Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/323

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ANCIENT EARTHWORKS gave a view of the picturesque old building (perhaps of Elizabethan date) which succeeded earlier work, and he spoke of moat and fosse without the buildings." St. Weonards. — Six and a half miles west of Ross. The fortified mansion known as Treago was surrounded by double walling ; and beyond the second wall was a water-fed moat supplied by the River Garren. There are some traces of further defensive works. Tretire Castle. — The castle site, 8 miles due south of Hereford, is referred to by the Rev. C. J. Robinson as a large squarish mound, on which several towers appear to have stood, divided from the neighbouring ground on two sides by a fosse. No masonry remains, but foundations may still be traced, and the internal courtyard is well defined. '^* Urishay Castle. See Peterchurch. Welsh Newton : Pembridge Castle. — The Rev. C.J. Robinson states : 'the fortress is in a comparatively perfect condition.'" There is a moat, now incomplete, which formerly surrounded the castle. At the beginning of the 13th century Ralph de Pembridge was settled here, and the moat may have been dug in his time. Welsh Newton lies over 7 miles south-west of Ross, on the Mon- mouthshire border. The simple form of the earthwork would justify its inclusion in Class F, but as lines of stone walling from the first added to the defensive character of the whole, we class it under G. Walterstone Camp. — This stronghold is situated 13 miles south- west of Hereford, and stands upon the highest part of a hill here over 700 ft. above sea level. The position, though 370 ft. above the River Monnow, which flows a mile westward and rather less on the south-east, is not immediately de- fended by the hillside, the slope being of no great steepness. The entrenchments are of an excep- tional form, and consist of three ramparts and two fosses, the outer fosse apparently once containing water. Chisbury in Wiltshire, and Bramley in Hampshire, afford much similarity in plan, but such works are by no means common. The earthworks are much reduced in height, but are otherwise in a good state of preservation. The original entrance was probably north-north- east, by the side of the circular inclosure marked ' site of chapel.' It is impossible to assert the date of construction of this interesting work, in the absence of definite evidence, but the probability is that its ramparts guarded a Norman stronghold, therefore, notwithstanding its appellation of ' camp,' we prefer to include it in Class G. " Castks ofHertfs. (1869), 132. " Ibid. 128. " Ibid. 1 14. 255 Walterstone Camp