HEREFORDSHIRE
(version 1a)
 
INTRODUCTION

THE WELSH BORDER: POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
English penetration of Wales and Welsh counter-attacks involved centuries of border warfare, that continued after the date of Domesday. Offa, king of Mercia (757-796), had erected a great earthwork to define the limits of his kingdom and it is instructive to compare Offa's Dyke both with the boundary of the modern county and with the pattern of English settlement recorded in Domesday. In the north, the dyke (whose course is sometimes conjectural, sometimes incomplete) ran southwards across the highland of Clun Forest (now in Shropshire), passed through Knighton, cut across modern Radnorshire and entered Herefordshire near Knill, striking south-east past Lyonshall, Weobley and Mansell Gamage to join the River Wye near Bridge Sollers. From here Offa's boundary followed the River Wye; sometimes, especially in the south of the county and in Gloucestershire, a dyke stood proud on the crags to the east of the river. The fortification has been studied in detail by Sir Cyril Fox; see Fox, Offa's Dyke.
	By the time of the Domesday Survey, the English had made striking gains: almost the whole of Elsdon Hundred and half of "Stepleset" Hundred lie west of the dyke and north of the River Wye, while Domesday records south and west of the River Wye the English hundreds of Wormelow, Dinedor and the southern portion of Stretford, together with the Welsh districts of Ewias and Archenfield which were progressively coming under Norman influence.
	The Domesday boundary corresponds in general to that of the modern county, except in the north-west where Domesday records a number of villages (Weston, Pilleth, Cascob, Discoed, Clatterbrune, Harpton, Old Radnor and Burlingjobb) lying to the west of the modern county and in some cases west of Offa's Dyke, in what was until 1974 Radnorshire. These form a wedge-shaped projection from Herefordshire up the valleys of the Lugg and Hindwell rivers that drain Radnor Forest, where the territory of the diocese of Hereford still projects into that of St David's. In the same area, Litton, not mentioned in Domesday, to the west of Discoed, was a detached part of Herefordshire until modern times.
	These border lands seem to have seen some of the bitterest contests with the Welsh: almost all the villages were waste in 1066 and 1086. With the exception of Old Radnor and Burlingjobb, Domesday expressly places them on the 'Welsh March' together with Bradley, Titley, Little Brampton, Knill, Lower Harpton, Nash and Middleton (9,13. 24,3) which have remained in England. Old Radnor and Burlingjobb should no doubt be similarly designated.
	Domesday, however, records a subtler distinction in these border lands. Areas of long-standing English settlement, however devastated, are assessed in hides and virgates, the 5-hide unit being often apparent; but newly acquired areas (Ewias, Archenfield and lands associated with castles; see{Introduction: Castles}) are assessed in terms of ploughlands or carucates (1,48 carucates note). Thus all the areas beyond Offa's Dyke and north of the River Wye are hidated, even those later in Radnorshire, as are the Hundreds of Dinedor, Stretford and Wormelow, south of the River Wye. The same applies to the Golden or Dore Valley, even though much of it was waste and its frontier position vulnerable, as indicated by the presence of castles north and south at Clifford and Ewyas Harold; see {Introduction: Castles}).
	Except in the area of Hay-on-Wye and Clifford, little is recorded in Domesday on the west bank of the River Dore (although the Golden Valley contains eight so far unidentified places). The land rose westwards from the valley floor and will have touched the ill-defined boundary with Ewias, part of a Welsh cantref, on the point of being acquired by the Normans. Ewyas Harold castle, built on unhidated land probably gained from the Welsh under King Edward the Confessor, will have supervized the occupation of Ewias. Beyond it, land 'not in the castlery nor in the hundred' had been granted to Roger of Lacy; here his descendants were to build the castle of Ewias Lacy (now Longtown 10,2) as part of the Norman advance to the Black Mountains. Land within the mountains was no doubt soon acquired by the Lacy family for here they founded Llanthony Priory, in an area that was later in Monmouthshire. However, a detached strip, Ffwddog, stretching down into the valleys of the Grwyne Fawr and Afon Honddu rivers from the mountain ridge to the west of Llanthony, remained in Herefordshire until the nineteenth century.
	Apart from this one entry relating to Ewias (10,2), Domesday says nothing about the area, although early in King William's reign the land began to come, like Gwent, under Norman influence, since the Book of Llan Dâv (Evans, p. 278) records Riderch (Rhydderch son of Caradoc of Gwynllwg, died 1076) ruling over Ewias and Gwent Is Coed and 'serving King William'. The area remained in a Welsh diocese, first of Llandaff, then of St David's until 1852.
	The second Welsh district, or commote, Archenfield, was part of the same cantref, for the Red Book of the Exchequer, (Hall, p. 761) records Talegard, Hereging, Ewias, Strediu, i cantref, that is 'Talgarth, Archenfield (Welsh Ergyng), Ewias and Crickhowell (formed) one cantref'. Archenfield lay south of Dinedor Hundred and Stretford Hundred, between the River Wye and the River Monnow, and in 1086 was still a semi-autonomous Welsh district with its own customs. Its major part is not surveyed in detail; indeed only Garway is entered for the whole of its southern half. This is because the district as a whole, though subject to the English since the time of King Edward, was under Welsh law, dues being given by Welsh custom, that is in money or renders of sheep or honey (see A1-10. 1,49-60).
	The lands that are surveyed in detail in Domesday within Archenfield are those acquired by the English before 1066, mostly in the centre and north, Normans having here succeeded the English lords. Yet even here the assessment is in terms of ploughlands, not hides, and the land is not part of the hundredal organization of the county. The Welsh lands, churches and clergy of Archenfield are surveyed in the Book of Llan Dâv (Evans, pp. 275-78).
	Penetration of the district west of the River Wye had probably begun with the establishment of the 'Hundred' of Wormelow, a composite manor measured in hides (1,61-62), and the 'Hundred' of Sellack in the lower loop of a pronounced 'S'-bend in the river (29,20 Strangford note). Moreover, the royal manor of Cleeve (1,8) had acquired a number of hidated members on the Welsh bank of the River Wye, and Linton (1,1) received dues from Archenfield. Conversely, Archenfield extended east of the River Wye to include Kings Caple (1,55; see 1,8 Cleeve note) in the upper loop of the same 'S'-bend, and Howle Hill (1,60). Under King Edward, the English interest in the area seems to have provoked the anger of Bleddyn and the Welsh King Gruffydd who laid it waste (1,49 Gruffydd note). Archenfield remained in the Welsh diocese of Llandaff until 1131.
	South of Archenfield and of the modern county boundary lay the Welsh district of Gwent. Strong castles had been established at Monmouth and Caerleon under King William, and land measured in carucates was being awarded to Norman tenants between the Wye and the Usk, as well as beyond the latter, as part of Gloucestershire (GLS W1-19). This area was later to form the county of Monmouth.
	By no means all the Herefordshire land of 1086 was productive: Welsh incursions in the time of both King Edward and King William had devastated large areas. The great majority of lands in "Hezetre" Hundred and Elsdon Hundred and in the Golden Valley are recorded as waste or partially waste before 1066, together with some lands on the north and east boundaries of Archenfield and in the north-east of the county. By 1086, the number of wholly waste manors had diminished and was practically confined to the border lands in "Hezetre" Hundred and the northern part of Elsdon Hundred, but conversely the 1086 value clauses reveal a larger number of partially waste manors elsewhere in the county. In such cases, the reference to the 1066 position had perhaps been omitted; see Domesday Geography of Midland England, pp. 94-98 and maps pp. 96-97.
	Welshmen were not confined to Welsh areas in 1086: they are found in the Golden Valley, at Eardisley in Elsdon Hundred and at Cleeve in Bromsash Hundred. Welsh renders of sheep and honey are generally found within Archenfield or just over its borders; see Domesday Geography of Midland England, p. 75. Hides having Welsh rather than English customs are found at 'Westwood' (1,61), Brockhampton (2,15) and in the Golden Valley (2,56).

