GOODRICH. It Is Still in the Keeping of the Vicar, and Is Regarded As A

GOODRICH. 2 35 It is still in the keeping of the vicar, and is regarded as a relic of high value. On April 18th, 1890, the present vicar discovered the tombstone of his predecessor, the Rev. Thomas Swift, buried under the altar steps of Goodrich chancel. It bears the following mscnptwn• • • :- "Here lyeth the Body of Mr. THOMAS SWIFT, Who died the second day of June, 1658, Aged 62 years and tenne moneths, Who was Vicar of Goodridge 34 years." The house built by him, called "New House," is still standing, and bears date 1637. It is built on a curious plan, resembling in shape the Arms of the Isle of Man. On a finely wooded promontory, round which the river Wye flows in a semi-circular direction, and about 3 miles to the south of the town of Ross, stand the massive ruins of Goodrich Castle, for a long period the residence of the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury. By whom it was originally founded is unknown; though the near affinity of its name to that of Godrz'cus Dux, who occurs as a witness to two charters granted by King Canute to the abbey of Hulen, has given rise to a not improbable conjecture that he was the person. The keep, which is entirely detached from the rest of the ruins, was probably built early in 1100, and is undoubtedly Norman, though it is said to have been built by Micmac and his son, who were Irish prisoners, as their ransom. It stands close to the outward wall of the castle, and had no window on the outside next the country. It evidently had three rooms, one above the other, the lowest being a dungeon. According to tradition, the great Lord Talbot had his private chamber in this keep. The surrounding works are principally Norman, though various additions and alterations may be distinguished of the workmanship of different periods, even down to the time of Henry VI. The earliest authenticated record concerning it is of the date r 204, when it is was given by King ] ohn to William Strigul, Earl Marshal, to hold by the service of two knights' fees. His son, vValter, Earl of Pembroke, died here in the year 1246. It was afterwards conveyed by a female to William de Valentia, Earl of Pembroke, whose third son, Aymer de Valence, became his heir, and was murdered in France in 1323. From him it passed to the Talbots, by the marriage of Elizabeth Comyn, daughter of Joan, his second sister, with Sir Richard, afterwards Lord Talbot, who procured the license from Edward III to have a prison here. This Richard was a renowned soldier and statesman, and is thought to have expended a considerable part of the ransoms obtained from prisoners taken by him in the French wars on the reparation and improvement of Goodrich castle. His descendant, John Talbot, the great Earl of Shrewsbury, who was killed at the battle of Chastillon in the year 1453, was first buried at Rouen, in Normandy; and in the enumeration of his titles on the monument there raised to his memory, he is styled "Lord of Goderich and Orchenfield." Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, was in possession of this castle and manor at the period of his death, in the fourteenth of ] ames I. Elizabeth, his second daughter and co-heiress, conveyed them in .

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