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William
Fitz Osbern
Churches
in the late 11th century - The black
spots are churches and/or priests mentioned
in Domesday Book - these were churches
of the diocese of Hereford. The red
spots are churches where Bishop Herewald
of Llandaff was ordaining the priests.
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1142
- William fitz Osbern became Earl of
Hereford in 1066. He built a new castle
near the old monastery and a new town
north of the old defences, which have
fallen into ruin. Its centre is a large
triangular market-place, with two churches,
All Saints and St Peter's. A new cathedral
has been built to the north of the old
one. Since fitz Osbern died, in 1072,
the town has suffered in the war between
Matilda and Stephen.
Fitz Osbern's castle is now expanding,
pushing out St Guthlac's monastery which
is moving to a new site to the north-east.
The town is enjoying a boom time and
is becoming one of the largest in England.
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The
union of England with Normandy was to accelerate
the process, begun under the Confessor, which
was to replace the Saxon institutions with
the Norman feudal system. William fitz Osbern
was created Earl of Hereford and a new castle
was built at Hereford.
Fitz Osbern acquired land to the north of
the old Mercian town from the Bishop of Hereford.
Here he laid out a large triangular market
place in the area now bounded by High Town,
Union Street and Commercial Street. Around
this market place, and the roads leading to
it, he laid out a new town.
The
French Town
Immigration was encouraged by a legal system
- the laws of Breteuil - which gave favourable
treatment to French settlers. A new cultural
element had been introduced which meant that
French joined English and Welsh as the languages
of the local market places. The language of
the ruling class was however French - it would
remain so for three hundred years.
It
would have been French immigrants who
populated the new burgage plots in Hereford.
These long, narrow plots appear to have
been laid out along both sides of the
road approaching the market from the
north-east (Commercial Road) and the
northern side of that approaching from
the south-east (St Owen's Street). Immediately
to the rear of these plots were the
open fields of Hereford - the 'Port
Fields'. Stimulated by the activity
caused by the on-going Norman-French
invasions of Wales, Hereford was soon
to grow into one of the largest towns
in England.
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The
Castles
It was perhaps in Herefordshire that
the Norman presence was to leave its
heaviest imprint. An aggressive policy
of castle building along the Welsh border
or 'Marches' was initiated. Forward
of the great castles of Shrewsbury,
Ludlow and Hereford a rash of smaller
castles was established on the border
itself. This has left a legacy of 150
medieval fortified sites in Herefordshire
alone. Beyond these, the kingdoms of
south Wales fell to the Norman lords
who operated in virtual independence
of the crown.
Administratively, the town of Hereford
was partitioned between the lay and
ecclesiastical authorities. The earl's
portion of the town - the Earl's Fee
- was confiscated by the crown after
the rebellion of fitz Osbern's son Roger
in 1075. Henceforth this part of the
town would be the 'King's Fee'. |
High
Town, Hereford, from the spire of All
Saints Church. The church in the centre,
St Peter's, originally stood in an open
triangular market place laid out by
Earl William fitz Osbern just after
the Norman Conquest. Fitz Osbern came
from Breteuil in Normandy where the
large triangular market place has not
been filled in by later buildings. Stalls
in the Hereford market gradually became
permanent structures, which were the
forerunners of the buildings to the
left of the church. |
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