Domesday Book – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of William I, known as William the Conqueror. Domesday has long been associated with the Latin phrase Domus Dei, meaning "House of God". The manuscript is also known by the Latin name Liber de Wintonia, meaning "Book of Winchester". The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and calculate the dues owed to him.
Offa's Dyke Path is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout the world. About 60 miles (97 km) of the 177-mile (285 km) route either follows, or keeps close company with, the remnants of Offa's Dyke, an earthwork traditionally thought to have been constructed in the late 8th century on the orders of King Offa of Mercia.
Powys is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain.
Kington is a market town, electoral ward and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. According to the Parish, the ward had a population of 3,240, while the 2011 Census registered a population of 2,626.
New Radnor is a village in Powys, Wales, to the south of Radnor Forest, and was the county town of Radnorshire.
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is a phenomenon with complex motivations and was often used as a tool of control. Slighting spanned cultures and periods, with especially well-known examples from the English Civil War in the 17th century.
Leominster was a parliamentary constituency represented until 1707 in the House of Commons of England, then until 1801 in that of Great Britain, and finally until 2010, when it disappeared in boundary changes, in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Hereford railway station serves the city of Hereford, England. Managed by Transport for Wales, it lies on the Welsh Marches Line between Leominster and Abergavenny, is the western terminus of the Cotswold Line and also has an hourly West Midlands Trains service from Birmingham New Street. The station has four platforms for passenger trains and two additional relief lines for goods services.
The Barony of Kendal is a subdivision of the English historic county of Westmorland. It is one of two ancient baronies that make up the county, the other being the Barony of Westmorland. In 1974, the entire county became part of the modern county of Cumbria and ceased to have an administrative function. At the same time, Kendal borough along with some other rural and urban districts in Westmorland was merged with the neighbouring parts of Lancashire, Furness and Cartmel, and also the Sedbergh Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire into the new South Lakeland district of the new county.
North Herefordshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Bill Wiggin, a Conservative.
Bedford Castle was a large medieval castle in Bedford, England. Built after 1100 by Henry I, the castle played a prominent part in both the civil war of the Anarchy and the First Barons' War. The castle was significantly extended in stone, although the final plan of the castle remains uncertain. Henry III of England besieged the castle in 1224 following a disagreement with Falkes de Breauté; the siege lasted eight weeks and involved an army of as many as 2,700 soldiers with equipment drawn from across England. After the surrender of the castle, the king ordered its destruction (slighting).
Painscastle Castle is a castle in the village of Painscastle in Powys, Wales. It lies between Builth and Hay-on-Wye, approximately 3 miles from the Wales-England border today.
Arbirlot is a village in a rural parish of the same name in Angus, Scotland. The current name is usually presumed to be a contraction of Aberelliot or Aber-Eliot - both meaning the mouth of the Elliot. It is situated west of Arbroath. The main village settlement is on the Elliot Water, 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) from Arbroath. There is a Church of Scotland church and a primary school. The school lies 1 mile (1.6 km) further west, in the approximate geographic centre of the parish.
Huntington Castle was situated in the village of Huntington in Herefordshire, England, 2½ miles south-west of Kington.
Inkberrow Castle was situated in the village of Inkberrow in Worcestershire, some 10 km south of Redditch.
Kington Castle stood in the medieval market town of Kington in Herefordshire, England. It was built in the 11th century and destroyed in 1215.
The Castle of Rattray was a medieval Scottish castle, with multiple variations on its structure over approximately six centuries. Originally built as a "late 12th- or early 13th century defensive motte" it provided protection for Starny Keppie Harbour and Rattray village. Sometime between 1214 and 1233 it was upgraded by William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan before being destroyed in the 1308 Harrying of Buchan. After Comyn's timber castle was burned down, it was replaced by a stronger stone castle which was engulfed during a 1720 sand storm along with nearby Rattray village. After the storm, the castle was not dug out and remains covered to this day. The castle was described by W. Douglas Simpson as one of the nine castles of the Knuckle, referring to the rocky headland of north-east Aberdeenshire.
The Rhydspence Inn is a 14th-century inn situated on the Wales-England border and within the Wye Valley overlooking the Welsh hills and Herefordshire countryside. According to English Heritage it was built in the 16th century with 19th and late 20th century additions. It is a former gentry house and was not built as an inn. Until well into the sixteenth century droving on any scale in the Marches was far too risky. In such a lonely and lawless area, cattle rustling was rife, often by the authorities themselves. The Land of Speis means simply land of thorn bushes, which it is. The name is still in use today. Abbey Cwm Hir was always a modest house, the monks were predominately Welsh and apart from the Abbey's officers would have little occasion to leave it.
Huntington Castle, also known as Clonegal Castle, is a castle in Clonegal, County Carlow, Ireland, built in 1625.
Hay Bridge spans the River Wye at Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales.
