The market settlement that developed at Lyonshall, a low-lying and well-watered site, was so completely abandoned before the close of the Middle Ages that its possible urban status was either overlooked or discounted by the Extensive Urban Survey. Fortunately the present-day community of the parish of Lyonshall has not neglected its heritage, posting historical information [http://www.lyonshall.net/about-lyonshall/history/], while some historical background has also been incorporated in archaeologists' reports [Richard Stone, The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Lyonshall, Herefordshire, Marches Archeology Series 310 (2003); Thomas Wellicome, Interim Report on a Archaeological Evaluation at Land Adjacent to The Close, Lyonshall, Herefordshire, Archaeological Landscape Investigation Internal Report No. 11/E/1 (2011.]
Lyonshall was a large parish across whose northern edge runs the River Arrow. What little archaeological evidence there is from the district suggests no more than light occupation during the Roman period, but no clear evidence has yet been found of Saxon occupation. However, Offa's Dyke runs through the parish, south-west of Lyonshall, while the place-name, rendered Lenehall in Domesday, appears Saxon: its first element refers to the district surrounding the Arrow and Lugg, known as Leen (also referenced in 'Leominster'), while the second element may simply point to a sub-district. Though the name does not evidence any settlement there, the Domesday Book entry for Lyonshall suggests a modest village, held of Roger de Lacy by Walter Ebrois (de Ebroicis, or Devereux, derived from Evreux in Normandy) and Lyonshall remained under Ebroicis family lordship for several generations, although in the fourteenth century its descent became more complicated, as will be shown below.
A castle was erected at unknown date, presumably by an Ebroicis lord, although possibly by Roger de Lacy or at his instructions. This might have been built in the late eleventh century, but can be said with greater certainty to be in place by mid-twelfth. The first reference to it is in 1209 when held by John de Ebroicis, and it is from about that period that the surviving remains date; the stone keep, part of a rebuild, appears modelled on the Lacy keep at Longtown, though smaller. In its final form the castle comprised an inner bailey, with keep on the north side, surrounded by a moat, with the enclosure of the outer bailey mainly encompassing an area north and east of the inner bailey. On the north-east side of the outer bailey was another, small, subsquare, enclosure; this too seems reminiscent of the situation at Longtown. Immediately south-west of the castle stands the church, probably established to serve it (though not within the outer bailey), sharing the elevated site on which the castle was built; its oldest fabric dates to the late twelfth century, though it underwent much rebuilding and expansion between mid-thirteenth and mid-fourteenth.
Although the modern village stands half a mile south-east of the church, medieval settlement likely focused around castle and church, particularly in the area south of the church. That the main road from the church to the present village – now the A480 – was a holloway points to its early origins. Aerial survey of, supplemented with a site visit to, Lyonshall [reported in Keith Ray and Tim Hoverd, Archaeologial Reconnaissance Surveys of Sites in Herefordshire, 1999, Herefordshire Archaeology Report No.8, (2004), p.6] identified features of a deserted town, including banks and ditches that delineate tenement plots, building platforms, open areas to rear of the plots (probably used for agriculture or keeping livestock), and another possible holloway through the settlement. A further survey in 2011, accompanied by limited excavations, confirmed the presence of a series of burgage plots fronting onto the A480 and terminating at what was either a ditch or, more likely, a holloway that served as a back lane, with a series of small agricultural enclosures on the opposite side of the holloway. The rear stretches of the burgage plots do not seem to have been heavily used, judging from lack of finds indicative of domestic activity.
The town appears to have begun immediately south of the church and extended, in a linear plan across a gently undulating site on either side of the A480, from the north-west in a south-easterly direction, to about the outskirts of the present-day village. That road continued south, beyond the modern village, as a route to Weobley and beyond to Hereford, while it was crossed at the village centre by a south-west to north-east road, suspected to be of Roman origin; yet, although there would likely have been a track to Kington, just three miles to the west, Lyonshall does not appear to have been tied into any major cross-country routes, except perhaps one into Radnorshire. In the early twenty-first century the most conspicuous, and least disturbed, remains of the planned town lay west of the churchyard and along the west side of the A480; this appears to have been the main area of the town, while the eastern side of the A480 seems to have been more sparsely settled. At the south-east end of this area of settlement, on the edge of the modern village, we encounter topographical features, just west of the main road, named Burgage Close and (adjacent) Burgage Bank; while these may embody a memory of the existence of the town, property boundaries of this area shown on the oldest maps do not suggest typical burgage plots, so the names could have been applied in relatively recent times, without implying the presence of part of the town in that vicinity.
The location of Lyonshall's marketplace is not known, but there is no reason to suppose it was not close to the church and castle. The crossroads in the modern village is too far away from castle and church to have conveniently served that function. The enclosure north-east of the castle might, if we allow some modelling on Longtown, represent part of the town site and conceivably even the location of the marketplace, but it is not located on or adjacent to a road. More likely the market would have been held in a space near where the main road through the town approached the churchyard.
