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there were three Earldoms of the March—Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford, and, 
we are told, that the duty of the March Earl in England was (like that of the 
analagous Margrave in Germany) to defend and to extend the March or Pale, and 
generally to spoil the enemy’s borders adjoining. It would be impossible to lay 
down accurately the limits of a district which was necessarily in a constant state 
of fluctuation. Even at the end of Henry II[I.’s reign, 1263, we find stated in 
Rymer s Feedera that the Welsh invaded and laid waste the lands in the March 
almost as far as Weobley, Eardisley and Wigmore. So the pale at that time must 
have been drawn not far short of the city of Hereford itself. 
It will be easy to gather from what has been said that the great object of the 
Earl of the March and of the mesne lords who held under him must always have 
been to strengthen their positions on the border and to be continually pushing them 
further westward. And these no doubt were the causes which led to the 
foundation of so many castles in this part of England. They were aggressive 
rather than defensive posts. They were designed not merely to overcome the 
Welsh and keep them in check, but also to serve as convenient points from which 
to harass the enemy and levy black mail upon him. Of course there was plenty of 
retaliation, and the Welshman who had plundered and got away would be every 
bit as safe in his own mountains as the Norman would be in his Castle. It may be 
as well to mention here that the earliest Norman Castles were generally nothing 
but a single square tower of immense solidity and buttressed at the angles. The 
windows and entrance doorway were at a considerable height above the ground, 
and the basement story was built of such ponderous masonry as to defy all attacks 
upon it. The inmates were therefore safe from assault, but their quarters being 
limited they could be starved out, if the beleaguering host could keep their ground. 
To meet this difficulty additions to the original structure began to be made in the 
Great Castle-building era of King Stephen, and a part of the adjoining ground was 
enclosed with high walls and protected, if need required it, by a fosse or ditch. 
These outworks gradually increased in importance till in the Edwardian era—the 
latter part of the 13th century—the enclosing walls and towers, with entrance 
gateway, portcullis and moat constituted the most important features of the fortress. 
The Norman Keep (if there had been one) was retained as a place of final retreat, 
but its internal arrangements underwent many changes, and it will often be found 
that the windows were enlarged at this period and many of the earlier character- 
istics destroyed. At what date the three border fortresses of Skenfrith, Grosmont, 
and Llantilio or White Castle were built we have no means of ascertaining with — 
certainty. All three are mentioned in a document in the British Museum, 
(Cotton M.S., Vest. A., xviii., 159) which is attributed to the early part of the 
reign of Henry III., and they were certainly in existence in the time of King John. 
It is not an improbable supposition that their origin was due to the energy which 
King Henry I. displayed in checking the Welsh and repressing their turbulent 
inroads. 
In Skenfrith Castle we have as you see, a fortress of mixed character. The 
The circular keep is of Norman date, while the curtain walls strengthened by 
towers at the angles belong to the later or Edwardian era. At Grosmont the 
