172 



In the following year, 1643, Sir William Croft was taken prisoner at the 

 siege of Hereford on the 25th of April, but soon recovered his liberty, and he 

 afterwards assembled a party of Royalists in the parish of Eyton, with the 

 intention of recovering Leominster from the Oliverians, but they were defeated 

 by Colonel Birch. A broken halbert bearing the initials of Sir William Croft was 

 not long ago dug up at Eyton, and was presented by the late Mr. Weaver Evans, 

 of Eyton Hall, to his friend Sir Herbert Croft, by whom it is greatly prized. 



According to one account Sir William Croft, being deserted by his followers, 

 was slain, gallantly fighting in the King's cause, near Hoptou Castle in June, 

 1645, in his 52nd year. And this is, to a certain e.xtent, confirmed by the original 

 epitaph on Sir William Croft in Croft Church, which was : — 

 " Here lies the body of Sir William Croft, 



Knight, eldest son of Sir Herbert Croft, 



He was an eminent example of virtue in his life and of valour in his death, 



Which he received in the 52nd year of his age, in the year of our Lord , 



And in the 21st year of King Charles 1st, against whose rebellious enemies, 

 leading the Luston men 



Into a field near Hopton Castle, was there shamefully abandoned by them 

 and left a single victime to the enemy. " 

 This epitaph has been altered in recent days and the words "county troops" 

 substituted for Luston men— a strange proceeding ! But there is reason to think 

 that Sir William Croft's epitaph was incorrect in two particulars, and many 

 contemporary authorities agree that he was slain in 1645, fighting for the King at 

 Stokesay Castle, in which we are now assembled, and this was certainly the 

 opinion of my late friend, Mrs. Stackhouse Acton, who was no mean authority. 

 In the account of the fight at Stokesay, sent to the House of Commons, it is stated 

 that Sir William Croft, " the leading delinquent in that part of the kingdom," 

 was there slain. Moreover, Hopton Castle was taken two years before the fight 

 of Stokesay, date being 1st March, 1643 ; and the captor. Sir Michael Woodhouse, 

 who commanded in South Salop and in part of North Herefordshire. 



"The King (says Mr. Webb in "Civil Wars of Herefordshire," Vol. 2, 

 page 193) sustained a grevious loss a little before the battle of Naseby. This was 

 the death of his faithful adherent, Sir William Croft, than whom no man in 

 Herefordshire had upheld his cause with greater resolution or consistency. A little 

 before reaching the Craven Arms Railway Station the traveller on the railway 

 from Hereford to Shrewsbury will pass at a short distance on the right a grey 

 and antiquated tower, which, together with a large banqueting hall and other 

 dependencies, constitute the Castle of Stokesay, then, and until recently, 

 possessed by the noble family of Craven. This building, still especially noticeable 

 from its picturesque aspect and careful preservation, was of sufficient strength 

 to be an object of importance to either party, and had been garrisoned for the 

 King in 1642 ; it had however, changed hands, and had just been occupied by a 

 Parliamentary detachment of 500 foot and 300 horse, which had been sent out from 

 Shrewsbury with the intention of planting garrisons so as to straiten Ludlow on 

 that side. They had found Holgate Castle too nmch dismantled for occupation, 



