12 



the great persecution which began in 1389, there can be no reasonable doubt, and 

 a great service has been done to the history of the county in restoring these facts 

 to general knowledge. 



A small orchard near the house is called by tradition "The Burial Ground" 

 and two yew trees are there, which are the only things remaining which seem to 

 support the tradition. Yew trees are very uncommon in the Forest, and none 

 exist there with the exception of two or three near Limebrook Abbey, two miles 

 away. These trees are of some size. One measures 9 ft. 5 in. in circumference at 

 3 ft. from the ground, but it splits into two trunks shortly afterwards, and one i3 

 broken off. leaving the other 6 ft. 4 in. in circumference. The second tree is more 

 perfect, and at 5 ft. from the ground it measures 8 ft. 10 in. in circumference. If 

 the old saying with reference to the growth of the yew tree be correct, viz : that 

 for every foot in diameter you must allow a century, and it would probably 

 require a still greater allowance, these trees may be almost considered to date with 

 the Chapel House. Behind the house is also a walnut tree of the rather unusual 

 size of 12 ft. in circumference at 5 ft. from the ground. 



The route was now resumed towards "Wlgmore Castle and first passed over 

 a meadow all verdant with the leaves and fruit of that poisonous herb Saffron, or 

 Colchicum, and where also the frog orchis, Habenaria viridis and the Orchis 

 morio, were gathered. 



A deep copse, which bordered a stony lane, had next to be surmounted 

 among crumbling Silurian strata, dry as ancient and modern baking from beneath 

 and above could make it, and to the top of this hardened road the explorers 

 pressed on, and after toiling up another height the ruins of "Wigmore Castle, long 

 the stronghold of the renowned Mortimers and their regal successors, was 

 descried. 



Descending from this high ground, the members of the club were gratified 

 with a magnificent panorama, embracing the whole alluvial valley which in the 

 Confessor's time was a moor or marsh and gave a descriptive title to the district. 

 Etymologists dispute whether the name Wigmore* is a simple derivative from 

 " wick" and "more " and therefore an equivalent of the old English "merestun," 

 or whether it preserves a trace of those Danish rovers or vikings who, there is 

 some reason to believe, settled themselves in one or two spots along the Roman 

 road between Aymestrey and Leintwardine. It must be confessed that the vestiges 

 of the Norseman are few and sink into utter insignificance beside those which his 

 kinsman, the Norman, has left in the ruined fortress which forms a conspicuous 

 feature in this noble landscape. 



Approaching the Castle from the west it is easy to see what was the original 

 form of the structure. A massive keep was reared upon the west of the hill, 

 which on its northern side needed no further defence than that which nature had 

 given. Below this and connected with it by a battlemented wall was the first 

 line of works, inclosing a courtyard or bailey of no great extent. Lower still, and 



• There is another Wigmore in the adjoining county of Salop— a hamlet in the parish of 



Wuatbury. 