THE WELSH BORDER: HISTORY
The known history of the Welsh border in the eleventh century explains many of the entries in Domesday. In 1086 the county still bore the scars of forty years of turbulence featuring on the one hand the rise of powerful figures in Wales who overran and amalgamated Welsh kingdoms and on the other the ambitions of King Edward and King William and the Norman families that they established on the border.
	Ever since Offa had constructed his Dyke in the eighth century, periods of peace, such as when King Athelstan (927-939) received homage from Welsh princes at Hereford, alternated with times of border raiding and warfare. In the mid-eleventh century the major Welsh figure was Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ap Seisyll, ruler of Gwynedd from 1039 and of Powys probably from the same date. By 1044, after a long campaign, he had dislodged from the kingdom of Deheubarth, in the south, King Hywel ab Edwin and his successor Gruffydd ap Rhydderch ab Iestyn. He had already, in 1039, attacked a Mercian army at Rhyd y Groes ar Hafren, a ford near Welshpool, and there killed Edwin, brother of Earl Leofric of Mercia.
	By 1042 responsibility for the English frontier had passed to Earl Swein, Godwin's eldest son. In 1046, by invading South Wales, he helped Gruffydd ap Llywelyn resist Gruffydd ap Rhydderch's attempt to restore himself to the kingdom of Deheubarth. It was on his return from this campaign that Swein made Edith, Abbess of Leominster, his mistress (1,10a Leominster note).
	Gruffydd ap Rhydderch soon counter-attacked and in 1047 seems to have ambushed Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and restored himself to Deheubarth, driving his rival back to his northern kingdoms.
	The southern Gruffydd had greater ambitions. In 1049, allied with Danish pirates, he attacked Gwent Is Coed, which since 1043 had been ruled by Cadwgan of the house of Morgannwg. Gruffydd's expedition took him into the Forest of Dean and to the English manor of Tidenham lying on the west bank of the River Severn. The English response, consisting of men from Hereford and Gloucester led by Aldred (Bishop of Worcester since 1047), was surprised and defeated.
	This reverse, and the frequent border raids of both Kings Gruffydd, seem to have led to a new frontier policy on the part of the English king, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066): Earl Swein was replaced by an Anglo-Norman, Earl Ralph (the Timid) of Mantes, son of Count Drogo of the Vexin and of King Edward's sister, Goda. At the same time, the first Normans, men such as Osbern Pentecost and Richard Scrope, were probably settled on the frontier, and at least one castle was erected: Pentecost Castle, predecessor of Ewyas Harold (19,1 Ewyas note). This castle was intended to be .unwelcome to the Welsh, but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ('E' Version) vividly recalls the injuries and insults that the 'Frenchmen' also heaped on the English king's men in the area.
	These border arrangements were soon tested, for in 1052, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, probably invading from the north, harried the county as far as Leominster and was resisted by English and 'Frenchmen from the Castle'. Then in 1053, the other Gruffydd (Gruffydd ap Rhydderch) made an attack on the English manor of Westbury-on-Severn (SO7113) killing the border guards. Two years later Gruffydd ap Llywelyn had Gruffydd ap Rhydderch murdered and was at last able to secure Deheubarth. Moreover in 1055, the turbulence of the English earls played into his hands. Algar, Earl of East Anglia and son of Earl Leofric (see 10,58 Algar note), was banished by King Edward and fled first to Ireland whence he returned with a Danish fleet and then sought help from Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. The English, under Earl Ralph, opposed him, but being ordered to fight on horseback contrary to custom, they were quickly routed. The Welsh swept to Hereford, sacked the city and plundered the cathedral. It was probably at this time that Archenfield was devastated by Gruffydd and his successor Bleddyn, angered that it was already under some form of English control or friendly to the English (1,49 Gruffydd note).
	Earl Harold mobilized the English response to avenge the ravaging: in the same year, levies were assembled at Gloucester and with them he penetrated into Wales, pitching his camp ultra Straddele, that is, beyond the River Dore (2,54 Stradel note), but no success is reported and he seems to have given more thought to defence, fortifying the city of Hereford against further attacks, and to peace which was made with Gruffydd at a meeting at Biligesleagea, probably 'Billingsley' (first edition Ordnance Survey one-inch map at SO5333) near Bolstone in Archenfield. Earl Algar was recalled and reinstated. But the peace was short, for Aethelstan, Bishop of Hereford (who died in 1056), had been succeeded as bishop by a soldier, Leofgar, who wasted no time in invading Wales and attacking Gruffydd above Glasbury. In the encounter, Gruffydd was victorious, killing both the bishop and Alnoth the sheriff.
	As a result, Earl Leofric and Earl Harold (the latter having formally succeeded Earl Ralph as Earl of Hereford on Ralph's death in 1057) with Bishop Aldred (now since 1056 Bishop of Hereford as well as of Worcester) came to make peace with Gruffydd. The Welsh king may well have been allowed to retain some of his conquests and in addition he was granted by King Edward land that had belonged to the Bishop of Chester (CHS B7) and may possibly be the Gruffydd who administered land in Gwent under King William (GLS W4). He married Aldith daughter of Earl Algar at about this time (see WAR 6,5; she later married Harold) and swore to be a faithful under-king to King Edward.
	Peace followed, punctuated in 1058 by the second exile of Earl Algar and his reappearance in alliance with Gruffydd and Magnus son of Harold Hardrada of Norway. Gruffydd also proceeded to extend his power into Wales, attempting to control Gwent and Morgannwg, ruled over by Meurig ab Hywel and his son Cadwgan. On the death of the former, c.1060, Gruffydd finally seized Gwent. Then in 1062, Gruffydd again renewed his devastations in England and in reply, the following year, Earl Harold and Earl Tosti attacked Wales simultaneously by land and sea. They failed to capture Gruffydd at Rhuddlan, but he was driven beyond his own kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys and killed by his own men. The men of Gwent and Morgannwg had probably sided with Harold against him in the final conflict.
	Although Gruffydd's devastations had left scars deep into Herefordshire and Shropshire, his death changed the political geography of Wales, and his empire was dismembered. His kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys fell to his step-brothers Bleddyn (died 1075) and Rhiwallon (died c.1070), the sons of Cyfyn ap Gwerstan by Angharad the widow of Llywelyn ap Seisyll; Deheubarth returned to a nephew of Hywel ab Edwin named Maredudd ab Owain ab Edwin, the King Maredudd (father of another Gruffydd) of Domesday. Cadwgan ap Meurig regained Morgannwg and Caradoc son of Gruffydd ap Rhydderch succeeded to Gwynllwg and Upper Gwent.
