Talks are held at the Conquest theatre in Bromyard unless otherwise specified – everyone is welcome; members free (a booking password will be emailed prior to the event), guests £7.00 unless otherwise stated on event. It would be helpful if you can pre-book before the event via this link. This saves queuing at the box office before the start of the talk. Even though there is no charge for members, a complete list of those attending is required for fire safety reasons.
Snodhill Castle – guided tour
Snodhill must be the biggest, oldest castle no-one’s heard of. Its size, scale and obvious elan point to a significance far greater than its scant written records do. This much, however, we think we know:
In 2021 we discovered Stone and Bronze age evidence that showed that the ‘Snodhill’ (possible meaning ‘Cleared hill’) was occupied for thousands of years before the Normans arrived. It is also possible that Snodhill is a very rare pre-Norman castle built around 1050 to guard the fertile Dore Valley and its prosperous Saxon villages at Wilmastone, Dorstone, Peterchurch and Mynydd-brith.
What we know for certain is that the castle was built around 1068 by Norman Superknight William Fitz Osbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, who was campaigning to assert Norman control along the Welsh Marches (he built all the early Norman castles from Chepstow to Wigmore).
Fitz Osbern granted the castle to his loyal knight Hugh l’Asne who held it until his death in 1101, when the castle passed to Robert de Chandos (who had married l’Asne’s daughter).
Talks are held at the Conquest theatre in Bromyard unless otherwise specified – everyone is welcome; members free, guests £7.00 unless otherwise stated on event. It would be helpful if you can pre-book before the event via this link. This saves queuing at the box office before the start of the talk. Even though there is no charge for members, a complete list of those attending is required for fire safety reasons.