JOHN MOOREHERITAGE SERVICES - Archaeology Data Service

John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Cobrey Farm, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment
Historically, as we shall see below, the manors of Walford and
Weston-under-Penyard had a complicated arrangement with other manors located at
Ross-on-Wye and Linton (near Ross). The first historical reference any of these
manors is in 1016 when Edmund Ironside is reputed to have granted the manor at
Ross-on-Wye to the bishop of Hereford (Finberg 1964, no.420). The grant is lost,
probably destroyed by in a Welsh attack on Hereford, when the cathedral and its
library were destroyed. Ross was the centre of a large and complicated estate (see
below) and an early medieval parochial system (see below). The ecclesiastical land
(church of Saint Mary, Priory, other ecclesiastical lands, and outlying burials) covers
a large rectangular area of Ross, suggesting the plan is determined by earlier
archaeology. This has been confirmed recently by excavations in the Prospect
Gardens where substantial Roman masonry was uncovered (Shoesmith 2009, 149).
The place-name Weston, first recorded in 1086 as Westune, indicates
the west settlement (Coplestone-Crow 1989, 202). It is a directional estate name, and
is counterbalanced by Aston Ingham and Aston Crews, the east settlements. The two
names are directional names pinpointing an earlier estate centre of the Roman or early
medieval period; hence the centre is the Roman settlement of Bromsash or the royal
manor at Linton.
The name of Walford also shows possible early medieval origins, in that its first
recording in 1086, Walecford, is considered to have an etymology of the Welshman’s
ford, and is considered to apply to a crossing of the river Wye (Coplestone-Crow
1989, 197). A name of this type could date from the reign of Athelstan when an
agreement was drawn up between the king and the Welsh princes to recognise that
river as the boundary between the two territories.
The earliest surviving references to Walford and Weston-under-
Penyard are to be found in the Domesday Book of 1086. Here we also have to be
aware of other manors such as that at Linton (near Ross) and also Kingstone (a part of
Weston-under-Penyard). The combined manor of Ross, Walford-on-Wye and Upton
Bishop were assessed as a multiple manor to which an estate at Whippington was
included (Thorn and Thorn 1983, 2.22-25). The combined manorial system is evident
in later recognised manorial arrangements. Each of the main manors accounted for 7
hides, while Whippington contained 3 hides. Some of the manor at Walford was
waste as the record refers to an area of 2 further hides that could be brought back into
cultivation. The village contained 6 villagers, 4 smallholders, meadow, and 3 hedged
enclosures or haiæ. The hedged enclosures are not located but could include Bishop’s
Wood on the Forest of Dean escarpment to the south of the village and Chase Wood
Hill to the north of the village. The bank and ditches may also refer to the hill-fort
located on Chase Hill. The third area is not located but presumably was also located
on the Dean escarpment to the south.
The manor of Linton was retained by the king, being ranked as his first manor in
Herefordshire, and accounts for 5 hides (Thorn and Thorn 1983, 1.1). There are 10
villagers, 5 smallholders, 6 slaves, a mill, 1 Frenchman with ½ hide, with the manor
paying £10 in white pence. The church of the village had been awarded by the
Norman king to Saint Mary’s of Cormeilles, along with a priest, the whole tithe, and
a villager with 1 virgate of land. A further 2 hides of the manor with 9 villagers and a
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