Mortimer's Cross

Mortimer's Cross was the scene of a famous battle in the Wars of the Roses on February 2nd, 1461. Edward, Earl of March, then nineteen years old, learned of the death of his father and brother when he was based at Shrewsbury. At the same time another Lancastrian army, under Owen Tudor with the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire was moving towards him from South Wales. He marched south and at Mortimer's Cross, straddled the main road from Hereford. The Lancastrian forces attacked on three fronts but their strong centre was outflanked and crushed against the River Lugg with a rumoured 4,000 dead. Legend has it that three suns were to seen on the morning of the battle and after this victory, Edward added a sun to his banner. Owen Tudor was captured and later executed in Hereford, commemorated on a paving slab in Hereford's High Town today.

Mortimer's Cross Mill is an English Heritage property. It is a rare one-man-operated eighteenth century water mill in part working order. Nearby there are attractive gardens, woodland walks, a stone weir and Aymestrey Limestone Quarry.

Croft Castle is a castellated manor house at Yarpole with a turbulent past and connections dating back to the Norman Conquest. In the care of the National Trust, the fine Georgian interiors are matched outside by the restored walled gardens, kitchen garden and vineyard. The handsome pink stone country mansion is surrounded by classic parkland incorporating a famous avenue of sweet chestnuts stretching for 1 km and said to come from nuts from the wrecks of the Spanish Armada in 1592.

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