	At first these kings ruled as clients of King Edward and it was probably during this period that the English penetration of Archenfield was intensified, and the first moves were made into Gwent.
	But the frontier was not to be secured so easily. In 1065 Caradoc ap Gruffydd ap Rhydderch suddenly fell on an English party under Earl Harold that was establishing a toe-hold in Gwent by building a hunting lodge at Portskewett (ST5088) on the banks of the River Severn, west of the River Wye. Further north, Edric the wild, nephew of Edric Streona (see 9,3 Edric note), in alliance with King Bleddyn and King Rhiwallon, invaded Herefordshire and devastated the land as far south as the River Lugg, although repeatedly attacked by Richard Scrope. Again in 1069, Edric, now joined by Earl Edwin of Mercia and his brother Earl Morcar in alliance with King Bleddyn, revolted against King William. Although Edwin soon made his peace, the rest laid siege to Shrewsbury Castle.
	The siege was relieved by William son of Osbern, one of the men whom King William speedily appointed to hold the troublesome frontier. In the north, the Norman king appointed Gherbod, his Flemish supporter, as Earl of Chester, rapidly succeeded by Hugh of Avranches. The earldom of Shrewsbury and the middle March were entrusted to Roger of Montgommery; the long southern frontier, where Wales marched with Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, was given to William son of Osbern.
	William's value to his master is shown in his dual appointment to the Isle of Wight (Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History: Chibnall, ii. pp. 260-61) and to the Welsh Border. Like his northern neighbour, Earl Roger, he was a 'palatine' earl, acting with royal authority on the Welsh border: he is found administering the royal manors of Herefordshire and granting their tithes, churches and small pieces of their lands to his monastic foundations at Lyre and Cormeilles in Normandy. It is he who received the revenues of the city of Hereford in the king's place and granted land directly to his followers and supporters: Ralph of Bernay (sometime sheriff of Herefordshire), "Turstin" of Flanders, Alfred of Marlborough, Walter of Lacy, Gilbert son of Turold, Ewen the Breton, Hugh the ass and Ansfrid of Cormeilles.
	His short tenure of office and the fact that his son rebelled and forfeited his lands have obscured much of the detail of his authority and acts; but his 'palatine' power extended into Gloucestershire, and perhaps in an attenuated form into Worcestershire. Thus he held Gloucester city; he is found active in Gwent in the extreme south of Wales, where the frontier touches Gloucestershire, allocating 50 carucates of land to Ralph of Limésy and building Chepstow Castle (GLS W16. S1); he administered or held royal land in Gloucestershire and drew the revenues of some Worcestershire and Gloucestershire manors into Herefordshire (1,39-47).
	His brief rule, terminated by his death abroad in 1071, was active. Three aspects are worthy of note. Firstly, he constructed castles (see {Introduction: Castles}), those at Clifford, Wigmore, Chepstow and Monmouth being certainly due to him. He also refortified Ewyas Harold (19,1 Ewyas note).
	Secondly, he established on the frontier families who were to be the bulwark against the Welsh: the Lacys, the Cliffords and the Mortimers, who could count on the support of an earlier generation of Normans such as Richard Scrope and his son Osbern, and Alfred of Marlborough, settled there by King Edward, and of the French burgesses whom he welcomed to Hereford and to whom he gave the customs of his own city of Breteuil (C 14 burgesses note).
	Thirdly, his policy was aggressive: he moved into Brycheiniog and Gwent in South Wales attacking Maredudd ab Owain and his brother Rhys of Deheubarth and Cadwgan ap Meurig of Morgannwg. With the advance came territorial gains and a treaty. Gwent was overrun and given, then or later, a new castle at Caerleon on its western edge. By 1086 it was, like Archenfield, still partly Welsh, with a number of villages administered by Welsh reeves (GLS W2), and partly in the hands of Norman holders.
	The treaty was with Maredudd ab Owain who seems to have allowed the English conquest of Gwent and to have been rewarded by the grant of lands in England, most of them later held by his son Gruffydd ( 29,1. HEF 31).
	Earl William's death, his son's revolt and the fact that no new earl was created slowed the Norman advance on the southern March and the next major thrust (into Ewias and on into mid-Wales) was only beginning in 1086.
	Within Wales, however, matters did not remain static. Caradoc ap Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, ruler of Gwynllwg, and his son Rhydderch, who held some of his lands as under-king, had not submitted to Earl William. In c.1071, with Norman help, they slew Maredudd ab Owain on the banks of the River Rhymney and soon moved into Morgannwg displacing Cadwgan ap Meurig. Deheubarth was briefly ruled by Maredudd's brother Rhys ab Owain, then from 1078 by Rhys ap Tewdwr. Rhys was under constant pressure from Cadwgan, and meanwhile the men of the Earl of Shrewsbury had in 1073-1074 ravaged Ceredigion on his northern border. In 1081 Rhys fled to St Davids and there he seems to have met King William who led an expedition into Wales 'and set many free'. Whatever William's objective, religious or political, he seems to have returned to England having made peace with Rhys; the latter's annual payment is recorded in Domesday (A10). Rhys, in alliance with Gruffydd ap Cynan the deposed ruler of Gwynedd, proceeded to defeat Caradoc at Mynydd Cam.
	The peace that followed allowed the frontier to be consolidated. Many of the men enfeoffed by Earl William had their lands confirmed by King William and are found as tenants-in-chief in Domesday. The Golden Valley and Elsdon Hundred and "Hezetre" Hundred begin to recover. Roger of Lacy is found in Domesday inviting settlers on to wasted land (10,43 settle note).
	During this period, major advances into Wales were made from Cheshire and Shropshire; see SHR {Introduction: History}. However, even in the south the lull was temporary. In 1088 Bernard of Neufmarché began the conquest of Brycheiniog. In 1091, Rhys killed Gruffydd son of Maredudd ab Owain at Llan Dudoch as he attempted to recover the throne of Deheubarth. Then in 1093 Rhys himself was killed after attacking some Normans engaged in fortress building in Brycheiniog. At the same time, Roger of Montgommery was conquering Ceredigion and Dyfed while Glamorgan was falling to Roger son of Haimo. The result was the establishment within Wales of a network of Norman castles and of the first Marcher lordships.