The omission of Lyonshall from the EUS is that much more surprising when we consider the string of market and fair licences associated with the place. The first of which we have record was issued in 1227 to Stephen de Ebroicis for a Friday market and late October fair at the manor. Conceivably this may have been the period when the castle underwent a rebuild, and when a new town was planted.
Although the Ebroicis were under Lacy lordship – the two families having marriage as well as tenurial connections – they realigned themselves politically following Roger de Lacy's exile in 1095 and acquired a measure of greater autonomy in their lordship during the contest between Matilda and Stephen; eventually one of the several Walter de Ebroicis affiliated with William de Braose. Walter's son Stephen succeeded to the lordship of Lyonshall in 1197 but, as a minor, did not come into possession of his estates until 1209, and even then he was obliged to hand custody of the castle over to his overlord, Walter de Lacy, to keep secure for the king. Stephen had, however, during his youth been trained in the household of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and became one of the earl's inner circle, valued as someone of sound judgement. In 1208 Marshal arranged Stephen's marriage to Isabel, daughter of William de Cantilupe, then sheriff of Worcestershire and subsequently of Warwickshire. A few weeks after Stephen acquired the market licence for Lyonshall, Cantilupe obtained one of his own for Beaudesert (Warks); the two men were probably aware of each other's plans. This association with Marshal indirectly involved Stephen in the Braose/Lacy rebellion against King John, who seized Lyonshall. Marshal regained favour by offering the king support during the baronial wars, and Stephen's estates were restored; in 1214 Stephen accompanied John on an expedition to Poitou. In the same year he gave the church at Lyonshall, among many other gifts, to the newly-founded Priory of Pyon at Wormsley (halfway between Lyonshall and Hereford). Stephen again stood alongside Marshal in supporting the king when the baronial war resumed. Under the regency headed by William Marshal, Stephen de Ebroicis was a member of the council governing England during the minority of Henry III; he continued to undertake royal commissions after Marshal's death (1219) and once more associated himself with the Lacy family, though continued to remain loyal to the new Earl of Pembroke.
Stephen de Ebroicis died in 1228. His son and heir, William, after emerging from his minority, at first supported the king against the Montfortian party, but was drawn into the opposing camp by his Cantilupe relations and was killed fighting for the baronial side at Evesham (1265). His forfeited lands were granted to Roger Mortimer of Wigmore. His son, another William, was allowed to buy back Lyonshall under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth, but those terms placed on him a great financial burden, and he continued to build up debts in his efforts to regain royal favour. He sold assets and put up Lyonshall as collateral for loans from the money-lender Aaron son of Vives. Finally, in 1300, he resorted to leasing Lyonshall, for the term of his life, to Roger de la Warre. Roger in turn leased it to Walter Langton, Bishop of Lichfield, who the same year alienated it to William Tuschet and his wife. Tuschet had ambitions that went beyond the terms of the original lease; he styled himself Lord of Lyonshall and made it his principal seat. In 1301 he obtained licence for a Wednesday market (superseding the Friday event licensed in 1227) and a Michaelmas fair – the local church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Saints. The fair's eight-day duration was somewhat unusual and suggests a commerce that was more than local in scope; Lyonshall may have been benefiting, or seeking to benefit, from the growth of commerce moving between Hereford and Radnor.
William de Ebroicis' underage grandson Stephen, becoming the Ebroicis heir upon the death of his father in 1305, objected to developments, hot-headedly seized control of Lysonshall, driving out Tuschet, and Stephen's uncle John sued Tuschet for the manor on Stephen's behalf. After the usual lengthy court battle, the suit was rejected on the grounds of the terms of the lease, for William de Ebroicis was still alive (he would live on to1314). Stephen surrendered Lyonshall in 1310, but Edward II ignored the lease of Walter Langton, who had fallen from favour and been deprived of his lands, and granted the manor to Bartholomew de Badlesmere. The latter, however, re-enfeoffed Tuschet in 1312. These complications presumably explain why Tuschet found it necessary, or at least advisable, to have his 1301 licence reissued in 1319 under almost the same terms, except that the fair was shortened by two days – perhaps it had not proved as profitable as Tuschet had anticipated.
Badlesmere in his turn lost favour, through rebellion, in which Tuschet was also implicated, and both were executed (1322) and their lands were seized into the king's hand. After further efforts by the Ebroicis, in the person of William Devereux, to regain Lyonshall by force in the 1320s, a judicial hearing investigated the rightful ownership of the manor. Tuschet having no heirs of his body, the decision was in favour of Giles, son of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, although Devereux refused to turn over the castle until 1331. Giles dying (1338) without issue, Lyonshall passed to his sister Maud, wife of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. It remained in de Vere family hands until the early years of the reign of Richard II.
