366 



craved for novelty, and longed to step out into the gay world, which seemed to 

 promise her so much, and gave her so little. 



Let us draw a curtain over the dishonourable courtship, the ill-treatment of 

 the old lover, and the desertion of the peaceful home by the River Wye. 



Flow on, fair stream, 

 And murmur with thy waters, 

 For Rosamund has gone. 



THE CASTLE. 



Clifford Castle stands up(m a bold eminence commanding the Wye, and in 

 a position which must from the earliest times have been found most suitable for a 

 fortress, protected as it was, on one side by the river, and on the other by a 

 ravine communicating with it. 



It does not seem iinprobable that the Romans may have had a road from 

 Clyro Hill via Clifford to Abergavenny (Gobannium) which would be shorter than 

 going through Hay and less difficult, and the ford, being an important one, must 

 clearly have been well defended. 



As early as the middle of the 9th century, the Saxons penetrating as far as 

 the Isle of Anglesey, compelled the Welsh to acknowledge their superiority, and 

 it is but natural that they should make, rebuild, and strengthen fortresses on the 

 Welsh border, such as Cardiff, Caerleon, Builth, Clifford, &c., in order to keep the 

 Welshmen in check. • 



At any rate it is pretty certain that in the reign of the " Confessor '' several 

 Norman families settled in England, and amongst them Richard Eitz-Scrob, who 

 had lands in the North of Herefordshire, and gave this name to Richard's Castle, 

 wliich it is supposed was built of stone after the Norman fashion, and was of great 

 use during the invasion of Prince Griffith. 



About this time a law was passed condemning every Welshman found in 

 arms on the east of Offa's Dyke, to lose his right hand ; and the natives of the 

 mountains, taught by fatal experience, seemed to grow more respectful of their 

 neighbours' territory. 



Herefordshire was at this period, as afterwards, one of the most valuable 

 and dangerously situated of all the English acquisitions on the Welsh border, and 

 that the building and repairing of fortified places was much encouraged in this 

 part of the country, is certified by the fact that, of the small number of castles 

 recorded in "Domesday," no less than ten are named as standing in the Marches 

 of Monmouth and Hereford, amongst them Clifford. 



The Castle is reported to have been biiilt, but most likely repaired, by 

 William FitzOsborne, Earl of Hereford, a kinsman of William the Conqueror. 



William FitzOsborne was slain in Flanders in 1070, and was succeeded by 

 his son Roger, surnamed de Breteuil, who, having conspired against his King, was 

 deprived of his estates. 



It was to this man that Lanfranc wrote concerning the repairing of castles, 



