Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was King of Wales from 1055 to 1063.(TNA)(BBC) He had previously been King of Gwynedd and Powys in 1039. He was the son of King Llywelyn ap Seisyll and Angharad daughter of Maredudd ab Owain, and the great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda.
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, Lord of Breteuil, was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. FitzOsbern was created Earl of Hereford in 1067, one of the first peerage titles in the English peerage. He is one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. His chief residence was Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, one of many castles he built in England.
New Radnor is a village in Powys, Wales, to the south of Radnor Forest, and was the county town of Radnorshire.
Chepstow Castle at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Located above cliffs on the River Wye, construction began in 1067 under the instruction of the Norman Lord William FitzOsbern. Originally known as Striguil, it was the southernmost of a chain of castles built in the Welsh Marches, and with its attached lordship took the name of the adjoining market town in about the 14th century.
Wigmore Castle is a ruined castle about 1 km (0.62 mi) from the village of Wigmore in the northwest region of Herefordshire, England.
Longtown Castle, also termed Ewias Lacey Castle in early accounts, is a ruined Norman motte-and-bailey fortification in Longtown, Herefordshire. It was established in the 11th century by Walter de Lacy, reusing former Roman earthworks. The castle was then rebuilt in stone by Gilbert de Lacy after 1148, who also established the adjacent town to help pay for the work. By the 14th century, Longtown Castle had fallen into decline. Despite being pressed back into use during the Owain Glyndŵr rising in 1403, it fell into ruin. In the 21st century the castle is maintained by English Heritage and operated as a tourist attraction.
Ranulph I de Mortimer was a Marcher Lord from the Montgomery lands in the Welsh Marches. In England, he was Lord of Wigmore in Herefordshire. In Normandy, he was the Seigneur of St. Victor-en-Caux. Ranulph was the founder of the English House of Mortimer of Wigmore. He acquired Wigmore Castle after William Fitz Osbern's son Roger de Breteuil joined the Revolt of the Earls of 1075. His lands and holdings in Herefordshire and Shropshire were granted to him by William the Conqueror before 1086.
Hereford Castle is a castle that used to be in the cathedral city of Hereford, the county town of Herefordshire, England. Founded sometime before 1052, it was one of the earliest castles in England. Hereford Castle was probably destroyed when the Welsh sacked Hereford in 1055, but seems to have been replaced by the following decade. During the civil war, when Stephen sought to usurp Queen Matilda, the castle was besieged three times; the garrison surrendered each time and control of Hereford Castle changed hands.
Bernard de Neufmarché, also Bernard of Newmarket or Bernard of Newmarch was the first of the Norman conquerors of Wales. He was a minor Norman lord who rose to power in the Welsh Marches before successfully undertaking the invasion and conquest of the Kingdom of Brycheiniog between 1088 and 1095. Out of the ruins of the Welsh kingdom he created the Anglo-Norman lordship of Brecon.
Bronllys Castle is a motte and bailey fortress standing south of Bronllys, towards Talgarth in Powys, Wales. The original castle, constructed of wood, was founded in or soon after 1100 by Richard Fitz Pons, the owner of the nearby Herefordshire barony of Clifford, who was a supporter of Bernard of Neufmarché.
Walter de Clifford (1113–1190) was an Anglo-Norman Marcher Lord of Bronllys Castle on the Welsh border, and was feudal baron of Clifford, seated at Clifford Castle in Herefordshire.
Ewyas was a possible early Welsh kingdom which may have been formed around the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century. The name was later used for a much smaller commote or administrative sub-division, which covered the area of the modern Vale of Ewyas and a larger area to the east including the villages of Ewyas Harold and Ewyas Lacy.
Elfael was one of a number of Welsh cantrefi occupying the region between the River Wye and river Severn, known as Rhwng Gwy a Hafren, in the early Middle Ages. It was divided into two commotes, Is Mynydd and Uwch Mynydd, separated by the chain of hills above Aberedw. In the late medieval period, it was a marcher lordship. However, after the Laws in Wales Act of 1535, it was one of the territorial units which went to make up the county of Radnorshire in 1536.
Richard's Castle is a village, castle and two civil parishes on the border of the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire in England. The Herefordshire section of the parish had a population of 250 at the 2011 Census. The Shropshire section of the parish had a population of 424 at the 2011 Census.
Clifford is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north of Hay-on-Wye. It lies on the south bank of the River Wye, which here forms the border between Wales and England. The village sits on the B4350 road. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Priory Wood and Hardwicke.
William Devereux, was an important Marcher Lord, and held Lyonshall Castle controlling a strategically vital approach to the border of Wales. The castle's significance was heightened by the rebellion of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. With strong family ties to the politically powerful families of Cantilupe and Giffard, his support was strongly sought after by Henry III and Simon de Montfort throughout the Second Barons' War.
The Lordship of Brecknock was an Anglo-Norman marcher lordship located in southern central Wales.
The feudal barony of Clifford was a feudal barony with its caput baroniae at Clifford Castle in Herefordshire, England.
Snodhill Castle is a ruined motte-and-bailey castle, about 1 mi (1.6 km) south of the village of Dorstone, west Herefordshire, England. It is now recognised as one of the major castles of the Welsh Marches, being built in the 11th century to secure the border between Norman England and the Welsh Princes. Archaeological excavations have found that it was one of the first Norman castles in the country to receive stone defences, with more sophisticated defences being added in later centuries. The castle was first mentioned in 1142. Although it was recorded as being in decay in the mid-16th century, it was probably was still in use in the 17th century. It remained in private hands until 2016, when it was acquired by a charitable trust to preserve the remaining structure.
