Ross-on-Wye

According to a legend told by Walter Map in the 12th century, Ross had already existed in Saxon times. Walter Map was a clerk in the household of Henry II and wrote a book of "Courtiers Trifles". The following gruesome story relates the death of the Saxon king Edmund Ironside.

"A slave of Edmund Ironside, King of England, thought that if his master died, then Canute, who thought he should be king, would be able to take over the throne. This slave also thought that he would be greatly rewarded by Canute. Edmund had a big house in Gloucestershire, and this is where this slave put a long, sharp spit in the latrine. [A bit like an enormous kebab stick with the sharp side up sticking out of your toilet!] When Edmund had to use the toilet in the dark, the slave held the candles so that he couldn't see what was there and the king was wounded terribly. Edmund had himself taken to his settlement in Ross and this is where he died in 1016. The slave went to Canute to claim his reward but Canute had him hanged from the highest oak." (Martin H. Morris, The Book of Ross-on-Wye, 1980)

Unfortunately, the truth of this story will never be known.

Unlike this legend, the Domesday Book entry for Ross is a more reliable source:

"In Ross (on Wye) 7 hides which pay tax. In lordship 1 plough; another would be possible. 18 villagers, 6 smallholders and a priest with 23 ploughs. 3 slaves; a mill at 6s 8d; meadow, 16 acres. The woodland is in the King's Enclosure. The villagers pay 18s in dues." (Frank and Caroline Thorn (eds.), Domesday Book 17, Herefordshire, 2, 24, Phillimore, 1983)

Ross and district was also a place contested by the king and the bishop. There were several manors in the area around Ross, some of which belonged to the king and some to the bishop. In 1228 a commission was set up to draw official boundaries between the lands of the two lords. The king had the manor in Penyard and the Bishop of Hereford the manor of Ross. In 1286 there was trouble when the bishop's huntsman caught a young stag. The king's foresters argued that the stag had been killed in the forest of the king. However, an inquest (a court hearing) found that it had happened outside the forest, in the bishop's chase.

King Stephen, in 1138, granted to the Bishop of Hereford (probably as a reward for his support in Stephen's power struggle with Queen Matilda) a Thursday market in Ross. On 26 January 1241, Henry III confirmed this market and granted a three-day fair to Ross on St. Margaret's Day (20th July).

During the reign of Edward I Ross, along with other Herefordshire market towns, received a writ (a legal document) requiring two representatives to be sent to parliament in London. Adam de la More and Thomas le Mercer went to this particular parliament, but the citizens of Ross decided that they could not afford to pay their members their expenses of two shillings a day and, along with Bromyard and Ledbury, asked parliament to be excused in future.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Bishop would visit Ross and stay in his palace (not really a palace, but a large impressive house, built of timber with a gateway, a porter's lodge and a small building with a dungeon for priests who had done something very wrong!). This palace, which does not exist any more, was situated between the west end of St. Mary's Church and the north end of the Prospect.

The palace was where people paid their dues, and also where the bishop resided with his large retinue (his household). It took many people to look after the bishop, who in the Middle Ages was considered an important lord. According to Martin Morris, Bishop Richard Swinfield had a household of 40: squires and pages, serving men, cooks, a butler, a falconer, a farrier (someone who shoes horses), and an armed champion to fight for his rights. It took 36 horses to carry the bishop and his possessions. He often entertained other important people here. Many medieval bishops enjoyed hunting, and the bishop's chase near Ross would have made it a very attractive place to entertain visitors who liked to hunt.   
 
Having such a large number of people stay periodically would have boosted the economy of Ross and helped it to grow. According to the Red Book (a survey of the Bishop of Hereford's property undertaken in 1285), there were over 100 people who paid rent on their burgage plots or shares of a burgage plot. Adam le Mercer is described as holding unam seldam, a shop or a booth or even a barrow in front of a house - we don't know which. In total there were nineselde (Latin for shops or booths).                          

The medieval market place would have been larger than the present one. It has been suggested that it stretched from High Street as far as St. Mary's Street and along Broad Street as far as New Street. (Hughes 1999)

In the Red Book, the town of Ross is listed separately from the Bishop's manors outside of Ross. The town (Burgus de Rosse) brought the Bishop £10 15s and the area around Ross (Manerium de Rosse Forinsecum) £54 16s 2p in rental income annually.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002]