23 May 2026 Longtown, Grosmont, Hay, and Clifford castles plus Abbey Dore

 3 ruined castles, one partially restored castle, and an Abbey that is now a Church. This is becoming a recurring theme each day. 

Longtown Castle was built by the de Lacy family in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It was originally known as Ewyas Lacy Castle, in the Vale of Eywas, and supposedly had a Roman Fort standing where the present day ruins are.

Walter de Lacy, a Norman Lord who fought at Hastings with William the Conqueror, was given the lands in the Vale of Ewyas to protect the locals from the Welsh, and to subdue the Welsh as a Marcher Lord. His family were in control of the castle until the early 1200's when they lost favor with King John, and the family ceased to be relevant. In the mid 1300's the Black Death descended on the village with devastating effect, and eventually the castle failed to serve a purpose with the Welsh problem taken care of. 

Today, it stands as a great example of a circular keep built upon a large Motte, and was even further damaged during the English Civil War.

Grosmont castle was next, and it is the third of the three castles built by William FitzOsbern right after William I's victory at Hastings. Originally a wooden Motte and Bailey, it was converted to a stone keep sometime during the Anarchy under King Steven. King John gave the three castles to Hubert de Burgh during his reign, and more additions were made to it. 

Henry III gave it to his second son Edmund "Crouchback" who was the Earl of Lancaster, and it stayed in the Lancaster family until the mid 1300's.

It is currently having the bridge from the barbican to the gatehouse over the moat  repaired,, so I could only get pictures from outside of the moat, but it is still impressive.  Here's a few pictures of it.

Abbey Dore was an interesting Church. Built on a large scale as an Abbey, many of the exterior buildings were brought down with the dissolution of the monasteries, and it was eventually sold off to the Scudamore family. In the early 1600's, Viscount Scudamore under took an extensive renovation project, transforming the Abbey into a Church.

Formally a Cistercian Abbey, it was one of the only one founded in England from the Morimond Cistercian mother house in France. The stone version of the Church started around 1175, and there are some unique things in this church that I haven't see before. 

There are tiles on either side of the Alter that represent the crests of Nobles who were buried in the church. It's hard to read them, and they don't look like they have been cleaned in a while, but if you know your crests, who can see if you have ancestors buried here.

The other thing I haven't seen before is this. There were two confirmed hear burials in this church, and one is located in a stone carved box near the High Alter. A Heart-burial is a type of burial in which the heart is interred apart from the body. In medieval Europe heart-burial was fairly common among the higher echelons of society.

The church also had some really nice stonework, and some wall paintings that survived over the years. 

This stone effigy is more than likely Roger de Clifford, one of my ancestors, who died in 1285. 

Here's one of Father time, a constant reminder that our time on this Earth isn't forever.

 

Other ancestors that I are buried here are:

Sybil de Ewyas, Lady of Burneham in 1236

Sir William Grandison, 1st Baron Grandison, 1335

Robert de Tregoz I,  1215

Sybil de Tregoz in 1334

I traveled to Hay on Wye to check out Hay Castle, and see what the Hay Festival was all about. I should've known better than to go to a town which labelled itself the "Town of Books". They boast quite a few second hand bookstores, and the place was teaming with people. In the middle of it is the remains of Hay Castle, owned by the de Braose family back in the 1200's. It was lived in by Matilda and William "Ogre of Abergavenny"de Braose. The gift shop didn't have any books about the castle, but they did have a book about the life of Matilda. Her and her son were taken prisoner by King John, and sent to Corfe Castle in Dorset. There, they were starved to death while King John wreaked his vengeance on William, and nearly succeeded in wiping out the de Braose family once and for all. 

While in the gift store, I met a lady at the cash register named Annie. As we started talking about Hay Castle and the life of Matilda, she realized that I was the person scheduled to meet her husband Keith at 2:30 pm at her home to get a private tour of Clifford Castle! Annie and Keith purchased a house and their property includes the ruined Castle of Clifford. I had met Keith online when I was planning my trip several years ago, and he was kind enough to take the time to show it to me. 

The castle had one of its towers collapse this year in February due to a lot of rain received, and because of the falling stonework, he has closed it off to the public. But I had the pleasure to hear him explain the castle's history, and what it takes for someone who privately owns a piece of history to take care of it, at his own expense. In the picture above, Keith is showing me the outer bailey gatehouse, and the path that leads up to the castle.

The first Clifford to live there was Walter de Fitzpons, who later changed his name to Richard de Clifford, and founded the Clifford family. The last was Walter De Clifford, who left the castle to his daughter Matilda (Maud) and her husband, John Gifford, in the late 1200's. After he died, the castle was passed along to numerous Nobles until it became the property of the Mortimers.

One of the towers at Clifford castle was named the Rosamund Tower. It was named after Rosamund de Clifford, who was one of Henry II's mistresses, and gave birth to a son of his, Geoffrey FtizRoy, who became a bishop. It was said that due to her connections to the King, she acquired enough wealth to start a comprehensive improvement and extension plan to the castle. Her tower was the one that collapsed earlier this year.