(The main Welsh sources for the period are the Brut y Tywysogyon, the Book of Llan Dâv, the Annales Cambriae and the Brenhinedd y Saesson. Important English or Norman sources are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, John of Worcester, Chronicle (which expands the account of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History. Good modern studies are Edwards, ‘Normans and the Welsh March’; Lloyd, History of Wales; Nelson, Normans in South Wales; Walker, The Norman Conquerors (which has a useful bibliography); Walker, 'Norman Settlement in Wales’; the 'Introduction to the Domesday Survey' and 'Political History' of Herefordshire in VCH Herefordshire, i. pp. 347-58. There are valuable articles by Douglas, ‘Ancestors of William Fitz Osbern’; Wightman, ‘Palatine Earldom of William Fitz Osbern’; Walker, ‘William Fitz Osbern’; see also Round in Feudal England, pp. 320-26. Lloyd's article, 'Wales and the Coming of the Normans', contains a fuller version of material later incorporated in his History of Wales and an appendix giving parallel texts of the Annales Cambriae for the period. A useful historical map is provided by Rees, Map of South Wales and the Border in the Fourteenth Century.)

CASTLES
The erection of castles was an essential part of the Norman defensive plan. At least one, probably Ewyas Harold (19,1 Ewyas note), and possibly a second, Richards Castle, had been built by Norman settlers under Edward the Confessor, while most of the remaining castles noticed in Domesday Herefordshire are due to Earl William.
	Castles were a useful springboard for attacks launched into enemy territory; they provided a safe retreat in the case of invasions such as had earlier ravaged the county; they could supervise strategically important passes, valley-junctions, river-crossings or roads, and a chain of them could be used as bases from which to patrol a frontier or to consolidate newly-won territory.
	Five castles, Wigmore (9,1), Richards Castle (24,13), Clifford Castle (8,1), Ewyas Harold (19,1) and Monmouth (1,48), are mentioned in Domesday, and the existence of Caerleon (14,1) is implied, though only its 'castlery' is surveyed. Chepstow Castle, also built by Earl William, is described in Domesday Gloucestershire (GLS S1). Of the six castles mentioned or implied in Domesday Herefordshire, all except the two northernmost (Wigmore and Richards Castle) and Chepstow in the south lie on a line that marks approximately the boundary of land held in 1086.
	From the detail that Domesday supplies, some major facts and differences emerge. Firstly, the castles were differently placed in relation to the county boundary. Some, such as Richards Castle, Clifford and Wigmore, were built on land long settled by the English. At Wigmore the land is hidated; the castlery of Richards Castle (and probably the castle itself) was measured in hides (12,2), while for Clifford a T.R.E. holder is given. Moreover, Wigmore is included in the text under a normal hundred heading and one should probably be supplied for Richards Castle (24,13). These two castles thus fell, like Dudley Castle in Worcestershire, within the normal hundredal organization of the county. The land of Clifford Castle, on the other hand, is explicitly said to be not subject to any hundred or customary due, although 'in the Kingdom of England'.
	Other castles were built on or over the border in unhidated land. Ewyas Harold, if correctly identified with Pentecost Castle (19,1 Ewyas note), was built on land seized by the English before 1066 but not hidated. The remaining castles, Monmouth and Caerleon, were beyond the English border and lay in land that had been Welsh in Edward the Confessor's reign. They were erected under King William to complete the conquest of Gwent and the consolidation of Archenfield. Earl William is said by Domesday to have built Clifford and Wigmore and to have refortified Ewyas Harold. The Gloucestershire folios record his construction of Chepstow Castle and there is other evidence that he built that at Monmouth (1,48 Monmouth note).
	Secondly, except in the case of Wigmore and Richards Castle, castle land is measured not in hides but in 'carucates', or, in an alternative expression, as 'land for n ploughs'. This teamland formula is found in association with the hide in the south-western counties, but is used on its own of land newly acquired by the Normans (GLS W6-19) or of land not liable to a tax assessment (see 1,48 caructes note and compare 7,2).
	Thirdly, the growth of a borough appurtenant to a castle can be seen in the mention of a burgus or burgesses at Clifford and Wigmore and of messuages (mansurae; see C3 messuage note) at Ewyas Harold (13,2).
	Fourthly, most castles had land subject to them: Monmouth (1,48), Clifford (8,1. 10,3), Caerleon (14,1), Ewyas Harold (2,2. 10,1. 13,2), and Richards Castle (12,2). In the case of all except the first, the land is described as in a 'castlery' (castellaria). The word is rare in Domesday, being used of the castles of Hastings, Richmond, Montgomery and Dudley, and, in the form castellatio, of Lewes. It refers to land rather like the outlier of a manor, administered directly by the castle; see VCH Herefordshire, i. pp. 272-73. While some castlery land, like some castles, lay outside the hundred, that of Ewyas Harold and of Richards Castle is said to lie in "Cutestornes" Hundred. These castles lay on opposite sides of Herefordshire, and "Cutestornes" Hundred lay midway between, but adjacent to neither. The land of Dudley Castle at Bellington in Worcestershire (WOR 23,14) is nine miles away from the castle and there is strategic sense in a frontier area in having castlery land on which the castle might be dependent for food and supplies away from the border that was liable to be pillaged. The concept of land dependent on the castle, but remote from it, is one way of explaining why Caerleon's castlery is entered in the Herefordshire folios, rather than in those for Gloucestershire, and why the land is said to be waste T.R.E., probably before the English had penetrated as far as the River Usk; see {Introduction: the Welsh Border: History} and 14,1 castlery note.
	On the other hand, the land in the castlery of Ewyas Harold has Welsh customs (10,1-2. 13,2) suggesting proximity to the border, and land at Didley and "Stane" (2,2) is said to have been taken into this castlery, thus locating it near the castle. This implies either the existence of a detached part of "Cutestornes" Hundred or a purely notional arrangement 'to make up the hundred' as is found in the addition of lands to Fishborough Hundred in Worcestershire (WOR 10,2).
	In 1086 the castles will have been of varying strategic value. At the northern end, Wigmore Castle stood well back from the frontier, in this case the boundary between Shropshire and Wales, but it guarded the major north-south Roman road and could oversee the confluence of the rivers Teme and Clun where they descend from the Welsh highlands. This was an area of Herefordshire and Shropshire heavily laid waste, probably by the Welsh incursion of 1052 which nearly reached Leominster, and by the raid of Edric the wild in 1067; see the maps in Domesday Geography of Midland England, pp. 96-97; 146-48).
	Richards Castle stood on the south-eastern edge of the same devastated area. In 1086, as south-western Shropshire recovered, its military value will have been replaced by Wigmore and probably for this reason it is not described in detail, nor at the head of a chapter. Since it is held by Osbern, whose father Richard Scrope had come to England under Edward the Confessor, it is possible that it was erected before 1066, as a part of the stabilising and reconstruction of the area after the Welsh invasion of 1052 and to prevent further penetration down the River Teme should the Welsh overrun the Long Mynd and Wenlock Edge in Shropshire.
	Clifford Castle on the other hand was a site of major importance. Lying on the line of Offa's Dyke, it blocked the important valley of the River Wye and its tributaries where they entered Herefordshire from the directions of Brecon and Builth. In conjunction with Ewyas Harold it could ensure that the area between the Black Mountains and the Golden Valley was peaceful.
	Ewyas Harold at the confluence of the River Dore and the River Monnow blocked another major invasion route up the valley from Abergavenny. The conquest of the Welsh commote of Ewias was already in prospect and Roger of Lacy's holding at Ewias Lacy (10,2; now Longtown), which did not belong to the castlery nor to the hundred, represents the earliest steps towards the erection of a castle and of the Norman push into mid-Wales.
	Monmouth Castle at the junction of the River Wye and River Monnow, constructed on the Welsh side of both, will have served the conquest of Gwent and the consolidation of Archenfield and will have helped resist ravages of the type inflicted by Bleddyn and King Gruffydd before 1066 (1,49 Gruffydd note). In the south, Caerleon would also help the settlement of Gwent and it stood in the way of any Welsh army attempting to attack from the flat land of Glamorgan. Its construction under Earl William or soon after will have demoted Chepstow Castle to a secondary defence.
	The long gap between Wigmore Castle and Clifford Castle was partly filled by two domus defensabiles ('defendable houses') near Eardisley (10,46. 25,9) and there may well have been other similar arrangements not mentioned in Domesday. The major penetration of Wales under William Rufus blocked other gaps, for instance at Brecon and Abergavenny.
	The Herefordshire castles are usefully surveyed in Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Herefordshire), iii. pp. lxii-lxiii.

