Brampton Bryan Castle

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Brampton Bryan Castle is in the small village of Brampton Bryan in north-western Herefordshire, 50m south of the River Teme. The castle guarded an important route from Ludlow along the Teme Valley to Knighton and on into Central Wales (grid reference SO370726).

The date of its foundation is uncertain. The earliest reference to a building on the site is in 1295. During the previous year the owner Bryan de Brampton had died and Robert Harley inherited the castle through marriage to his daughter Margaret. For almost 700 years since the castle has remained in the Harley family.

The castle was almost entirely destroyed during the Civil War. At this time Herefordshire was very much a Royalist county but the Harley family supported the Parliamentarians. The castle was besieged twice, in 1643 and again, after an uneasy truce, during the following year. On this occasion the defenders surrendered and the castle was sacked and burnt. The prisoners were then tied up and their throats were cut.

The siege is featured in the Channel Four documentary "Blood on Our Hands".

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Brampton Bryan Castle
Remfry, P.M., Brampton Bryan Castle, 1066 to 1309, and the Civil War, 1642 to 1646 (ISBN 1-899376-33-X)
Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The David & Charles Book of Castles, David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3