Stranbohe. Clear? No, neither am I, but this nickname stuck from then on.

  He was born in 1130 in Tonbridge, Kent, and died on 20th April 1176, aged 45/6, in Dublin, having been master of Chepstow, planner of Usk town and Governor of Ireland. Gilbert I (they are often given Roman numerals because of the problem we have noted) and his brother Roger had been part of the hunting party when William Rufus was killed - or murdered - and were brothers-in-law of the man who did the shooting, Walter Tirel. Whether or not they were part of a plot, they were rewarded by Henry I (who claimed the throne in indecent haste) with extensive grants of lands throughout England and Wales. Male members of the family made judicious marriages until they were amongst the most powerful magnates of the kingdom.
   Our Richard succeeded to the lordship of Striguil, aged only 18, and supported King Stephen against Matilda for the last 5 years of his reign. The next Henry, Matilda's son, his new liege-lord, regarded him with suspicion and failed to confirm him in the important title of Earl of Pembroke. At that time, he was, as Orpen said "a man who, having been brought up to greatness, had fallen on evil days and who therefore was all the more ready to endeavour to repair his fortunes by a bold adventure in another country." This was the Norman occupation of Ireland.

 
  In August 1166, Dermot Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, was banished and later landed in Bristol with his followers to seek support from Henry II to recover his position.The King, who had designs on Ireland, gave him letters patent but Richard Strongbow was alone in offering military support - in return for promises to marry Dermot's daughter, Eva, and inherit Leinster after his death. (I will not trouble our heads with the variant spellings of all these names!) However, he did not go immediately and then Henry forbade the mission. Yet, since Strongbow was on the point of departure, he set off despite this prohibition and Henry seized Striguil. Richard landed in Waterford with 200 knights and 1000 light troops, some recruited in Gwent. They took Waterford and Dublin but Henry saw his own ambitions threatened by this success and did a deal with Richard who ceded some gains but kept Leinster. By August 1173, Henry trusted him enough to make him Governor of Ireland. At about this time the stone keep of Usk castle was built and the charter for its Priory was granted.

Usk Castle

   In 1189 his daughter, Isabella, married one of the most powerful and renowned men of the age, William, Earl Marshall of England, who strengthened both Striguil and Usk castles adding to the latter the dominating curtain walls. Strongbow's tomb is not local to Gwent despite such claims. He was described by Geraldus Cambrensis: "His complexion was somewhat ruddy and his skin freckled; he had grey eyes, feminine features, a weak voice and short neck. For the rest, he was tall in stature and a man of great generosity and of a courteous nature."
    He was also an ancestor of the American Bush political family.

To read more about his influence in Monmouthshire you can click on Chepstow Castle, Usk Castle or the planting of Usk Town. There is also a post about the illustrious William Marshal.

William Marshal: lord of Chepstow Castle

William's oak gates at Chepstow Castle

Who was he?
   Born in about 1147, into comparative obscurity as the son of a minor baron, William Marshal rose to become landowner of immense estates in Britain and Normandy and was the renowned and trusted servant and sometimes regent of 5 English monarchs.
   He acquired Chepstow Castle - then called Striguil - through his marriage, somewhat late in life at 43, to the rich Isabel de Clare, with whom he had 5 sons and 5 daughters but he did not inherit the title of  Earl of Pembroke immediately from her father, Richard de Clare, (Strongbow).
    We know about him because of a long poem to be called when popularised: L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal, comte de Striguil et de Pembroke, discovered by a young French scholar, Paul Meyer. Its 19,000 lines are not entirely impartial as they portray him as the perfect knight, sidelining any dubious events or actions, but they give a fascinating and detailed account of his life. He was handsome, strong and a mighty fighter and appears to have been a faithful husband, there being no recorded illegitimate children.

