St Michael's Church has a sturdy, defensive tower in which villagers could shelter if threatened by Welsh raiders.

Ewyas Harold lies in the shadow of the Black Mountains, close to the southern end of the Golden Valley. Dulas Brook runs through the village and Ewyas Harold Common, criss-crossed by footpaths, rises above it to the north.

The eponymous Harold was a great-nephew of Edward the Confessor, the pro-Norman king who ruled England from 1042 to 1066.

Either Harold or his father, Earl Ralph, built a castle just above Dulas Brook, on the edge of the present village. It was one of only three pre-Conquest castles in England.

A post-Conquest motte-and-bailey castle which later replaced it on the same site was built by FitzOsbern, who had supplied William the Conqueror with 60 ships for the invasion of England and was duly rewarded with the Earldom of Herefordshire.

FitzOsbern's castle became one of the most important in the Marches but only earthworks remain today.

Not far from the castle site stands St Michael's Church, built c1300, with a sturdy, defensive tower in which villagers could shelter if threatened by Welsh raiders or by the troops of rival Marcher lords, who were constantly involved in power struggles and petty squabbles.

The earthworks of another castle survive at Rowlestone, near Court Farm. Much more important, however, is St Peter's Church which has superb carvings by the renowned Herefordshire School of sculptors.

Not much is known of these craftsmen but they were active in the Marches in the Norman period and are presumed to have been local men working under the guidance of a master mason who had travelled widely and was therefore familiar with a variety of Scandinavian and Continental emblems, all of which featured in the School's work.

St Peter's Church boasts superb sculptors' carvings.

At Rowlestone you can see their work on the tympanum above the south door and around the arch of the doorway. Go inside the church and you will see more of their carvings around the chancel arch and you will also see a pair of charming, 15th-century, wrought-iron candle brackets which are among the rarest of their type in England. Each is decorated with six pairs of birds.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk up the lane through Ewyas Harold (towards Longtown), with the church on your right as you cross Dulas Brook. Join the first path on the left, climbing up the wooded outer bailey of the former castle, then diagonally left through a meadow, passing left of the castle motte and some farm buildings to another meadow. Keep straight on along the edge to a pair of gates. Go through the left-hand one. The path is now easily followed through more meadows. Ignore another path branching right.

2 Meeting Prior's Wood, continue forward along the edge until a stile gives access to the wood. Keep roughly straight on, soon emerging into another meadow. Go diagonally left up a rise then towards a gate at a hedge corner. Pass to the left of the gate, and keep left of the hedge as you walk towards Plash Farm. Walk past the farmhouse, through two gates and to the left of a greenhouse. Proceed along a track then diagonally across two fields to a lane (you may have to search a bit for a stile, but it is there). Turn right.

3 Turn left at Ball's Cross, towards Rowlestone and Walterstone, then straight on at the next junction, towards Walterstone only, descending into a valley then climbing to a junction by Nuthatch Cottage. Join a path almost opposite and go straight on along field edges for half-a-mile to intercept a cross-path. Turn left across the field and across a lane to continue opposite, crossing a hedge twice before you reach a field corner. Head towards a farmhouse, join a farm track at a small gate and proceed to a lane.

4 Continue opposite, passing in front of a farmhouse, along a track and into a field. Go straight across then towards the far right corner of the next field. Before you reach the corner, climb a stile on the right, turn left across the corner of the adjacent field and keep left to the next corner. Continue along field edges, ignoring a cross-path at a stile on the left, but taking another cross-path at a second stile on the left, just before a gate bearing the logo of the Monnow Valley Walk. Descend to a lane at Pwll-yr-nunt and turn left.

5Join a footpath on the left and follow it through four meadows to the second of two footbridges. Cross Cwm Brook and walk uphill to Rowlestone. Turn left to a junction by a post box and turn right. Take a footpath after 400m, at a stile on the right. Cross a sheep pasture, go diagonally left across the next field to a gate then diagonally to the far right corner of another field. Go straight on along the edge of the next until you come to a stile in the fence on your left. Go to the far right corner of a field then through a wood to another field. Turn left by the woodland edge, eventually joining a farm drive. Go downhill until you come to a stile. Walk diagonally down to a lane and turn right into Ewyas Harold.

9:15am Monday 20th August 2007

The countryside near Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire.

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