THE COUNTY BOUNDARY
Discussion of the complexities of the Welsh border ({Introduction: the Welsh Border: Political Geography} has not taken into account the relationship of Herefordshire to other English counties in 1086 and later.
	Whereas the shires in the southern part of the country were formed at an early date, all those south of the Thames being mentioned in the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle before 892, the Mercian shires are not recorded therein before the early eleventh century, mostly before 1016, although by chance the first mention of Herefordshire is in 1048. In fact, the shires between the river Thames and the River Humber were artificially created units, apparently of 1200 hides, or multiples, mapped out for the provision of men and ships in order to expel the Danes in the early eleventh century. This regular pattern stands out clearly in the County Hidage (see Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 456) and may have been the work of Edric Streona, ealdorman of Mercia; see Finberg, Gloucestershire Studies, pp. 17-51.
	Even in 1086, however, the boundary between Herefordshire and Gloucestershire had not been finally established. In the south, the area between the rivers Leadon and the Wye and Severn and Wye, including the Forest of Dean, seems initially to have been in Herefordshire, the first boundary with Gloucestershire being the line of Bishop Aethelstan's Survey (Pembroke College, MS 302; see Early Charters of the West Midlands, pp. 225-27), that is, the limit of Herefordshire diocese. Before 1086 the Forest of Dean and some hundreds had been transferred into Gloucestershire, and the whole was finally joined to Gloucestershire for secular purposes by the twelfth century, although ecclesiastically the parishes remained in Hereford diocese until 1542. This much is clear, even though there is some confusion about which Upleadon is meant by Hemming when he records it as lying in Herefordshire (10,5 Ocle note).
	By 1086, some places in this area were in Gloucestershire, leaving Alvington in the south as a detached part of Herefordshire. The process continued and by the twelfth century 'Newarne', Redbrook, Ruardean, Staunton and 'Whippington' had been transferred fully into Gloucestershire. Domesday records some transfers as incomplete: 'Newarne' (1,72) had been transferred into Gloucestershire where it remained, though it is listed in the Herefordshire folios, while Kingstone (3,1) is said to pay tax and do service in Gloucestershire, but to come to meetings in Bromsash Hundred in Herefordshire. Kingstone in fact has remained in Herefordshire.
	In this area of the county, a much later change has affected Lea, the southern half of which (Lower Lea) was transferred from Gloucestershire to Herefordshire in 1844.
	Minor changes have also been made on the southern boundary where Archenfield touched Monmouthshire. Here, four places - Welsh Bicknor (an outlier of Monmouthshire within Herefordshire until 1845), Ganarew, Llanrothal and Tregate, all in the Welsh commote of Monmouth in the Middle Ages - were probably among the unnamed villages of Gwent Is Coed mentioned in Domesday Gloucestershire (GLS W2 villages note). They are now in Herefordshire.
	In the north-west corner of the county, the boundary between Herefordshire and Shropshire was probably at first the River Lugg (although Cascob, later in Radnorshire, was surveyed in both counties). It then perhaps followed the tributary of the Lugg north of Aymestrey, skirting Lower Lye (see 1,10c Lye note), then crossing north of Wigmore to follow the Roman road or the River Clun, but passing to the east of Leintwardine. Shortly after the date of Domesday this area came into the Marcher lordship of the Mortimers, based on Wigmore, and a dozen places (Adforton, Adley, Brampton Bryan, Buckton, Leintwardine, Letton, Lingen, Upper Lye, Pedwardine, Shirley, 'Stanway', 'Tumberland' and Walford) that were surveyed under Shropshire in 1086 (most then held by Ralph of Mortimer) were drawn into Herefordshire and were fully incorporated by the fourteenth century. They later formed part of the Hundred of Wigmore; see {Introduction: Hundreds}.
	Nineteenth-century and twentieth-century Boundary Orders have made further changes to the county. The Herefordshire boundary with Shropshire south of Ludlow was probably in 1086 marked by the River Teme. Before the nineteenth century part of Ludford was already in Shropshire and in 1901 the rest of the parish, together with Ashford Bowdler (not mentioned in Domesday) and a part of Richards Castle (12,2 castle note), was transferred to Shropshire. Farlow, a detached part of Herefordshire in 1086, was transferred to Shropshire in 1844.
	On the boundary with Worcestershire, Rochford was transferred from Herefordshire in 1837 and Stoke Bliss in 1897. These two villages will, in 1086, have nearly severed from Worcestershire a part of Doddingtree Hundred which may originally have been in Herefordshire; see WOR {Introduction: Hundreds}. Part of the Worcestershire villages of Hanley Child and Hanley William was probably in Herefordshire in 1086 (10,75 Hanley note).
	Transferred from Worcestershire to Herefordshire were Edvin Loach (formerly a detached portion of Worcestershire) in 1893, Acton Beauchamp in 1897 and in the same year a part of Mathon, the rest of the village having been in Herefordshire in 1086 (see 10,39 Mathon note).
	Even where the later changes are well documented, the 1086 county boundary is still unclear at some points: in the region of Hanley where it touched Worcestershire on the southern edge of Mathon (10,39 Mathon note); in the Forest of Dean where it bordered Gloucestershire and in the area south of Ledbury. Here the 1086 boundary skirting the Gloucestershire manors of Preston and Dymock seems to have severed Much Marcle, "Turlestane", and Bickerton from the rest of "Wimundestreu" Hundred.

PLACE	1086	LATER	
Herefordshire/Gloucestershire Border
ALVINGTON (HEF 17,1)

'NEWARNE' (HEF 1,72)

REDBROOK (HEF 1,73)

RUARDEAN (HEF 15,2)

STAUNTON (HEF 1,74)

'WHIPPINGTON' (HEF 2,22)

In Herefordshire

In Herefordshire (Bromsash Hundred), but had been transferred to Gloucestershire 'in Earl William's time'

In Herefordshire

In Herefordshire

In Herefordshire

In Herefordshire	

To Gloucestershire by the twelfth century

To Gloucestershire by the twelfth century

To Gloucestershire by the twelfth century

To Gloucestershire by the twelfth century

To Gloucestershire by the twelfth century

To Gloucestershire by the twelfth century
	
Herefordshire/ Shropshire Border 
ADFORTON (SHR 6,13)

ADLEY (SHR 4,20,6. 6,27-28)

BRAMPTON BRYAN (SHR 6,23)

BUCKTON (SHR 6,21)

FARLOW (HEF 1,10a. SHR 4,28,5)

KINSHAM (SHR 5,4)

LEINTWARDINE (SHR 4,20,20. 6,11)

LETTON (SHR 6,18)

LINGEN (SHR 6,14)

[UPPER] LYE (SHR 6,16)

LUDFORD (HEF 24,12)

PEDWARDINE (SHR 6,24-26)

SHIRLEY (SHR 6,15) 

'STANWAY' (SHR 6,12)

'TUMBERLAND' (SHR 6,17)

WALFORD (SHR 6,19-20)
	
In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

Part lay in a Shropshire hundred, but belonged to Leominster (Herefordshire) and assessed there, with the rest

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Herefordshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire

In Shropshire	
Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Transferred to Herefordshire probably in the twelfth century; returned to Shropshire in 1844

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Part was transferred to Shropshire probably in the twelfth century; the rest in 1895

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536

Drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Herefordshire in 1536
	
Border with Wales 

(WELSH BICKNOR

CASCOB (HEF 24,3. SHR 5,6 

(GANAREW

(LLANROTHAL

(TREGATE

In Wales

Part in Shropshire, part in Herefordshire (possibly duplicated)

In Wales

In Wales 

In Wales	

To Monmouthshire; to Herefordshire in 1844

Most was drawn into a Marcher lordship; placed in Radnorshire in 1536; part remained in Herefordshire; to Radnorshire in 1844

To Herefordshire

To Herefordshire

To Herefordshire	
Herefordshire/ Worcestershire border

ACTON BEAUCHAMP (WOR 11,1)

EDVIN LOACH (WOR 19,11)

MATHON (HEF 10,39. 23,6. WOR 9,6)

ROCHFORD (HEF 22,5. 23,1)

STOKE BLISS (HEF 31,6)

In Worcestershire

In Worcestershire

Divided between Herefordshire and Worcestershire

In Herefordshire

In Herefordshire

To Herefordshire in 1897

To Herefordshire in 1893

The Worcestershire portion was transferred to Herefordshire in 1897

To Worcestershire in 1837

To Worcestershire in 1897
	
The dates of boundary changes are derived from Youngs, Local Administrative Units, ii. passim

HUNDREDS
For this edition, the form of some hundred names has been changed. Hundred names in double inverted commas are not found after 1086. Those in single inverted commas are named from places that are no longer on modern maps. Names in square brackets are not specifically said to be those of hundreds by Domesday, but are assumed to have existed in 1086:

Phillimore printed edition	This revision	

Bromsash
Cutsthorn
Dinedor
Elsdon
GoldenValley
Greytree
Hazeltree
Lene
Leominster
Plegelgete
Radlow
Sellack
Staple
Stretford
Thornelaw
Winstree
Wolphy
Wormelow

Bromsash
"Cutestornes"
Dinedor
Elsdon
Stradel Hundred, Stradel Valley
'Greytree'
"Hezetre"
"Lene"
[Leominster]
"Plegelgete"
Radlow
Sellack
"Stepleset"
Stretford
"Tornelaus"
"Wimundestreu"
'Wolfhay'
Wormelow