Early career
   William's father veered from supporting King Stephen to backing the Empress Matilda, during which time of The Anarchy, William was used as a hostage by Stephen and was threatened with being hanged or launched, aged 5, from a type of trebuchet. Stephen relented and there are tales of his playing a game of straw knights with the lad who seems even then to have had charm. Being landless, he was sent to the household of the Norman baron, William de Tancarville, to be trained as a knight, learning concepts of chivalry, how to behave in court and some literature and religion - though possibly not reading and writing. Injured in a skirmish, his life was saved by an unknown helper who gave him a loaf with bandages concealed inside to keep his wound clean: Eleanor of Aquitaine then ransomed him, impressed with his bravery. However, he had earned the nickname "gasteviande" or greedy guts, not a particularly romantic image, although he was knighted in 1166.
   Much of his early life was consumed by tournaments which were not the more sedate jousts we may connect with chivalry but deadly staged battles, sometimes chaotic, which led to a victor receiving money and valuable prizes. This practice in becoming a preudhomme, a skilled and ideal warrior, led to his being the tutor-in-arms of the boy known as the Young King, the good-looking but extravagant son of King Henry II, who soon shared his fanatical love of tournaments. (It was the refusal of Thomas a Becket to crown this minor during his father's lifetime that was part of the fatal quarrel between the two.)
   One of the first of several dilemmas of loyalty occurred when a conspiracy to overthrow Henry II tested William since the opponents included the Young King, 2 of his other sons and his wife, Queen Eleanor. Marshal remained with the Young King whom he possibly knighted in 1173. Such problems were a part of his later life also when allegiances conflicted and his dual motives of service and material gain also collided.

Middle years
   The Young King died an agonising death from dysentery, witnessed by William, who then fulfilled the youth's vow to take the cross and venture on a crusade. Little is known of his 2 years in the Holy Land or of his true piety but the whole expedition was so disastrous a failure that the Pope dropped dead of shock and grief on hearing of it.
   On his return, William became counsellor to Henry II and as such was at the side of the most powerful man in Europe, at the very centre of the Angevin world and involved with the great travelling circus of Henry's court. He thrived there as well as on the tournament field because of an impassivity of manner and glacial, diplomatic composure. His importance was sufficient for him to begin to assemble his own mesnie, an entourage of knights loyal to him but, we must remember, not necessarily conforming to modern romanticised ideas of chivalry. There was little rescuing of damsels in distress nor protection of the vulnerable. No dragons were slain.
   It is not clear whether the gift on marriage of Chepstow (Striguil) was freely offered or was an agreed price for continued allegiance but it came along with massive estates on the Welsh Marches (including Usk Castle), Normandy and Ireland, making William a great baron by the time that Henry died, knowing that his son John was a traitor. William began works of improvement to the castle in Chepstow in late 1189 or early 1190, adding to the existing stone keep a formidable double-towered stone gatehouse, technically advanced for the period with 2 portcullises and the famous oak gates which can still be seen on a staircase.
   Whilst King Richard I was on the 3rd Crusade, William defended his territory, but the most ambiguous part of his royal attachments came with the accession of King John, whom he rushed to greet from Chepstow, missing the funeral of his own brother. From then on he served a deeply flawed monarch who was incapable of meeting the requirements of office. Quite apart from a controversial marriage to the very young Isabella of Angouleme, with whom he he is reported to have spent disproportionate amounts of time in bed, John became infamous for mistreating captives at Mirebeau, behaved appallingly to the young (probably murdered) Arthur, failed in war and lost most of the Angevin empire. William Marshal fell in and out of favour with him but obliged in handing over at least one of his sons to this unpredictable man as a "ward" but more likely a hostage. By contrast, Matilda, wife of William de Braoze, had bravely refused to do this with her sons. One source of conflict was William's slipping over to France to do homage to Philip Augustus for his lands in Normandy.

   In 1206 he withdrew to Chepstow to reorient his career as a Marcher baron in his own right and establish control over a Wales which was a patchwork of independent rival princedoms, thought by the Anglo-Normans to be so wild, adulterous, incestuous and violent that they deserved any brutality in return. To them Wales was merely a valuable resource and the Marches were forcibly settled post-1066, including sites connected by waterways - though in time there was intermarriage and interaction. William left Chepstow for West Wales and Ireland on several occasions.
   Importantly he was closely involved in the forging of Magna Carta and its reissuing in the years following 1215. He was by now a great established figure and probably worked in harmony with Stephen Langton. Two thirds of the barons renounced King John but William remained loyal for some unknown reason, although his son joined the baronial party.
   After the death of John he pledged full support for the claim to the throne of the small child Henry, which brought with it the challenge of rekindling the fortunes of the Angevins, defeating the barons and saving the heir whom he promised with resounding rhetoric to carry on his back "from country to country ... even if I have to beg for my bread." He was now around 70 and Guardian of the Realm with an illustrious reputation and wealth of experience - which did not stop Llewellyn ap Iorwerth and inhabitants of Caerleon from going on the rampage on neighbouring territory.

