Remains Of Castle On Castle Site

SO 3288 and SO 3289 11/1, 12/1

BISHOP'S CASTLE C.P. Remains of Castle on Castle Site

28.7.50

GV II Defensive walls. Castle founded circa 1100 for the Bishops of Hereford; now no more than sundry walls standing between 20 and 3 feet high in considerable earthworks. Coursed limestone rubble. Original plan: petrified motte and bailey. Some of the masonry is thought to be C14, and one C12 buttress is thought to be identifiable at NGR SO 32382 89048. Sections of the wall survive behind Nos. 10-20 (even), Market Square (Nos. 10 and 20 not listed) and Nos. 2-8 (even), Welsh Street, and behind Nos. 1-5 (odd), Bull Street (Nos. 3 and 5 not listed) and bound the Public Park on the east side. The motte is encircled partly by a rebuilt retaining wall incorporating stretches of mediaeval masonry. Confusingly the best surviving section to the north-east is incorporated in a wall which continues both to the north-west and south-east (neither extension included). Other walls included in this item may well be of medieval date, particularly the stretch between the south-east corner of the motte and the middle of the bailey. The top of the motte has been levelled to form a bowling green with a summerhouse (q.v.). In the bailey various buildings, mostly of post-1700 date, demonstrate how, at the end of the C17, the castle was allowed to decay.

Listing NGR: SO3230389074