Clifford Castle--Lords-marchers--Fair Rosamond--Ruins of the Castle--The
silent cottage--Approach to Hereford--Castle--Cathedral--Nell
Gwynn--Cider--Salmon--Wolves.
Leaving Hay, the valley widens, the background softens, and the whole
scene assumes the character of an English vale, where the hills on each
side are cultivated to the summit. On the right, as we proceed, a deep
umbrageous wood comes in to give effect, just where effect was wanting;
and, surmounting a conical eminence above the road, near the second
milestone, the hoary ruins of Clifford Castle intermix with the monotony
of modern life the associations of the olden time.
Clifford Castle was built by William Fitzosborne, earl of Hereford, but
was held at the time of the Domesday Survey by Rudolphus de Totenie. It
was obtained by the Cliffords by the marriage of Walter Fitz-Richard with
Margaret, daughter of Ralph de Cundy. Walter Fitz-Richard--a descendant
of Richard II., duke of Normandy--whose father accompanied the Conqueror
into England, having married the heiress of Ralph de Cundy, of Clifford
Castle, took the name of De Clifford, and the place remained the baronial
seat of the family for two centuries.
The nobles of that age were not merely required to do military service
for their lands, but other imposts were laid upon them by the feudal
custom, which had the effect of a true property tax. At the marriage of
Matilda, daughter of Henry I., with Charles V. of Germany, the king
collected a sum equal to about 135,000 of our money from the land, at a
fixed rate per hide; and the returns (_certificationes_) show very
clearly the distribution of property at the time. We find Walter de
Clifford set down for one hide in Herefordshire in Wales. It may be
noted, in passing, that Henry was not only generous in granting lands to
his own and his father's followers, but the same request being made to
him by some Flemings, whose share of terra firma had been wrested from
them by an incursion of the sea, he made no scruple to comply. "Being
very liberall," say the Welsh chronicles, "of that which was not his
owne, he gave them the land of _Ros_, in West Wales, or Dynet, where
Pembroke, Haverford, and Tenby are now built; and they there remain to
this day, as may well be perceived by their speech and conditions being
farre differing from the rest of the countrye."
The Norman knights who settled on the Welsh borders acquired the name of
Lords Marchers, being styled Marchiones Walliae in the Red Book of the
Exchequer; although the title of nobility derived from this, _Marquis_,
was not introduced till the reign of Richard II. These lords marchers,
of whom were the Cliffords and other families in Hereford, had each a law
for his own barony, and determined of their own authority all suits
between their tenants. They were entitled to the goods and chattels of
such of their tenants as died intestate. This power, in fact, was such
as could only be continued by violence; and hence the coolness or
treachery of some of them when any serious attempt was made by the
sovereign to introduce the laws and customs of the English into Wales.
After the death of Llewellin, the last prince of Wales, this was at
length effected by Edward I.; but still, the Marches, not being included
in the division of the land into counties became a scene of such anarchy,
that it was found necessary to institute a court of judicature for that
district alone. This court continued till the first year of William and
Mary, when it was dissolved by an act of Parliament, in consequence, as
the preamble states, of its having become "a great grievance to the
subject." Previous to this, however, in the time of Henry VIII., the
Marches of Wales were definitely united to England; when Clifford and
other places, which were before a debatable land of bloodshed and
confusion, became a part of Herefordshire.
But Clifford Castle is not associated merely with ideas of war and
rapine, but with those of love and beauty. Here was born that too
celebrated lady, of whom Dryden says--
"Jane Clifford was her name, as books aver,
Fair Rosamond was but her _nom de guerre_."
[Picture: Clifford Castle]
She was the daughter of one of the earls of Clifford, and became
celebrated for her amour with Henry II.; who built her a bower in
Woodstock Park, which he defended from his jealous wife by the classical
device of a labyrinth. Queen Eleanor, however, who was as well read in
ancient history as her spouse, was not slow in hitting upon the expedient
of the clue of thread; and, on reaching her rival, the historical
romancers add, she compelled her to swallow poison. Whatever may have
been her fate, Fair Rosamond was buried at Godstow, and a Latin epitaph
inscribed on her tomb to this effect:
"Here lies not Rose the Chaste, but Rose the Fair,
Whose breath perfumes no more, but taints the air."