 
Death and afterwards
   Knowing he was ill, he relinquished authority: all the kings he had served (the Young King Henry, Henry II, Richard I, John and Henry III) died sudden or tortured deaths. His son William was to receive Chepstow amongst other territories as inheritance and his 4th son was promised Goodrich Castle. After a slow death, possibly from cancer, on 14th May 1219, much mourned, his body was taken to Westminster Abbey for a vigil. He was interred in the Temple Church in London, because he was a knight of that Order, where his effigy can be visited today. His pall was the rich cloth he had brought back from the Holy Land in 1186.
   It is hard to summarise his character since we cannot see some of his behaviour in terms of the idealistic image of knighthood we may nowadays connect with Arthurian legend: he was intent on material gain and capable of brutal conduct but he was undoubtedly brave, charismatic, popular and loyal. His story is outstanding and redolent of the mores and aspirations of the tumultuous period through which he lived. Richard I described him as "molt corteis", most courtly. and Stephen Langton called him "the best knight that ever lived." The designation Earl Marshal is now an established hereditary title.

 You may like to visit the castles connected with William Marshal: Chepstow Castle, Goodrich Castle and Usk Castle. The story of Matilda, wife of William de Braoze is told in my post about him (he was an associate of William) and there is more on the trebuchet and perrier - which was the precise weapon threatened to launch the boy - on my post about weapons in castles on the Welsh Marches.

Ludlow Castle: from Conquest to Comus

Location and approach
   Ludlow is halfway along a line drawn from Bristol and Chester and on the course of the medieval road from Chester to Gloucester. The town and castle are situated on a ridge protected on 3 sides by rivers at the very centre of the Welsh March.
  As you approach the castle from the town - noting the absence of the usual chain stores as you go - you are looking over the fence to the Outer Bailey and a large lawn, at one time used as a tilt yard and later in WWII by American servicemen for baseball whilst the tower was a lookout post for the Allied forces.
  The original and more fascinating Norman castle lies beyond and comprises the Inner Bailey plus another innermost structure. Altogether it measures about 5 acres and has been described by English Heritage as "one of England's finest castle sites" and a "remarkably complete multi-phase complex."

Ownership
   Because of the long history of the castle and its involvement in many strifes and hostilities, it has changed ownership so many time that its vicissitudes would fill up this article. I will therefore summarise.
   Not mentioned as such in the Domesday Book, Ludlow Castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy after the Conquest, circa 1075, as one of the first stone castles in England. During the 12th century war between Stephen and Matilda it became a pawn in the political game. The next most important owner was Roger Mortimer who acquired it in 1301 and whose family held it for over 100 years. Henry IV was the possessor when the war with Owain Glyndwr broke out.
   In 1425 Richard, Duke of York, inherited it and it became an important symbol of Yorkist authority during the Wars of the Roses, although it was more of a safe retreat than a central player. On his death it passed into crown ownership with Edward IV, 1461. Hosting the Council of the Marches of Wales, it became virtually the capital of Wales and, by the seventeenth century, was luxuriously appointed. It never quite recovered from the effects of the Civil War and the degeneration of the Council, although partial restoration and landscaping were carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Layout
  In the Outer Bailey are the Castle House, the Beacon Tower, the 16th century Porter's Lodge, prison, stable block and the 13th century Mortimer's Tower. The walls are linked to the medieval town walls and you will see different types of stone throughout ranging from Norman greenish-grey siltstone rubble to ashlar and quoin features carved from red sandstone.

The remains of the chapel

   The Inner Bailey has a gatehouse bearing the coats-of-arms of Elizabeth I and Sir Henry Sidney and 4 other towers. Passing through the gatehouse you will see the most striking feature: the 12th century chapel nave of St. Mary Magdalene, a circular Romanesque structure of sandstone inspired in design by the shrine at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is very unusual, there being only 3 other examples in the country - such round churches are usually connected to the Templars. Here you will find also: the Solar block, the Great Hall, the Great Chamber block (the latter built by Mortimer and forming the popular tripartite arrangement of the 14th century), the kitchen, gardrobe (loo) block and Tudor Lodgings. The carved corbel heads may be Edward II and Queen Isabella.

