A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE (2) a base-court or bailey on the east defended by a rampart and fosse, with remains of a wall of masonry on the rampart ; (3) an outer court upon the north-east, of which the rampart and fosse of one side only remain. It will be seen by the plan that an outer rampart ran round the inclosure of the mount and base-court, but on the south the steep declivity of the hill formed the outer scarp. An entry in Domesday under the name of Avretone seems to refer to Richard's Castle ; by this mention, and one in the Saxon Chronicle, it appears likely that this stronghold was thrown up, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, by Richard Fitz Scrob, or Scrupe, or Scrope." Snodhill Castle. See Peterchurch. Stapleton Castle. — This stronghold, situated less than a mile from Presteigne, is formed out of a natural hill, the highest portion being about 640 ft. above sea level, and 180 ft. above the River Lugg, which flows three-quarters of a mile on the south. The position is naturally strong, but the work forms a poor example of a mount and court castle. If the fosse shown on plan continued on the east, cutting off the mount from the court, as is probable, the mount or keep would have been of greater strength than at present appears. Consider- able remains of masonry exist, but are mostly of 17th-century date. The court slopes towards the north-east, and is now only defended by a scarp ; probably it once possessed a rampart of earth or wall of stone. There are four other strongholds of this class within 5 miles. Walterstone Mound. — This small mount and court castle is 14 miles to the south-west of Hereford, standing upon ground about 540 ft. above sea level, with much higher land on the north, east, and west. The fortification consists of a mount about 29 ft. high above the lowest part of the fosse which surrounds it, and a court or bailey, the defensive works of which were never of any great strength, and are now in a bad state of preservation. The mount has no perfectly level space on its summit, and the fosse surrounding it has been filled in part ; probably once it was deeper, and contained water, as part of it does now. The attached court, though now for the most part simply ramparted, probably possessed a fosse around it, a fragment remaining on its southern side. The nearness of Walterstone ' Camp,' half a mile east upon higher ground, should be noted, the ' Camp ' possibly being of earlier date than this castle mount. Weobley Castle. — The old borough of Weobley, situated about 7 miles south-west of Leominster, possesses some remains of the earthwork defences of its castle but none of the masonry walls and towers, though when .B C B Stapleton Castle A^il^^bjzrB cSi. Walterstone Mound
- ' See 'Early Norman Castles in England' by Mrs. Armitage, Engl. Hist. Rev. July 1904, and
'The Castles of the Conquest' by J. H. Round, JrcA. Iviii, 1902. Mr. Round shows Avretone = Auretone to be Orleton, a village about 2 miles south of Richard's Castle. 246
