Pontrilas
Welsh meaning pont / bridge over trilas / three rivers, due to the River Dore, the Dulas Brook and another stream meeting here. Originally the hamlet was called Elwistone but by 1750 it was renamed from the name of Pontrilas Court, once owned by the Baskerville family.
- The railway arrived in 1854 and the place became important as a cattle market and for industrial purposes. The railway yards were particularly busy during World War I, 1914–1918, and during World War II, 1939–1945, due to the munitions depot. The station closed in 1958.
- 19th–20th centuries it was said a person could buy anything here due to the mainline railway station.
- A local lady remembers her father sent her horse from here, in the train's luggage van, to her new home in Berkshire after she married.
Dulas
- has had two known Churches.
- Although the precise relationship between the Priories of Dulas and Ewyas Harold is unclear it appears from the cartulary (book of legal documents like charters and deeds) of Gloucester Abbey that the Priory of Dulas came first.
- The Church of St. Michael of Ewias at Dulas existed before 1115 when Harold of Ewias (see below) gave it with its lands and tithes and all things appertaining to Saint Peter's Benedictine Abbey of Gloucester to found a priory cell. Then for some reason, of perhaps security or control, it was gradually allowed to close and the Priory at Ewyas Harold was established nearer to the castle and perhaps the centre of population. The foundations of the 12th century Dulas Priory Church lie under the lawn of Dulas Court.
- By the 16th century the adjacent building was described as a hermitage. When this Church was demolished, one of its 12th century arches was re–erected as an entrance to the kitchen garden. The base and shaft of a churchyard cross remain on the site.
- The new Church built nearby in a medieval style in 1865 with 17th century woodwork, incorporated one of the bells from the old site. This Church was made redundant in 2008.
Ewyas Harold
An interesting Welsh-Mercian name as ewyas derives from the Welsh for sheep district. This indicates that the landscape must have been fairly open pasture here despite the Trivel Forest (where King John hunted) around Kilpeck.
Harold is from Harold, son of Ralph, Earl of Hereford, nephew of King Edward the Confessor. As was the custom young Harold was brought up in another noble household, and for him this was the household of Queen Edith. Earl Ralph died in 1057. Harold survived the Norman Conquest of 1066 and was later reinstated to part of his father's lands including Ewyas Harold.
- A Herefordshire dialect of Welsh was the local language in Ewyas Harold into the latter half of the 18th century.
Ewyas Harold Castle
- Built by the Normans followed by English squires
- This castle is one of the 4 castles in England built before the 1066 Norman Conquest. It shows the importance of this border area, known as the Marches.
- The castle was built c.1050 by Sir Osbern Pentecost, probably over the existing foundations of a Saxon / Mercian burgh , or fortified settlement. Excavation has shown that he built the keep on a motte / mound and the wall on the earth ramparts surrounding the lower bailey. - Later, when Harold of Ewias (see above) regained ownership he added the Chapel of St. Nicholas, the chaplain being one of the local monks of Gloucester Abbey.
- His son Robert founded Dore Abbey.
