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Grosmont was occupied in the eailier days of the English stockades, although the 

 ruins now existing indicate no period earlier than that of Henry III., with alter- 

 ations made prol)ably in the time of Edward I. The importance attached to 

 this district by the successive races of Celt, Roman, Saxon, and Norman, and 

 maintained in later times in this part of the Marches, is evidenced by the existence 

 of the strong places of Grosmont, Skenfrith, Oldcastle, Longtown, the fortified 

 house of Perthir, and Monmouth Castle, all on the banks of the river Monnow, 

 with Usk, AberL'avenny, Crickhowell, Tretower, and Brecknock in succession on 

 the river Usk. The Castle of Grosmont has always been associated with the neigh- 

 bouring castles of Skenfrith, and Llantilio (or Whitecastle), forming with them the 

 celebrated trilateral. Grosmont and Skenfrith are four and a half miles apart ; 

 Whitecastle, only reached by a long steep ascent, and undefended by any river or 

 watercourse, is five and a half miles distant from Skenfrith, and five miles from 

 Grosmont. The history of Skenfrith, with its frequent changes of possessors, 

 especially in the 13th Century, has been given by the Rev. C. J. Robinson, in the 

 "Transactions " for 1875, pa'.'es 125 to 130. The liistory of Grosmont is a repetition of 

 that of Skenfrith, its perusal shows the uncertain tenure of lands held immediately 

 from the Crown m those days, and the reader is led to sympathize with the Barons 

 in their resistance to the arbitrary proceedings of John and his son Henry III. 

 Grosmont was the most important of the three castles, and was occupied as a 

 baronial residence. It is of moderate size, enclosing an area of about 110 feet 

 long, by between 70 and 80 broad. Its principal entrance is upon the eastern side, 

 with an earthwork or barbican as a covering-work. The deep ditch which 

 surrounds the whole work was probably crossed by a drawbridge. The entrance 

 gate was protected by a portcullis, of which the grooves are to be seen, with two 

 holes for the wooden bars. Upon entering the inner court, the large hall is seen 

 on the north side, a strong low tower on the south-east, a larger tower on the 

 south-west, and from the western curtain the buildings project, and exhibit a 

 fireplace, the flue from which rises as an octagonal chimney shaft crowned by an 

 elegant lanthorn as finial, somewhat resemblmg a chimney on St. Briavel's Castle 

 on the river Wye, in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire. 



On the accession of Henry IV. these estates, like all others of the House of 

 Lancaster, became vested in the Crown, and continued in possession of the Kings 

 as Dukes of Lancaster, until recent times. 



The destruction of the Castle is ascribed by tradition to the period of the 

 Wars of the Roses, when all the castles of the county were dismantled by 

 William, Earl of Pembroke, by order of Edward IV. In the rei^n of James I. 

 (1603 to 1625) it was reported a ruin. This ruin is now the property of the Duke 

 of Beaufort, by whose ancestor it was bought about 1824 ; the same care and 

 attention is bestowed upon its preservation as ia so conspicuous a characteristic in 

 all those memorials of the feudal ages which are under the supervision of his 

 Grace. 



The return journey to Hereford was commenced at six o'clock ; the descent 

 of that very steep declivity, named Cupid's Hill, leading from Grosmont to the 

 river Monnow, was performed cautiously and safely ; the intellectual recreation 



