GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

Hereford Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hogg's Mount

In the civil parish of Hereford.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO51143965
Latitude 52.05263° Longitude -2.71306°

Hereford Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

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.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling        
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   Geology   LiDAR   Open Domesday  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:21:29

Home | Books | Links | Fortifications and Castles | Other Information | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact
¤¤¤¤¤