The Domesday pattern of hundreds differed both from the medieval hundredal arrangement of the county as represented in the Nomina Villarum of 1316 (Feudal Aids, ii. pp. 382-90) and the later organization that survived into the nineteenth century.
	The 1086 county contained two Welsh areas (Ewias and Archenfield) only partially incorporated; the scattered 'Hundred' of Leominster, ecclesiastical in origin and akin to those found in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and elsewhere (1,10a Leominster note); Stretford Hundred divided into two portions, and two manors Kingsland and Wormelow counted as hundreds (l,5;61-62). The remaining thirteen hundreds were of the normal compact type. Sulcet Hundred, if correctly identified with Sellack, will have been a third example of a manor regarded as a hundred (29,20 Strangford note).
	The hundredal rubrication is generally full and reliable, but requires some supplementing, especially at the beginning and ends of chapters and in the Terra Regis (HEF 1). In some counties, for example, Buckinghamshire, hundreds are consistently entered in the same order in each fief; see Sawyer, 'Original Returns'. This is not the case in Herefordshire although a number of chapters contain sufficiently similar patterns for deductions to be made about omitted hundred heads. Hundred boundaries, since they do not often coincide with the later limits, are in most cases uncertain.
	Although the pattern of hundreds is in essence a simple one, it has some unusual features. A Tragetreu Hundred occurs once in the text, apparently in error for 'Greytree' (2,13 'Greytree' note). Secondly, in chapters 9 and 24 a number of places are said to be 'in the Welsh March'. In each case, these fall in the middle of a list of places in "Hezetre" Hundred and are assumed to be a part of that hundred. Thirdly, the Golden Valley lands, which appear to have amounted to 56 hides (25,7 hides note) are only once said to constitute a hundred (2,54). Their western boundary with the Welsh district of Ewias was probably ill-defined in 1086 and is still more difficult to determine because of the number of lands there that have not yet been identified. Some lands in the north-east corner of this hundred lay rather in the Wye valley than in the Dore (Golden) Valley. Because of the absence of hundred headings, it is not clear in which hundred Marston (in Pembridge) and Pembridge itself lay; consequently the boundary between Elsdon Hundred and "Hezetre" Hundred is uncertain (19,8 Pembridge note).
	The isolated portions of Leominster 'Hundred' in the northern part of the county intrude into a number of ordinary hundreds; thus Dilwyn is separated from Elsdon Hundred by Luntley; the two parts of 'Wolfhay' Hundred by Brimfield, Upton, Ashton and Middleton, while Broadward (if correctly identified; see 1,28 Broadward note) is separated from "Tornelaus" Hundred by a group of Leominster places. As with the ecclesiastical hundreds in the southern part of Worcestershire, the lands that formed the 150 or so hides of Leominster manor may have been withdrawn from a number of original compact 'territorial' hundreds, thus disrupting their arrangement. In cases where a village was divided between Leominster and another holder, the latter parts are all in a 'territorial' hundred: "Alac", Leinthall, Lye, "Merestone" (Wigmore Castle), Dilwyn, Newton, Upton, Butterley, Broadward, Yarpole and a 'Marston' (probably Marston Stannett: 1,10a Marston note) are all divided in this way.
	Some villages are also split between territorial hundreds: Bishops Frome between Radlow Hundred and "Plegelgete" Hundred; Titley between "Hezetre" Hundred and Elsdon Hundred; Clehonger and Moccas between Stretford Hundred and Dinedor Hundred (although the latter may be an error; see 7,7 Moccas note). Westhide is divided between Radlow Hundred and "Tornelaus" Hundred (29,4 manor note).
	The medieval pattern of hundreds, as represented by the thirteenth-century surveys in the Book of Fees and the Feudal Aids, is different in many respects. 'Greytree' Hundred and Bromsash Hundred had merged to form the enlarged Hundred of 'Greytree'; "Cutestornes" Hundred and "Stepleset" Hundred joined to form Grimsworth Hundred; from the northern half of Stretford Hundred and parts of "Hezetre" Hundred and Elsdon Hundred with the manor-Hundred of "Lene" (1,5) was formed a greater Stretford Hundred. Dinedor Hundred, the southern part of Stretford Hundred and some Golden Valley villages were taken into Webtree Hundred, while Radlow Hundred was enlarged by the addition of "Wimundestreu" Hundred. "Plegelgete" Hundred and "Tornelaus" Hundred, with a few border villages from Radlow Hundred became Broxash Hundred; while Archenfield became an English hundred incorporating Wormelow Hundred and named variously Archenfield or Wormelow Hundred. 'Wolfhay' Hundred and the scattered 'Hundred' of Leominster remained largely unaltered at this period.
	During this time, the Marcher lords had full control of their lands which do not, as a result, appear in the feodaries. For this reason, parts of Elsdon Hundred and "Hezetre" Hundred and of the Golden Valley as well as the whole of Ewias are not surveyed. Their return to the county administration in the sixteenth century, on the dissolution of the Marcher lordships, led to further changes: the creation of a Hundred of Ewias Lacy, which included the Domesday village of Cusop; the incorporation of the whole Dore (Golden) Valley in Webtree Hundred and the formation of a new Hundred of Huntington to receive a number of places that had been in Elsdon Hundred, such as Eardisley, Harpton, Huntington, Kington, Whitney, Willersley and Winforton, together with Lower Harpton from "Hezetre" Hundred. A new Hundred of Wigmore was also made to include most places formerly in "Hezetre" Hundred added to lands transferred from Leintwardine Hundred in Shropshire; see{Introduction: The County Boundary}. Finally, Leominster Hundred lost some of its outlying portions to the hundreds in which they lay geographically, and its core was merged with 'Wolfhay' Hundred.

Some of the Herefordshire 1086 hundreds were not named from Domesday estates; others are named from minor topographical features, some of them unknown:
	Bromsash Hundred. The name of the meeting-place ('Breme's ash-tree') is now represented by Bromsash in Linton parish (SO6424).
	Elsdon Hundred.The hundred name is represented by a hamlet Elsdon in Lyonshall parish (SO3254).
	'Greytree' Hundred. This is either 'Graega's tree', or 'grey tree' from Old English graeg( 'grey') and treo ('tree').
	"Hezetre" Hundred. The Domesday form is Hezetre from hypothetical Old English haeseltreo ('hazel tree'). The meeting-place is unknown.
	"Plegelgete" Hundred. From the Old English personal name Pleghelm and geat ('gate' or 'narrow passage'). See Anderson, English Hundred Names, p. 166. The moot-site is not known.
	Radlow Hundred. Domesday Radenelau, Radelau, is from Old English read ('red') and hlaw ('hill'). The name survived to be marked on early six-inch Ordnance Survey maps as Radlow Wood just north of the former Stoke Edith railway station (SO611416). Bryant's map of 1835 marks a Radlow field to the south at approximately SO611410; see Duncumb, History of Herefordshire, iv. p. 5; Anderson, English Hundred Names, p. 167.
	Stradel Hundred. Domesday Stradel. The land is only described once (2,54) as a 'hundred'. Elsewhere Domesday uses 'in the Straddle Valley', that is in the Dore (or Golden) Valley. The name is Old English Straddael, a conflation of Welsh Stratdour 'valley of the Dore' (the first element being Welsh ystrad 'valley') with Old English dael ('valley'). It survives in Stradel Bridge and Monnington Stradel in the valley; see Ekwall, Dictionary of English Place-Names, under Straddle; Anderson, English Hundred Names, p. 167. The alternative name, Dore, is from Old Welsh Dovr, derived from a hypothetical British dubra (whence also Dover, Kent). 'Golden' is the result of false etymology as if Dore were from French d'or or doré ('of gold, golden, gilded'), or from Old Welsh our, Modern Welsh aur ('gold'); both the Welsh and the French words are ultimately from Latin aurum ('gold').
	"Tornelaus" Hundred. The name is lost, the hundred having contributed at an early date to the formation of Broxash Hundred. It is derived from Old English thorn and hlaw ('thorn hill').
	"Wimundestreu" Hundred. This name is from Old English Wigmund, a personal name, and treo ('tree'). It is not known where the meeting-place of the hundred was.
	'Wolfhay' Hundred. Domesday Wlfagie also Vlfei; Wolfeye in Feudal Aids, ii. p. 377 (1303), and Wolfheye in Feudal Aids, ii. p. 413 (1428). The name is probably from hypothetical Old English wulf-(ge)haeg ('hay in which wolves are caught'). The hundred name survived until recent times. The meeting-place may have been at 'The Hundred' (SO5263) where the parishes of Kimbolton and Middleton meet that of Eye, Moreton and Ashton.

On "Lene" Hundred, see 1,6 "Lene" note; and on Sellack Hundred, see 29,20 Strangford note.