Around 1381 Robert de Vere made an outright grant of Lyonshall to Simon de Burley, who had been his guardian during Robert's minority and thus had wardship of Lyonshall for several years. Simon seems to have had a personal interest in Lyonshall, being of a Herefordshire family which took its name from Birley, just a few miles distant from Lyonshall, which the family held of the Mortimers. As prominent companions and favourites of Richard II, de Vere and Burley remained close and were allies in the effort to dominate government by isolating the king from the influence of his uncles. The young king's fondness for Burley stemmed from the time when he had been the royal tutor, and his various rewards included the office of under-chamberlain of the royal household (and thus de Vere's deputy) from 1382, supervisor of Mortimer lands in South Wales (in the king's hands during a minority), and wardenship of the Cinque Ports. Another was the grant in 1384 – said to be made by the "special grace" of the king, which may mean without fee – of a licence renewing the Wednesday market at Lyonshall and authorizing fairs in May and early October. This grant is the first record in which we have reference to Lyonshall as a town.
This final market licence granted to a lord of Lyonshall is that much more curious because Burley had, two years previously, made an agreement with John Devereux that if Simon died without male issue, Lyonshall would go to John. Whether this was just to get the Devereux, still intent no regaining their heritage, off his back, or whether Burley had some attachment to that family, is uncertain. But John Devereux had been, like Burley, a companion of the Black Prince and a member of the governing council during Richard II's minority; furthermore he had married a daughter of John de Vere. As far as we know, Simon was childless and perhaps he had reason to believe that would not change, though he had other male kin. When in 1384/85 he granted Lyonshall to John and a group of trustees, he may already have felt under threat from enemies who resented the influence he and de Vere had over the king, and who engineered the two men's impeachment by the Merciless Parliament (1388). With Burley executed thereafter and de Vere avoiding that fate only by fleeing into exile, Lyonshall was once more in the king's hand. At some point before September 1391 he respected Burley's wishes by granting the manor to John Devereux on the same full terms by which Burley had held it, and apparently accompanied by Burley's offices as Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle. Shortly after his victory, John contracted with a mason to undertake extensive renovations to Lyonshall Castle, including a complete rebuild of its great hall; but he had little time to enjoy his achievement, for he died in early 1393. His son John died a few years later, leaving a sister, so that Lyonshall again passed into different family hands for some decades, but it would once more return to the Devereux in Henry VI's reign, though the family no longer made their residence at Lyonshall.
Despite the extensive holdings of the several branches of the Ebroicis/Devereux family, no other members are associated with founding markets or towns, except for a Walter Devereux who acquired licence for a market and fair at Bodenham, Herefordshire, in 1378. The family's focus had shifted to Bodenham and Weobley. None of the lords of Lyonshall – Devereux or otherwise – following Burley showed interest in renewing the market licence there, which suggests that its commerce had declined.
This instability in the lordship of Lyonshall must have created uncertainty and even some degree of disorder locally; it can hardly have been conducive to maintaining an environment in which the town's commerce would flourish. We may doubt how well seigneurial administration of justice functioned in the context of the disputes, contests, and changes; certainly in 1391 it is intimated that Simon Burley had let that administration slide. This was, however, only one of a number of factors to which the ultimate failure of a market town at Lyonshall can be attributed. One must be its relatively late emergence within the market network and the proximity of better-established markets at Kington and Weobley; Lyonshall's site offered no special competitive advantages and it may not have been able to attract the kind of settlers needed to drive its economy in an aggressively competitive fashion. Archaeology indicates that the area laid out with burgage plots was never fully occupied, suggesting that Lyonshall's location was not particularly appealing to settlers; in other words, the founder had ambitions for his planned town that were not fully realized.
However, in the sixteenth century settlement still existed at Lyonshall – though on the present village site rather than that of the town – and seems to have been doing well enough by the close of that century, so the failure of the town cannot have been due solely to economic causes. The crises of the fourteenth century must have taken their toll, and a local tradition has it that following the Black Death the settlement relocated from its original site around church and castle to the area of the current village. Abandonment of a site perceived as tainted with plague would not be surprising; yet there is some indication that Lyonshall was severely damaged in an assault of 1392, which might have been an alternative cause for relocation. On the other hand we cannot rule out the possibility that the town was only gradually depopulated. Refortification of the castle was ordered in 1402, at the time of Glendower's revolt, but it may have suffered damage in that context; within a few years it had ceased to be a residence and was becoming ruinous. The site of the town later returned to pastoral and agricultural use, which continues today, with some consequent disturbance of earthworks and archaeological remains. Test excavations in part of one field east of the main road, just outside the modern village, found no evidence of urban occupation, and this vicinity may have been part of a cultivation area at one edge of the town.