Main events in order of importance - in my opinion
   Edward IV abolished the ancient office of Warden of the Marches and established instead, in 1472, the Court of the Lord President and Council of the Marches of Wales which became much more efficient in enforcing authority than the previous system. This dominated the district in which Mortimer had held power and Edward reinforced this by sending his eldest son, now termed Prince of Wales, to the castle in order to win the affections of the locals. The Council existed in some splendour until 1688 and had a number of dignitaries with imposing titles such as a Clerk of the Signet. After the Restoration it became corrupt and scandalous and was closed down by William III on 25th July 1689.
   Other residents were Edward, Prince of Wales, heir to Edward IV, and his mother in 1483 before Edward and his brother Richard were imprisoned in the Tower of London and vanished from the record. It was in Ludlow Castle that the young prince received the news on 14th April 1483 of his father's sudden death five days earlier.
   Prince Arthur (so named after King Arthur by his father) elder brother of Henry VIII was married at 15 to Catherine of Aragon first and went to Ludlow in 1501 for his honeymoon and to live in state before his death there.
   Walter de Lacy I original owner and builder was rewarded by William fitzOsbern, the Conqueror's right hand man, with 163 manors, 91 in Herefordshire alone but died by falling from scaffolding while superintending the building of St Guthlac's church in Hereford in 1085. This goes to show it does not pay to take too close an interest in construction projects.
   In the seige of  1139, the Beacon Tower was in legend the scene of an act of bravery and promptitude by King Stephen: a grappling hook had caught on the coat of the son of the King of Scotland, Henry, and would have hauled him off his horse into captivity but Stephen leaped to the rescue.
   Mary Tudor lived here for 19 months between 1525 and 1528 overseeing the Council of the Marches and a small sum of £5 was spend in restoration to prepare for her.

An exciting tale
   Son of another Hugh de Lacy, Walter, set off to reclaim Ludlow Castle but Joce de Dinan with 500 knights and archers plus loyal townsfolk fell upon them and drove them back. Joce himself pursued but was accosted by 3 knights and was in deadly peril. Enter his ward, Fulk le fitzWarin, who had been left behind in the castle, teased by Hawise, de Dinan's daughter, as a coward: protected by a rusty helmet and armed with a huge Danish axe, he rode to the rescue on a clumsy cart-horse. He cut through the skull of one knight and the backbone of the other. Joce sprang up and together they seized Walter de Lacy and the surviving knight Arnold de Lisle and imprisoned them in a castle tower.

   Joce was an unduly lenient jailor and allowed them to receive visits from the ladies of the household: Marion de la Bruere fell in love with the handsome de Lisle and helped them escape using a rope made of towels and napkins. Hawise married her hero but Marion, feigning illness, did not go with the bridal party to Hereford. She let her lover in through the same window of previous escape but de Lisle, with a friend, climbed a leather ladder to the trysting place with a different motive. Beneath were horsemen and foot-soldiers - and 100 men mounted up the ladder and threw the sentinel into the ditch. Marion learned of this at dawn and, overcome with remorse, killed her lover and jumped from the window, breaking her neck in the fall. The town was burned by the invaders and many inhabitants were massacred.
  This tale is unencumbered by too many dates (or facts?) and comes from only one source that I have found but it is a juicy one and I suspend any disbelief in excitement.

Less thrilling but important
   In 1634 at Michaelmas, Milton's masque Comus, was performed in the Great Hall for John Egerton, Earl of Bridgewater. It celebrates chastity, a virtue embodied in the Lady who debates it with her wicked captor, Comus. He would seduce her by any devious means if he possibly could. Yet, as Milton has said of chastity: "She that has that is clad in complete steel," and nothing untoward happens - unfortunately. Astute readers will have noticed that this statement is both untrue and sexist - though beautifully expressed.