FOREST
The word derives from Medieval Latin foresta, from Classical Latin foris ('outside'), meaning land, not necessarily wooded, beyond the bounds of the manor or village. Forests are in no sense surveyed in themselves in Domesday, there being only two cases in Herefordshire where they are mentioned separately from a manor: at 1,52 referring to a render of honey and money from the Forest of Archenfield and at 1,63 in connection with the forests, also in Archenfield, held by William son of Norman. In all other cases, forests are mentioned because they have encroached on the arable or the woodland properly belonging to a manor.
	The king regarded foresta as his preserve for hunting, and most of the land removed from manors is said to be in silua or in foresta or in defenso (with variants; see 1,43 enclosure note) regis. Even where regis is not included, it is probably implied. The entries relating to Worcestershire and Gloucestershire lands (1,40-43 ;45-46) have more elaborate formulae such as silua ... foris est missa ad siluam regis ('the woodland ... has been put outside, into the king's woodland': 1,40) or parcus ferarum, sed missus est extra manerium cum tota silua ('a park for wild animals, but it has been put outside the manor, with all the woodland': 1,41).
	In Herefordshire, forest is mentioned or implied in the following entries (a dagger indicates that it is specifically designated royal forest): "Turlestane" (1,7); †Cleeve (1,8); †Redbrook (1,73); †Staunton (1,74); †Didley and "Stane" (2,2); †Madley (2,9); †'Barton' (2,11); †Ross-on-Wye (2,24); †an unnamed place in the Golden Valley (2,56); †Dinedor (8,7); †Bullinghope (10,19. 21,6); †Much Cowarne (19,10). Plotted on a map, these places fall into distinct groups: Ross-on-Wye, Cleeve, Staunton and Redbrook lie in what is still today the Forest of Dean; Didley and "Stane" are part of Treville Wood mentioned in 1,3; while 'Barton', Dinedor and Bullinghope and the entries at 1,52 and 1,63 imply the existence of a great forest in northern Archenfield, probably a branch of the Forest of Dean. Another branch extended to the River Teme and incorporated Malvern Chase, at the southern end of which lay "Turlestane". The woods of Madley and Much Cowarne seem to have been isolated from the main forests, although the former, together with the unnamed Golden Valley land, might have been part of Treville Wood. The existence of other forest, especially that of Malvern Chase, is implied by the mention of 'hays', that is, hedged enclosures for capturing game (2,23 enclosures note).
	Wild woodland is sometimes difficult to distinguish from forest: woodland is said to have established itself on eleven waste manors in "Hezetre" Hundred and Osbern son of Richard Scrope hunts there (24,5). Land at Harewood (25,6) in Clifford had similarly reverted to woodland, but there is no mention of hunting.

THE DOMESDAY FORMAT
The Manuscript
The manuscript is written on leaves, or folios, of parchment (sheepskin), measuring about 15 inches by 11 inches (38 centimetres by 28 centimetres), on both sides. On each side, or page, are two columns, making four to each folio. The folios were numbered in the seventeenth century and the four columns of each are here lettered a, b, c, d. The manuscript emphasises words and usually distinguishes chapters and sections by the use of red ink. Underlining in the manuscript usually indicates deletion.
	Herefordshire seems to have caused the scribe a great deal of difficulty. It is a poorly executed county with much compression, insertions in the margin and at the foot of columns, and a great many blank spaces left, both in the body of an entry (for example, the recurring spaces left after hida; see 1,9 hides note) and between entries (as between 1,38 and 1,39) and at the end of chapters (almost half a column after chapter 9). It would seem that the scribe began to write up the county before all the material was available. He miscalculated the amount of space needed for several fiefs when planning the layout of the folios, as for example on folio 185ab where he left about 16 lines at the end of chapter 10 and then had to squeeze in chapter 13 at the foot of the column, presumably because he had already begun work on chapter 14 on the reverse of the folio; (13,2 is below the bottom marginal ruling which is not clear from Farley who printed a smaller gap between chapters 10 and 11.) There are a great many erasures and corrections, some neatly executed, others badly, some obviously done at the time of writing, others when the scribe came to check the work; not all of them are mentioned in the notes below. The parchment is thin and almost transparent in several places, and rough in many others, which adds to the difficulty in ascertaining which was the original reading and which the correction. The scribe is genuinely careless in some places, briefly omitting details in an entry, so that the word order or grammar is unusual (see 14,6. 22,8. 10,72).
	Farley also seems to have encountered difficulties in his transcription of Herefordshire; he made over a dozen mistakes (though some of them are probably printers' errors), ranging from capitals for lower-case letters and vice versa to the more serious letter and figure errors and omissions; mention of these is made in the relevant notes.
	Because of the poor quality of the parchment and the faintness of some of the ink, the Ordnance Survey facsimile failed to reproduce several abbreviation signs and letters; this is pointed out in the relevant notes.

RELATED OR 'SATELLITE' TEXTS
The Herefordshire Domesday
Domesday Book continued to be used as a source-book for the taxability and tenure of land for the next three centuries; see Galbraith in Herefordshire Domesday, pp. xxiv-xxviii; Galbraith, Domesday Book in Administrative History, pp. 100-22). Its use in Chancery and Exchequer administration as well as by local county officials led to the production of a number of subsidiary texts: the commonest are abbreviations, either of the whole, such as thethirteenth-century Abbreviatio (PRO, E 36/284) which was probably based on a lost original of which there are two other copies (the Breviate: PRO, E 164/1; and the Margam Abbreviation: B.L., Arundel 153); or of parts such as 'Bath B' (see SOM {Appendix}), the survey of Worcester Church lands ('Worcestershire B' in WOR {Appendix}); the abbreviation of WOR 2-8 ('Evesham C' in the WOR {Appendix}), the twelfth-century abbreviation of Kent (B.L., Cotton Vitellius C. viii), and the abbrevions within the Burton Cartulary, the Peniarth Cartulary etc. (see STS {Introduction: Related or 'Satellite' Texts}). Such abbreviations normally give the place-name, the Domesday holder (sometimes updated), the hidage and state whether the hides are taxed.
	Herefordshire is unique in having a twelfth-century copy of the whole of Domesday for the county. It is found in Oxford, Balliol College 350, folios 1-42, of which the last four contain related but later texts. The majority of the manuscript is in the 'Curial' script taught in the royal scriptorium. Two folios have been removed after folio 14v, containing material relating to 2,17 (part) to 2,33 (part). The Herefordshire Domesday has been edited by V. H. Galbraith and J. Tait for the Pipe Roll Society with pages of manuscript facsimile facing a transcription and with notes at the end.
	Apart from a free treatment of proper names, a procedure shared with the abbreviations of Domesday, as well as some minor errors and corrections to Domesday and the omission of chapter headings, the Herefordshire Domesday is a faithful transcript of Domesday Herefordshire. It contains the hundred heads from Domesday but makes no attempt to supply them when they are missing. It probably dates from c. 1160 - c. l 170, and is part of the revival of the Chancery and Exchequer under Henry II following the turbulence of Stephen's reign. It was possibly the work of Thomas Brown who held a post at the Exchequer and had Herefordshire connections.
	Its interest to the student of Domesday lies in its marginal additions. These are in both red and black ink and in a number of hands and begin at the time when the body of the Herefordshire Domesday was written, continuing for some years, though none is certainly later than c. 1200. These marginalia usually give the hidage, sometimes discrepant with Domesday, the place-name and the twelfth-century holder. The place-names are especially valuable, often differing from the spellings of Domesday and of the text of the Herefordshire Domesday itself and being in a more recognizably 'English' form. They sometimes distinguish places of the same name by an additional name (for example, Halmonds Frome and Castle Frome: 10,29-30), or specify more closely a particular holding (Bishopstone for 'Mansell' in 2,46) or give a location or an alternative name for a lost place (Westhide for "Lincumbe": 29,15). Sometimes a name is supplied for an unnamed Domesday holding (Pencombe for the manor in 19,6) or for a member or unnamed part of a holding ('Wormington' for Roger of Lacy's part of 'Westwood': 1,61).
	The twelfth-century holders have not been added systematically, but are present for about a third of the entries. In some cases, these men have named the village, as in Stoke Bliss (31,6) from G. de Blez; sometimes the tenant's name bridges the gap between Domesday and the earliest feodaries, thus helping to trace the descent of Domesday holdings. These additions, corrections or clarifications are recorded in the notes to the present edition.
	Some miscellaneous texts are included at the end of the Herefordshire Domesday. Of these, two are important for the study of Domesday. Folio 40r (Galbraith and Tait, Herefordshire Domesday, p. 77) contains a list of the total hides belonging to individual Domesday holders (similar to 'Worcestershire D'; see WOR {Appendix}); in some cases the names of the holders have been updated to take account of changes of tenure to c. l107-1128. On folios 40v-41r (Galbraith and Tait, Herefordshire Domesday, pp. 78-79) there is a later list of lands (the place-names and hidages and much of the order taken from Domesday) and tenants, probably compiled before 1139. 

