RICHARD'S CASTLE is a large parish, partly in Herefordshire and partly in Shropshire. The village of Richard's Castle is in Herefordshire, and is situated on the old road from Ludlow to Leominster, about 4 miles S.S.W. of Ludlow, 6½ N. of Leominster, and 21 N. of Hereford. The part of the parish of Richard's Castle in Salop includes the townships of Batchcott, Overton, and Wooferton. The Herefordshire portion is in Wolphy hundred, Ludlow union and county court district, Brimfield polling district, and Leominster petty sessional division. The total population of the parish in 1861 was 710; in 1871, 755, viz., 322 in Herefordshire and 433 in Shropshire. The inhabited houses numbered 148, viz., 68 in Herefordshire and 80 in Shropshire. The families or separate occupiers numbered 155; viz., 68 in Herefordshire and 87 in Shropshire. The total area of the parish is 4,871 acres, viz., 2,446 in Herefordshire and 2,425 in Shropshire. The soil is loamy, producing wheat, beans, barley, roots, and pasture.

Alfred Salwey, Esq., is lord of the manor. In this parish are the ruins of a castle which was erected before the Conquest by a Norman, named Richard Fitz-Scrob, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, upon a site to which he was doubtless attracted by the existence of a lofty mound, one of the most remarkable features in the earthworks of (probably) the 10th century. At the period of Domesday survey, it was possessed by Osborne Fitz-Richard, whose granddaughter Margaret conveyed it, by marriage, to Robert de Mortimer, from whose family, by an heiress also, it passed to the Talbots, and subsequently to the Salweys.

On the declivity of the eminence contiguous to the castle a body of Royalists were defeated with great slaughter by Colonel Birch. Robert de Mortimer procured from King John a charter of a market and fair for this manor, but both have long been disused. Near to here is Boney Well, in which, during the months of March and October, a quantity of small bones are found, supposed to be the bones of frogs. Richard's Castle is in the diocese of Hereford, and archdeaconry and rural deanery of Ludlow; living, a rectory; value, £650, with residence and 11I acres of glebe; patron, the Lord Bishop of Worcester; rector, Rev. George Maddison, M.A., of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1874.

The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is a spacious edifice, but in need of restoration, The windows contain some beautiful stained glass. The tower is detached; and stands a few feet south-east of the chancel, and had formerly a spire, which was burnt down. The schoolroom, built in the year 1839, having become much out of repair, and needing additions to meet the requirements of the Educational Department, has been removed, and new buildings have been erected, comprising school and classrooms, capable of accommodating 130 children, with teacher's residence, upon glebe land granted by the rector. The cost, which exceeded £1,200, has been met by contributions from the landowners, parishioners, and other friends interested in the work.

There are several handsome residences in this parish, viz.: Overton House (Richard Betton, Esq., J.P.); The Moor (Alfred Salwey, Esq.); Moor Park (Major Jonas Foster); The Lodge (Thomas Charles Bridges, Esq.); and The Rectory (Rev. George Maddison, M.A.) Wooferton, otherwise Woofferton, is a township with a railway station on the Shrewsbury and Hereford joint railway, which is also the junction of the Tenbury and Bewdley railway. It is distant about 2 miles S.E. of the village of Richard's Castle and 5 S. of Ludlow. Overton is a township in this parish distant 2 miles S. of Ludlow. It was a Roman settlement. Batchcott and Moor form a township distant 3 miles from Ludlow.