The ruins of the castle, completely covered with ivy, look down solemn
and sad upon the Wye:
"Clifford has fallen--howe'er sublime,
Mere fragments wrestle still with time;
Yet as they perish, sure and slow,
And rolling dash the stream below,
They raise tradition's glowing scene,--
The clue of silk, the wrathful queen;
And link in memory's firmest bond
The love-lorn tale of Rosamond."
We carried away with us for a considerable distance the dreamy repose of
Clifford Castle; but this was at length broken by repose of another
character. The scene was a little wayside hut, purporting to be an inn,
where the weary pedestrian might obtain shade or shelter, if no
refreshment. An old man, and an old woman, occupied the two fireside
corners, the one reading, the other sewing, in profound silence. Around
the hearth, there was a semi-circle of five cats, in various attitudes of
rest, but not one breaking the stillness of the place even by a pur. A
dog, apparently kept in proper order by his feline associates, lay
outside the semicircle, and shared in the tranquillity of the scene. We
paused for a moment at the door, feeling that our presence was an
intrusion; but, after a brief question, and a brief reply, the good wife
dropped her eyes again upon her work, and the dog, who had himself raised
his head, returned to his slumber with a sigh. As for the other
inhabitants, our presence had produced no effect upon them at all, and we
withdrew to proceed upon our wanderings, unconsciously taking care to
tread without noise.
From this place to Hereford, the road runs through a rich and well
cultivated country, dotted here and there with houses and villages, but
not thickly enough to disturb the idea of pastoral repose. Approaching
Bradwardine, where the old castle said to have been the residence of the
family of that name is _not_, the soil swells into wooded eminences, one
of which is called Mirebeck Hill; and Brobury's Scar, a picturesque cliff
rising from the bank of the river, adds still further to the diversity of
the prospect. Then came the various villas which usually adorn the
neighbourhood of a large town--and which here are true embellishments to
the landscape; and finally we enter the ancient, sober, quiet cathedral
city of Hereford.
Hereford was a principal town of Mercia under the Heptarchy, the palace
of Offa, the most powerful of the Mercian princes, being within three
miles of it on the north-eastern side. Its church, in the time of Offa,
was probably nothing more than a wooden building; but to the rise of that
church in wealth and reputation was owing, according to the usual
sequence of events at the period, the prosperity of the town. Offa had
treacherously inveigled to his court Ethelbert, prince of the East
Angles, when he murdered him, and usurped his crown. The body of the
victim was buried in the church, where by working of miracles it
attracted so much attention to the spot, that a new church of stone was
constructed on the site of the wooden edifice, and dedicated to _Saint
Ethelbert_. Multitudes of course flocked to visit the martyr's tomb; the
church was richly endowed by the remorse or hypocrisy of the assassin;
and Hereford speedily rose from its comparative obscurity.
About the year 939, the city was first enclosed by walls, the fragments
of which now existing are supposed to stand upon the original
foundations. They were eighteen hundred yards in extent, enclosing the
town on all sides except towards the south, where it has the defence of
the Wye. There were six gates, and fifteen embattled watch-towers. The
castle, concerning the date of which antiquarians are not agreed, stood
on the south and east sides of the city, with the Wye on the south and
the cathedral on the west. Leland describes the keep as having been
"high and very strong, having in the outer wall ten semicircular towers,
and one great tower within." He adds, that "it hath been one of the
largest, fayrest, and strongest castels in England." In the time of the
civil wars, Hereford was the scene of some strife, but since then nothing
has occurred--not even the introduction of manufactures--to disturb its
repose.
With the exception of the cathedral, a grand view of which is to be had
from the Castle Green Promenade--a fine public walk on a small
scale--there is nothing to detain the traveller. Some fragments of the
city walls, however, and of an old priory, may be visited by the
antiquary; together with an old house, a "brotherless hermit," the last
of a race demolished for the purpose of widening the street where the
town hall stands--or rather sits--resting uneasily on some thin columns.
The house, adorned with grotesque faces, bears its date, 1621.
