Richard’s Castle

     My first ancestor on my father’s side to come to the United States was Richard Stallings.  He was transported along with some other people, from Richard’s Castle, Hereford, England, by Anthony Salwey to Calvert County, Maryland, in 1657.  Richard’s Castle is three miles from Ludlow and was part of Wales at one time.  Richard’s Castle is a spread out village, and part of it is in Shropshire and part in Herefordshire.  The castle has been in ruins since the 1500’s.  A very nice person, who obviously knows more about the area than I, tweeted me and told me that the tower which I videoed is not all of the ruins.  There are more behind the church.  It was September when I was there and things were grown up. I had trouble walking in the churchyard.  So I failed to see everything there. I wish I had investigated further.  Thanks very much for the tweet.   It was built by Richard FitzScrob in the 1050’s.  So it was one of the few castles that was already there when William the Conqueror came in 1066.  It descended to his grandson William FitzOsbourne, who had vast holdings in the area.  It was William who gave the area where Berkeleye Castle was built to his in-laws, the Tosny family.  They were great castle builders and built Berkeleye Castle and named it for their home back in Normandy.  They were from Flanders but had been exiled to an area along the Seine River between Rouen and Paris .  Sometime later King Henry II gave Berkeleye Castle to the wealthy merchant Robert FitzHarding as a favor for some financial help he had given Henry.  This, of course, caused some discord with the Tosny’s, aka Berkeleye’s.  Henry rectified this matter by marrying Robert FitzHarding’s son and daughter to Roger III de Berkeleye’s son and daughter. Apparently it was a good plan because it seemed to have worked.     William’s son Hugh FitzOsbourne married Eustasia de Say, and he took the name Hugh de Say.  Richard’s Castle remained in the de Say family for many generations.  It passed to the Mortimer family and then to the Talbot family through marriage.  From there it passed through several families until it came to the Salwey family where it remained for several centuries.  There are memorials to various Salwey members in the church adjoining the castle and also in the churchyard.