Robert was the first Baskerville to live at Eardisley Castle, Hereford. There is little left to see of this castle, apart from a mound in the back of Castle House in Eardisley, close to the parish church. The vestry of this church used to be known as the Baskerville chapel, and had its own private view of the altar. There is a carved stone arch next to the chapel, at each end of which is a carved face, possibly representing earluy Baskervilles. The beautifully carved font is supposed to include a depiction of the duel between Robert Baskerville and Lord Clifford (see below)
The Doomsday Book of 1086 recorded a man named 'Robert' as holding the domus defensabilis, or fortified homestead, of Herdeslege, deep in the forests of the Welsh Marches or borderlands. Scholars have identified this Robert as Robert de Baskerville, and it is from this Robert and his second wife Agnes, a grand-daughter and heiress of Rhys ap Gryfydd the British Prince of South Wales, that the Cambro-Norman Baskerville family has descended
From Brock Holden's "Lords of the Central Marches" . . .
Robert de Baskerville was listed in Domesday as a major tenant of Roger de Lacy in Herefordshire, holding five manors. The Baskervilles participated in the conquest of the Welsh kingdom of Brycheiniog. . . . .Robert held Brobury, Eardisley, Stretton Sugwasm Yarsop and Yazor in Herefordshire, all of which, with the exception of Yarsop, were still in the hands of the family in 1243. Brobury, 2 hides worth 20s in 1086 Hereford Domesday Book 48; Eardisley, unspecified amount in 1086 and not valued for geld (hec terra non geldat neque consetudinem dat) and not in any hundred, Hereford Domesday Book 47. Stretton Sugwas, 2 1/2 hides worth 50s., with a mill valued at 32d., Hereford Domesday Book 43; Yarsop, 1 1/2 hides worth 15s., Hereford Domesday Book 49; Yazor, 5 hides valued at 50s., Hereford Domesday Book 49. For holdings in 1243, Book of Fees 802 (Brobury, Stretton Sugwas, Yazor). Curiously, Eardisley is not listed in the 1243 returns The Baskervilles of course had other lands by 1243"
Eardisley (Herdeslege in DS, 10, 46) is listed in 1086 as the property of Roger de Lacy, held from him by Robert, whom Wightman (154) identified as Robert de Baskerville. He suggests that Eardisley, with its fortified house, was the caput of the Baskervilles (147). Robert was succeeded by Roger (fl.1127), then Ralph I (d.1148/9) who married a daughter of Drew fitz Pons of Clifford Castle, It is said that Ralph killed his father-in law in a challenge (before 1127) and thereafter made numerous benefactions to the church (Coplestone-Crow, 20). It was probably he who rebuilt Eardisley church, using sculptors of the Herefordshire School. Benefice of Eardisley with Bollingham, Willersley, Brilley, Michaelchurch, Whitney, Winforton, Almeley and Kinnersley. |
