12th Century church with a huge detached tower.

detached tower

This church, the older of the two in the village, stands next to the ruins of the castle which gives the village it’s name and there is a glorious view from it’s position on the hill. The village itself straddles the border between Herefordshire and Shropshire.
The castle although Norman, pre-dates the Conquest by about 16 years. Edward the Confessor, encouraged Norman kinsmen and friends to settle in Herefordshire, and generously gifted them land. This plot, just south of Ludlow was given to Richard FitzScrob, who built the castle on it about 1050. The castle stayed in his family for several generations before it passed by marriage to the family of Talbot, under the overlordship of the Mortimers.

In 1540 the castle was still mainly standing, but in a poor state, and later it housed a farm and its buildings, with a dovecote in one of the towers.

The village lies at the bottom of the slope, beneath the church and the ruined castle, and there is a beautiful beech wood belonging to Moor Park, the ancient home of the Salwey family. Moor Park was purchased in the 19th century by Johnston J. Foster, and when he died his daughters built another, more convenient, church in his memory.