Your visit
   Those same canny readers will also have perceived that you cannot get to Ludlow on a Monmouthshire bus but we are extending our microadventures by the train which goes regularly from Newport station through attractive countryside to Ludlow. For opening hours click here. There is an audio guide available and Ludlow is famous as a gastronomic centre with plenty of CAKE and other calorific opportunities.
   Another monument with many links to English history is Goodrich Castle.  Chepstow Castle and nearby Raglan Castle are both stunning and on Monmouthshire bus routes.
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Goodrich Castle

Position
  Goodrich Castle is of Norman origin and is situated at a key location between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye. Perhaps for this reason it seems to have been affected by the strife concerned with the English monarchy more than Welsh castles nearby, some of which had a relatively quiet time until the Civil War.
   Poised on the River Wye, near an ancient crossing point, its architecture was influenced by defensive needs and, once ruined, it became part of the itinerary of seekers after the picturesque. For some reason it now seems to me to be less famous than Raglan or Chepstow, although just as magnificent.
Construction
    It is possible that the earthworks around the castle were part of a hillfort dating from the Iron Age and the history of the castle itself begins with an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 as belonging to Godric Mappeson, hence the name, Goodrich. Nothing of the probably wooden original survives. The area was part of the Welsh Marches, a group of territories granted to Norman nobles by William I to help keep the turbulent Welsh in order.
   The comparatively small keep (sometimes called Macbeth's Tower) in light grey sandstone is early Norman and had one smallish chamber on each floor measuring 18ft by 15ft (5.5 by 4.5 m) with thick walls and a mound around it for defence - the lower courses of stonework are still rougher than the rest. Around the keep is a virtually square structure guarded by 3 towers built during the 1280's from darker sandstone. These were protected on the vulnerable South and East sides by huge spurs which were intended to prevent undermining.
   In the 4th corner is the gatehouse where you enter, with one tower larger than the other and previously guarded by portcullises, murder holes and a drawbridge. Before you go into it you will cross the barbican which followed a similar design to that in the Tower of London and which had its own gate so that attackers could be trapped there. There is a chapel included here which was rare: the altar may have pre-dated the castle.
    The bailey had a number of luxurious large domestic facilities including a Great Hall, a Solar (living area from the French "sol"), kitchen, buttery (from French "bouteille") and pantry. The hall, overlooking the Wye had huge windows and fireplace. The living quarters were lavish as can be deduced from the unusual number of "garderobes" (latrines) for the comfort of inhabitants. We also know this from the detailed financial accounts of Joan, Countess of Pembroke and widow of William de Valence who would have had nearly 200 people to accommodate. There is a garderobe tower, unusually large, with the ultimate upper-class facility: multiple loos which could be used by several people at the same time. (You can see the outlets into the ditch from the East Wall.)  Beyond are the ruins of the stables destroyed in the Civil War.

    An example of good living: on Easter Sunday 1297, the kitchen ended the Lenten fast of the household with 3 quarters of beef, 3 pigs, half a boar, half a salmon, all from their store, half a carcass of beef at 10 shillings, mutton at 15 pence, 9 kid at 3s 8d, 17 capons, 2 veal calves, 600 eggs and more than 24 pigeons. Some banquet!

History
   

   Because of changes of ownership over the centuries, the various parts of the castle were built and added by different people. During the 1130's, the rival supporters of Stephen and Matilda were battling for power. William de Baderon, the next owner, (why is everyone in the period called William?) passed the castle on to his son, Baderon of Monmouth. He married into the de Clare family of the Stephen faction and had to seize the castle during the fighting. The de Baderons were a relatively poor family and perhaps could not afford to build some of the usual amenities. In about 1138 Stephen masterminded the transfer of Goodrich to Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare whereas the other nobles of Hereford supported Matilda. Later, Richard de Clare (Strongbow) lost the favour of King Henry II, son of Matilda, and the castle was taken into crown hands.
   In 1203, King John transferred the castle to William Marshal, one of the greatest knights of all times, who had to defend it from Welsh attack, particularly in a famous incident in 1216 when he was forced to leave Henry III's coronation banquet in Gloucester to rush back and fortify the castle. Although no documentary evidence survives, it is likely that he significantly upgraded its defences as he was a mighty castle renovator in Pembroke, Usk and Chepstow.
   William de Valence obtained the castle by marriage to Joan de Munchensi, becoming fantastically rich thereby but being obliged to enlarge the concentric castle at enormous expense, demolishing Marshal's construction, in order to defend it against the raids of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd into English territories. By the middle of the 1320's England suffered from the oppression of the Marcher lords, the Despensers, royal favourites of King Edward II. Hugh le Despenser kidnapped the then owner, Elizabeth de Comyn, in London and imprisoned her in her own castle in Goodrich. She signed it over but then married Richard Talbot who seized it back just before Queen Isabella, the "she-wolf of France", landed in 1326 and deposed the Despensers plus her husband Edward II (whose terrible murder she may have arranged.)
   Owen Glyndwr's forces invaded the Goodrich area in 1404 and 1405 but Gilbert Talbot fought back and the threat diminished in the 15th century which meant that the domestic aspects of the castle could then be expanded. During the Wars of the Roses the Talbots supported the Lancastrians but John died in their defeat in 1460 and the castle passed to the Yorkist, William Herbert, but later came back into Talbot possession to son John (by now we are confused by Johns!)

