A feature of archaeology in the UK in recent years has been the inclusion of a community aspect in fieldwork and excavation, and the work undertaken at the Herefordshire castles of Longtown and Ponthendre is no exception. The former county archaeologist, Keith Ray, suggested the project to two local societies, and it was undertaken with the assistance of several archaeologists.
The formulation of the project and the seeking of necessary permissions, together with funding applications, began in 2013, but it was not until the summers of 2016 and 2017 that two seasons of excavation at both sites could be undertaken. A geophysical survey of the motte and bailey of Ponthendre was ‘uninformative’, and worse was to follow as far as furthering our knowledge about this site, for the eight trenches, including two on the motte summit, revealed almost nothing. The only structural evidence was a solitary posthole, perhaps for the palisade. It would appear that the site was abandoned before completion, which in itself is of interest to students of castle studies.
About half a mile to the north of Ponthendre lies the village of Longtown, with its masonry castle, the prominent feature being the round keep on the motte. The castle has an inner and outer bailey, with the rampart running on the east side of Castle Green. This eastern rampart, together with the bailey defences, combine to give the appearance of a Roman fort, and the archaeology did indeed reveal Roman material of the late first century ad and into the second.
Of more interest to medievalists was the discovery that the rampart at Longtown had been heightened before the castle was built, and the authors have suggested that this work was undertaken by Harold Godwinson in the 1050s as part of his campaign against Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, ruler of much of Wales until his death at the hands of his compatriots in 1063.
The study of the de Lacy great tower will be of particular interest to castellologists. There are two schools of thought regarding the date of construction. Most would accept a date in the opening decades of the thirteenth century, a time when most of the round keeps in south-east Wales and the Marches were built. However, this theory is at odds with the Norman carved masonry roundels used in one of the windows, suggesting a later twelfth century date, products of the Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture. However, the window voussoirs were clearly not designed for Longtown, and this reviewer would still argue for a date in the early thirteenth century for the tower.
The authors’ study of the great tower at Longtown does suggest that, assuming the text was subject to a peer review, the reviewer was not a castellologist. It is stated that there are no great round towers in Scotland when there are two, at the castles of Bothwell and Kildrummy.
This book is more than an excavation report, itself covered in some fifty pages in part one. Part two, the core of the book, over 150 pages, is a ‘new’ history of Ewyas and the family with which it is strongly associated, the de Lacy dynasty, a family strongly associated with Ludlow in Shropshire and Trim in Co. Meath. Four appendices shed more light on certain aspects of the de Lacys. Logaston has already published studies of the de Clare, Fitzalan and Mortimer families, three other great Marcher dynasties, and it is useful to have the Lacy contribution.
Logaston Press, founded originally by Andy Johnson in 1983, has a long history of producing fine books on a whole range of aspects of the history of the Welsh Marches. The imprint remains, but the press was taken over by Su and Richard Wheeler of the Fircone Press in 2018, and long may it thrive. Under the Wheelers there has been an improvement in the quality of production, especially regarding the illustrations. Although a small family-run business, there are aspects of book production that need a closer eye. In this case it was the Bibliography, where references have been duplicated or appear in the incorrect order, and, dare I say it, the item written by the reviewer and cited in the very first end-note has been omitted!
