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common here in the 14th century. It is found in profusion on the tower of the 
Hereford Cathedral, and on the south windows of Leominster church. Gone is the 
curtain wall that must have extended right and left of the gateway, set with 
semicircular towers that projected out into the moat-defences, which, having 
“been used in the time of the Plantagenets, we call Edwardian. Gone is the moat, 
converted here, as it so often has been, into a faultless bowling green. Gone too is 
the drawbridge. There is behind the gate a doorway of the hall, which in Tudor 
days was inclosed by a great oriel, showing that the place was used for pleasant 
residence as well asfor defence. The ruins are set in a grass lawn, and in front of 
them clustered together the members listening to the following interesting paper 
on the history of those who occupied them :— 
BRAMPTON BRYAN CASTLE: ITS SIEGES AND 
DEMOLITION. 
By the Rey. J. D. La Tovucun, President of the Caradoc Field Club. 
<‘ There seems to be some probability,” says Mr. Robinson, in his History of the 
Castles of Herefordshire, ‘‘ That the foundation of Brampton Bryan dates as far 
back as the latter part of the reign of Henry I.” Barnard Unspec, Lord of 
Kinlet, in Shropshire, seems to have been the first of his family who adopted the 
name of De Brampton, and in 1179 his grandson, Brian de Brampton, is 
associated with Hugh de Mortimer in establishing the neighbouring abbey of 
Wigmore. He laid the second stone of the foundation, and granted materials for 
the work from his woods and quarries. Their descendants remained at Brampton 
for four generations, when the line ended in two co-heiresses, the elder of whom 
married Robert de Harley (called by Roger de Mortimer “‘ his beloved bachelor”), 
and carried the castle and manor into that family. At an inquest in 1293, after 
the death of the last Baron de Brampton, the castle is described as a tower, with 
a cartelege garden and vinery, valued at £8. 7s. 8d. per annum. 
In the Wars of the Roses the Harleys took the field under the banner of the 
House of York, and the spurs of knighthood were won by John Harley at 
Tewkesbury. In the castle were concealed for some time the celebrated Jesuits, 
Parsons and Campion, (who were put to the torture, and executed shortly after- 
wards) when upon their secret tour through England in 1580, and great hopes 
were entertained that they would gain the same influence over their patron’s son 
as they had done over his father, but they failed in doing so. But the chief 
interest in connection with Brampton Bryan centres in the events of the Civil 
Wars. The owner was at this time Sir Robert Harley. He was the son of 
Robert Harley and of Margaret, daughter of Sir Andrew Corbet, of Moreton 
Corbet, in the county of Salop, and Baron of Wigmore. He was a great 
agriculturist, and took much interest in improving the breed of cattle. He 
represented the borough of Radnor in the Parliament of the Ist and 2nd of James, 
and was a leading and influential member of the Puritan party, was active in the 
proceedings against Lord Strafford, and was chairman of the committee to 
