A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE .,Srn, •' "■" A. Clifford Castle a rough scarp, a more definite entrenchment once existed, but a house and garden occupy the spot. There is the appearance of masonry foundations towards the south-east, no doubt those of the Vaughan family mansion, built about 1640. Castleton (Old). See Clifford. Clifford Castle. — This interesting border stronghold is situated 2 miles north-east of Hay and stands upon a red sandstone eminence com- manding the River Wye, which pro- tects it on the north, while a deep ravine communicating with the river guards the southern and eastern sides. The earthworks consist of: (i) A mount about 85 ft. above the Wye, the north-west side is a natural steep scarp (of late years cut more sharply for the making of a railway) and the south-east side is also more or less natural. Upon this mount are the remains of a stone keep, to be re- ferred to in another chapter of this History ; (2) a bailey, or court, on the north-east, the entrenchments of which are not in a good state of preservation ; the side above the river appears to have depended for protection upon the natural scarp only. Here are two parallel ramparts in rough condition and of uncertain purpose;*^ (3) a platform on the south-west, the end of the natural bank left when the ditch was cut in forming the mount ; this may or may not have been used as part of the castle.*' Domesday leaves little room for doubt that we owe Clifford Castle works to WiUiam Fitz Osbern — ' Willelmus comes fecit illud in wasta terra.'*' A plan is in the Transactions of the Woolhope Field Club (1886-9), 3^^» and a descriptive article is in G. T. Clark's Mediaeval Military Architecture^ ii (1884). Clifford : Old Castleton. — This stronghold is situated 4 miles north- east of Hay, and formed out of the north ending of a ridge of land which rises towards the south-west. The position is defended on the north generally by the River Wye. The entrenchments are in a fair state of preservation, and consist of: (i) A mount formed by the cutting off of the extreme end of the hill by a fosse, the ballast from which was thrown up to heighten the mount. (2) A horseshoe- " Si me vhat the same feature is found at Barton Seagrave in Northants and Clavering in Essex.
- ' Similar natural tables were left at Stanstead Montfitchet in Essex, ' Caesar's Camp,' Folkestone, in Kent,
and at other places. " See ' English Fortresses and Castles of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries,' by W. H. St. J. Hope in Arch. Jouin. Ix, 72-90 (1903). 234 .c - — too Old Castleton, Clifford
