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PLACE NAMES
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Goodrich
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Goodrich is a village in south Herefordshire, England close to Gloucestershire and the Forest of Dean, situated near the River Wye at grid reference SO574193. It is known for its Norman and mediaeval castle built with Old Red Sandstone. The village of Goodrich grew up next to Goodrich Castle, a 'Marcher Castle' dating to c. 1101 which stands on a high spur of land commanding a strategic position above Kerne Bridge, an ancient crossing point of the Wye. The population of the Civil Parish at the 2011 census was 550.
Goodrich is close to the A40 trunk road which forms part of the main route between South Wales and the West Midlands but is in a sheltered rural location. Goodrich has retained its village shop and post office together with a village hall and two public houses. The village has a tennis club with three all-weather courts and an active village cricket club.
The Coppett hill nature reserve stretches along a hill above the Wye south of Goodrich.
Goodrich church contains the tomb of the Countess of Salisbury, (an altar tomb on the left side of the altar, plain with no inscription or effigy), who was charged by Henry Bolingbroke with bringing up his son, later to become King Henry V, after the death of Mary de Bohun his first wife. The young boy was brought up at nearby Courtfield at Welsh Bicknor.
Goodrich Castle was first known as Castellum Godrici after Godric of Mappestone, the builder of the first castle on the site. Over time the name changed to Goodrich and the castle changed hands many times through the centuries, passing from family to family. In 1646, near the end of the English civil war, the castle was besieged and captured, using a cannon cast in the Forest of Dean called Roaring Meg, from Sir Henry Lingen by Parliamentarians led by Colonel Birch. The castle is now in the care of English Heritage.
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