Comfort Castle, Leominster

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Comforte; Castle Comfort; Eaton Hill Wood; Comfordt; Comfor

In the civil parish of Leominster. In the historic county of Herefordshire (Modern Authority of Herefordshire, 1974 county of Hereford and Worcester).

Mound with ditch on Eaton Hill. Aerial Photographs show an extensive area of disturbed ground at SO50655938. Either or both possibly the site of 'Comforte castle' described by Leland. PastScape record reads "The alleged site of Comfort Castle. It was not located during field investigation in 1970."
Said to have existed during Saxon era in the immediate neighbourhood of Leominster. Leland "the common fame of people about Leo is that K Merwald & some of his successors had castle or palace on hillside by town, half a mile off by E, now called Comfort Castle, where now be some tokens of ditches where buildings have been. Townspeople & others thereabouts come once a yr to sport & play". Blount tells that by close of following century trad touching castle was almost worn out & yearly sports discontinued. But that place pointed out must in all likelihood be mount that overlooks Hay Lane & in truth that great ridge of hills now in possession of Wallop Brabazones was anc called Castle of Comfort Hills & were heretofore given for maintenance of chantry priest in Ludlow. Mound with ditch on top of Eaton Hill, above The Ridgeway house. On the west side there is a good ditch, about 1.5m deep, which is steep sided and where the geology sandstone outcrops and can be seen on the ditch side. Mound is about 5m to 6m high. On top there is a ruined building of stone, with carved lintels. Lead, brick, iron working and corrugated iron also can be seen in the ruin. Oaks of about 100 years grow on the edge. Local knowledge says that some of the more modern material was constructed by the son of a local landowner in the early C20. On the east side there is C20 cement lined reservoir that has dug away part of the mound. Possibly it is a folly, though it is not certain to which house it belongs. It seems likely that if it was a folly it was built on an earlier motte. Also intruded into the site is a water supply for Eaton Hill house. Painting by local artist in 1962 shows walls still standing.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO506596

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 110682
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 5248 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/castles/castlesdata_az/leominster.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern) p3 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p214 [rejected as legendary]
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Robinson, Rev C.J., 1867, The Castles of Herefordshire and Their Lords (Logaston Press, 2002 reprint) p31
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p221, 224