The traveller may also go, if he will, to Pipe Lane, formerly called Pipe
Well Street, leading from the bridge to the cathedral, to see the house
where Nell Gwynn was not born, and the bedchamber where she did not
sleep. These curiosities will be shown for a trifle, and they must now
suffice: the dwelling which really had the distinction of giving birth to
Mistress Eleanor having been pulled down more than twenty years ago.
After the removal of this celebrated lady to London, she made her first
appearance in Drury Lane Theatre, in the character of a fruit-girl, not
on the stage, but in the lobby. Mr. Hart, the manager, however, was
induced to notice her by her natural humour and vivacity, and he produced
her upon the boards about the year 1667. Here she became a favorite of
Dryden, who wrote some of his prologues and epilogues expressly for her.
"The immediate cause of her becoming the object of the king's affection
is thus represented. At the duke's theatre, under Killegrew's patent,
the celebrated Nokes appeared in a hat larger than that usually assigned
to Pistol, which diverted the audience so much as to help off a bad play.
Dryden, in return, caused a hat to be made of the circumference of a
large coach wheel, and made Mrs. Gwynn speak an epilogue under the
umbrella of it, with the brim stretched out in its utmost horizontal
extension, not unlike a mushroom of that size. No sooner did she appear
in this strange dress, than the house was in convulsions of laughter.
Amongst the rest, the king gave the fullest marks of approbation, by
going behind the scenes after the play, and taking her home in his own
coach to sup with him." {41} Her son, born in 1670, was afterwards
created duke of St. Albans; and her grandson became a prelate of the
church, and the denizen of the episcopal palace nearly adjoining the
humble house in Pipe Lane, where his maternal ancestor was born. Mrs.
Gwynne was one of the few royal favorites who have not abused their
power, otherwise than in spending money which should have been under the
control of the nation. She was munificent in her charities, and may be
considered, if not the founder of Chelsea Hospital, the cause of its
having been founded. "Her stature was short, her hair inclined to red;
her eyes were small and lively, and she possessed what the French term
embonpoint. Her feet were of the most diminutive size, and as such were
the subject of frequent mirth to the merry monarch."
The staple commodity of Hereford is cider; but the reputation of the
county for this production dates backward only to the reign of Charles
I., when, according to Evelyn, it became "in a manner one entire
orchard." The apples are merely a variety of the crab, as the pears are
descended from the common wild pear. The plantations are found in every
aspect, and on every soil; but in general the west winds, so much praised
by the Roman poets, and after them by Philips the bard of cider, are
unwholesome to the plant, from the circumstance of their blowing over the
Welsh mountains, which are capped with snow even in the spring. The best
colours for cider fruits are red and yellow, the juice of the green being
harsh and poor. The pulp should be yellow, but this part of the apple is
not so important as the rind and kernel, in which the strength and
flavour of the liquid reside; and for this reason the smaller the apple
is the better. From twenty-four to thirty gallons are required to fill
the provincial hogshead of one hundred and ten gallons.
The cider-mill used even at this moment is a rude and imperfect
contrivance, consisting of a circular stone, about twelve hundred weight,
set on its edge in a shallow circular trough, and drawn round by a horse.
The apples are gradually introduced into the trough, and a quantity may
be thus mashed equal to a hogshead of cider in the day. The expressed
juice is put into casks, not quite filled, and in the open air; and as
soon as the vinous fermentation takes place, it is racked. When two
years old it may be bottled, after which it will become rich and
sparkling, and so remain for twenty or thirty years. Perry is made with
pears pretty nearly in the same way.
The salmon is still the principal fish taken in the Wye, though far less
plentiful than formerly. It was at one time a common clause in the
indentures of apprentices that they should not be compelled to live on
salmon more than two days in the week. Wolves were formerly so numerous
in this district, that in 1234 a proclamation was issued commanding them
to be destroyed, and calling upon "all the king's liege people to assist
therein." A wolf would now be an extraordinary spectacle indeed on the
sunny slopes, or prowling among the apple orchards of Hereford! But the
Wye has seen changes more remarkable than this.
[Picture: Hereford]