In an odd twist of life choices George now lives in Coventry, the city I grew up in, and I live in Hereford, where she grew up. Over cocktails and burgers last week we both admitted to not being particularly fired up about discovering our local history for this post so we swapped. George told me about Hereford and I told her about Coventry. You can find my post here, and here is hers:
Hereford is a much older city than it appears (as we’ve
successfully flattened a lot of the oldest parts, like the castle and the city
walls). Hereford was a Saxon city (its name is Saxon for a place where the
soldiers crossed the river) and for a while was the capital of West Mercia,
making it an important and busy place during England’s wars with Wales. A lot
of Herefordshire has very sounding Welsh place names, which shows the shifting
borders and confusion of land ownership in its early history.
Hereford Castle once rivalled Windsor in size, and was an
essential stronghold for keeping the Welsh at bay. It was often used as a base
by English kings when on campaign in the Welsh Marches. Unfortunately, nothing
is left of the castle now, after it was dismantled in the 18th
century.
Hereford pops up in other important moments in history too.
Owen Tudor, after being defeated at the Battle of Mortimore’s Cross was
executed in Hereford, and there’s a
plague in high-town to mark the spot (mmm, grisly!). During the Civil War, the
city changed hands several times before being finally taken for Parliament in
1645. To show his gratitude, King Charles gave us a pretty fancy coat of arms,
with the three lions of Richard I of England, ten Scottish Saltires, a lion
crest and a peer’s helm.
Hereford’s history of being squabbled over gives it some
great urban myths; my favourite is a classic one that we seem to share with a
lot of towns that border Wales. Legend has it that you can legally shoot a
Welshman with a longbow within Cathedral Close on a Sunday. Chester has a very
similar legend about shooting a Welshman with a bow and arrow within the city
walls after midnight. Better be careful when you choose to talk about
Hereford’s history with Wales…
1 comment:
That statue will never cease to be hilarious in an entirely childish manner. and not just from all my drunken friends who've tried to climb it.
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