Nicola here. On one of the last hot days of August, Wench Christina and I met up for a mini-Wench get together at Goodrich Castle, on the border of Wales and England. It was one of my first trips out after Lockdown and such a treat to be able to visit a historic site and even better to be able to chat about history and writing with a fellow Wench!
Goodrich is one of the finest and best-preserved of all English medieval castles but it isn’t very well known. We approached it the way that visitors would have done in the medieval period, on a path along a deep cutting in the rock. Here, the guidebook tells you, you could admire the red sandstone tower and the green stone of the keep – whilst being in range of the bowmen stationed on the roof (fortunately not a feature of a 21st century castle!)
The castle at Goodrich was built in the 11th century although it’s probable that there was an earlier fortification on the site, 
“Godric’s castle” which gave its name to the Goodrich. It guarded one of the few safe crossings of the River Wye and held a strategic position on the English/Welsh border. For a while was the home of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, who was known as “Strongbow.” A little-known fact is that the popular English brand of cider called Strongbow was named after him. This is the sort of factoid I love! Two hundred years down the line, though, the castle was no longer considered comfortable enough for the de Valence family, who had inherited it, and so they created a palatial “modern” home within the shell of the old walls. Many of the rooms in the towers and around the courtyard had fireplaces, window seats, wash basins and latrines – the height of luxury! The castle even has a “garderobe tower” providing latrines for the convenience of the whole household, although we would all probably shy away from the communal arrangements these days!
The account books of Joan, Countess of Pembroke (known as the Lady of Swanscombe) at the end of the 13th century throw some light on the sort of costs that went into the upkeep of the castle and the people who lived there. In November 1296, 114 pounds of wax for candles cost four pounds, five shillings and sixpence. Two pence was spent on wooden frames for the Countess’s fourposter bed! The household included several coachmen, chaplains, clerks, an usher, a herald and a laundress. There is a history of notable women at Goodrich Castle; in the Tudor period it belonged to the Earls of Shrewsbury and one of the daughters of Bess of Hardwick lived there.
We climbed to the top of the Keep tower (with difficulty, it was one of the narrowest and darkest spiral staircases either of us have 
ever tackled!) and the views from the top were very impressive. You would certainly see the enemy coming and the natural advantage of being on a rocky outcrop with a river and moat below would make the castle very difficult to attack.
Like many other castles in Herefordshire, Goodrich saw plenty of action in the English Civil War. Originally it was garrisoned with parliamentarian troops in 1642 but the Royalists took it in 1644 and it became the centre of Royalist activity in the region under Sir Henry Lingen who was stationed there with 120 soldiers and 50 officers. The castle must have been quite packed! In March 1646 the parliamentarian commander Colonel John Birch stole all the royalists’ horses and torched the stables in something of a propaganda coup.
Three months later he besieged the castle, bringing in a cannon called “Roaring Meg” which finally brought down one of the towers and led to the garrison surrendering. Roaring Meg is the only mortar to have survived from the English Civil Wars and she is small but mighty! She is on display in the courtyard.
After the Civil War, the castle was left in ruins. It then took on a different role as one of the 
earliest tourist attractions. The Wye Valley was one of the first places in England to draw visitors as part of the Romantic Movement. “Observations on the River Wye” by William Gilpin was published in 1782 and started a trend for organised itineraries and guided tours. By the 19th century the ruins were enhanced by ivy, wild roses and a famous ash tree in the courtyard and intrepid visitors could use ladders to climb the keep, which makes our trip up the spiral staircase seem rather tame!
On Friday, Christina is going to take you on Part 2 of the Ruined Castles Tour! In the meantime our question is: Do you have a nickname, like Strongbow and Roaring Meg? And if you had lived in the medieval period, what do you think your nickname would have been? My family call me "Duchess" but I'm not sure why!
