STAPLETON CASTLE

Herefordshire

Another of Herefordshire's dramatic ruins, Stapleton Castle stands on a high point amidst the earthworks of an early Castle, possibly built by Osbern FitzRichard before the time of the Domesday Book.

By 1207 the Castle had passed to the de Say family who married into the Mortimer family. In 1304 the Castle passed to the Cornewalls and in 1403 it was garrisoned against Owain Glyndwr, although there is no record of an attack taking place.

Early in the 1600s a new house was built on the earthworks, and it is the ruins of this we see today. Although the house was barely a defensive building at all it still held out against an attack by Parliament in 1645.  The Cornewalls left in 1706 and for a while the house was occupied by the Harleys (see Brampton Bryan Castle and Wigmore Castle) before being abandoned to its fate.

This tremendously atmospheric ruin stands atop its hill like a gaunt, broken tooth and is accessible via a steep footpath from the road below.

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2001