EDITORIAL
Identification of Places
The identification of many Herefordshire places is less secure than in some other counties. The evolution of the place-names has not yet been subjected to the exhaustive study of a volume from the English Place-Name Society and no further volumes of the Victoria County History (VCH) have yet been published to trace the descent of Domesday holdings. Earlier surveys lack rigour; for instance, Bannister's volume on place-names is lacking in examples and can seriously mislead in its treatment of villages of the same name, such as Pembridge, Hinton, Marston, which occur in different parts of the county. The work of Lord Rennell of Rodd is helpful, but some of his methods of identification (discussed in Rennell, ‘Domesday Geography of North-West Hereford’) are not convincing, for example from the presumed route of the Domesday Commissioners or 'surveyors' from village to village, or from modern evidence of the extent of arable land in a given holding. Owing to this and the lack of early feudal evidence for the Welsh Marches area, there is an unusually large number of places unidentified in Herefordshire.
	These difficulties are compounded by the usual problems of Domesday: the absence of hundred headings in some parts of the text; the fact that the same Domesday form (for example, Mildetune or Hope) can be represented by different modern names (Milton, Middleton; Hope, Hopleys Green, Brinsop, Miles Hope etc.); while Frome, Hantone, Estune, Merstone may each be one of several modern Fromes, Hamptons, Astons or Marstons scattered over the county. Moreover Domesday spellings, where they can be checked against the marginal name-forms in the Herefordshire Domesday, sometimes appear confused or corrupt.
	On the other hand, considerable help can be derived from the hundred heads that do exist in the text, from the Herefordshire Domesday, and from the great 1243 survey of lands contained in the Book of Fees. With these sources of help, for example, the eight occurrences of Frome in Domesday can be satisfactorily divided between five modern villages in two hundreds.
	The notes in the present edition do not aim to be exhaustive, but to provide supporting evidence for new identifications or for those which might otherwise be reasonably disputed.
	Several adjacent modern villages, now distinguished by affixes such as East and West, Upper and Lower, share the same Domesday form, and if they existed as separate villages in 1086, this is rarely evidenced (Nerefrum and Brismerfrum, 10,29-30, being exceptional). Where these modern separate villages can be traced from individual Domesday holdings, this fact is recorded in the notes. On the other hand the affixes are included where two places of the same basic name are in different parts of the county. Thus Marston [Stannett] appears as a distinction from Marston in Pembridge; but Grendon Bishop and Grendon Warren which are adjacent appear simply as Grendon in the text.
	Many changes have been made in identifications since the publication of VCH Herefordshire, i. in 1908, mainly as a result of the publication of Galbraith and Tait, Herefordshire Domesday, and the work of Lord Rennell of Rodd. These changes are detailed in the notes.

State of Revision
The Phillimore edition of Herefordshire was published in 1983. The translation was drafted by Veronica Sankaran, the maps were the work of Frank Thorn and Jim Hardy (this corrects the statement in the Introduction to the Phillimore printed edition) and the volume was edited by Frank and Caroline Thorn. In their research the editors had incurred a number of debts to others which they acknowledged as follows:
	'The County Editors are very grateful to John Dodgson who is supervising the publication of this series and to John Freeman, both of whom have read through the draft notes and saved them from errors and infelicities. John Dodgson (abbreviated JMcND) has in particular made important contributions to place-name and personal name notes, while John Freeman has no less generously allowed the incorporation of material from his unpublished M.A. Dissertation, 'Some Herefordshire Place-Names in Domesday Book, with Special Reference to Anglo-Norman Influence'.
	Miss Daphne Gifford of the Public Record Office has kindly allowed Caroline Thorn to consult the manuscript of [Great] Domesday Book and has tirelessly answered many written queries.
	The editors also wish to thank Mr R.J.H. Hill, Reference Librarian of the Hereford Library, and the Staff of the Hereford Record Office, among them particularly Mr J.S. Williams for help with "Winetune" (2,52) and 'Cuple' (10,74); also Mr Warren Skidmore of Akron, U.S.A., for information concerning the honour of Ewyas Harold and the Scudamore family included in the notes at 1,56 and 10,16-18; and especially Mr J.D. Foy for proof-reading.
	This edition had already been prepared for the press when Mr Coplestone-Crow of Birmingham most generously made available to the editors the results of his many years of study of Domesday and the later descent of Herefordshire manors. His care for detail and intimate knowledge of the county have helped to amplify and sharpen a number of the notes.'

John Morris, the originator and first editor of the series, had died in 1977 and the subsequent volumes in the series were brought out under the supervision of John McN. Dodgson and Alison Hawkins. A note at the end of the Introduction to the printed edition said: 'At the time of Dr Morris's death in June 1977, he had completed volumes 2 [Sussex], 3 [Surrey], 11 [Middlesex], 12 [Hertfordshire], 19 [Huntingdonshire], 23 [Warwickshire], 24 [Staffordshire]. He had more or less finished the preparation of volumes 13 [Buckinghamshire], 14 [Oxfordshire], 20 [Bedfordshire], 28 [Nottinghamshire]. These and subsequent volumes in the series were brought out under the supervision of John Dodgson and Alison Hawkins, who have endeavoured to follow, as far as possible, the editorial principles established by John Morris'. The preparation of the volume was greatly assisted by a generous grant from the Leverhulme Trust Fund.

When it appeared in 1983, Herefordshire was the most heavily annotated of the Phillimore volumes. Nonetheless it would benefit from a revision because of its editors' further twenty years of study and the appearance of a number of important books and articles. The editors intend to undertake such a revision in due course. The present edition is part of a project to convert the annotation of the Phillimore printed volumes to electronic form and to revise them. For this purpose only a limited number of changes have been made to the printed notes:
•	The contents of the Introductory Notes have been incorporated either in the Introduction or in the Notes themselves.
•	The translation of some terms has been brought into line with those of the series as a whole.
•	The bibliographical and other conventions have been changed to align them with the other counties that have been revised for the current project.
•	Certain changes have been necessary in the conversion of the notes to a searchable electronic version, such as to the lead words for the notes, to cross-references and to punctuation. 
•	The form of the hundred names has been standardized so as to distinguish between those units that are named from places still extant and those that are not.
•	A number of the forms of personal names have been changed as part of an ongoing process to bring more consistency to the entire name stock of Domesday Book.
•	Some of the people have been further identified. When the identification comes from the person's occurrence in other documents or in other Domesday counties, this is shown in the translation between asterisks within square brackets. Where there is no documentary evidence for the identity of an individual, but it seems likely that a number of persons with the same first name are one and the same, this has been indicated in the translation by putting the name of one of the estates held by that person between < >. In this county the notes to justify both these forms of identification have largely been written by John Palmer and these have been attributed to him as (JP) put at the end of his paragraph.
•	Obvious typographical errors in the Phillimore printed notes have been corrected.

In the Phillimore printed volume translations and annotation were provided for those places that lay outside Herefordshire in 1086 but which were subsequently transferred to it. These places are tabulated here in {Introduction: County Boundary}; for translation and notes, now see the counties concerned.
	Also in the printed edition, a table of variant place-names was provided. Its content has now been placed in the notes to the relevant places.

Caroline Thorn
Frank Thorn
December 2006
June 2007