The Civil War

   
   One of the most bitter sieges of the Civil War took place at Goodrich: Richard Tyler, a local lawyer, had become tenant and constable of the castle and major renovations had been undertaken in the early 1630's. With his support the Earl of Stamford garrisoned the castle for the Parliamentary forces until December 1643 when it was occupied by the Royalist, Sir Henry Lingen,  whose troops of 200 men with 90 horses burned surrounding areas. In 1646, Colonels John Birch and Robert Kyrle, on the Parliament side, advanced from winning the Siege of Hereford and the struggle was increased by personal hatred between Birch and Lingen. Lingen set fire to the stables in the night but failed to win until later that year. He destroyed the water supply and ordered the building locally of "Roaring Meg", a massively powerful mortar capable of firing gunpowder-filled shells of 187-198 lbs in weight (85-90 kg.) This pugnacious lady now sits peacefully in the courtyard with an accessory of a pile of cannon balls nearby. Finally the Royalists surrendered having merely 4 barrels of gunpowder and 30 of beer left and marched out to the tune of "Sir Henry Lingen's Fancy". Their side left in style at Raglan also.

Comments
   In the early 16th century John Leland noted: ""They cary their prisoners to Castel Goderyce sumwhat owt of Erchynfeld, but longging to the Erle of Shrewsbyri." (Love that spelling!)  He was noting the fact that the castle was abandoned as a residence and was used for judicial purposes. Like many picturesque ruins, the castle attracted later sight-seers including William Gilpin who popularised the tourist craze in 1782 and who called the scene from the river one of the grandest views and "correctly picturesque", high praise from a man who wanted to take a mallet to Tintern Abbey to improve its appeal. Yet he managed to be grumpy about guidebooks: "full of intricate and tiresome details, and some undoubtedly incorrect."
   The early Victorian historian Theodore Fielding was moved to "solemnity that is inspired by the sight of grandeur sinking in dignity, into decay." Artists David Cox and William Callow visited and painted and William Wordsworth called it "the noblest ruin in Herefordshire", immortalising his visit in the 1798 poem: "We are Seven" inspired by meeting a little girl there. A window was added in the chapel in June 1992 to commemorate the personnel who died in service during the development of radar. RAF Halifax V9977 caught fire and crashed a mile south of the castle whilst flying a test mission in June 1942 killing all 11 on board. I feel this adds poignancy and modernity to the sense of past warfare.

A little extra
   In the early 1820's Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick wanted to buy the site but was refused: out of pique, presumably, he then built the neo-Gothic Goodrich Court next door, an act which greatly annoyed Wordsworth on his return visit since it spoilt the view. Personally, I'd love to have seen it. In fact, given a choice between a tour of Meyrick's folly and re-reading "We are Seven" ... The Court has been demolished but its gatehouse can be seen on the main road.

Your visit
  Arriving by the no 34 bus (Monmouth/Ross-on-Wye) may be less romantic than the river tour but the view of the castle as you approach still takes your breath away. There is a good shop, excellent café and toilets at the entrance (go before you go) and you can obtain a very helpful audio-guide free of charge. For prices and opening times click here. There are lovely walks in the area. Other interesting castles not too far away are Raglan Castle, Chepstow Castle and Usk Castle. Monmouth, at one end of your bus route has the castle where Henry V was born. I have merely summarised the fascinating history of Goodrich and will write in more detail about some of the people connected with it in future posts.