to become very powerful. Hugh de Lacy became Lord of the Manor in 1091, and he is credited with building the forerunner of the present church early in the next century -the Norman south doorway of this survives, albeit salvaged and re-set in a later wall. Hugh gave his new church to his family's monastic foundation of Llanthony Priory, which established a cell (a small dependent monastery) here. However, it did not last long. The priory retained possession until the Dissolution. The putative aisleless Norman church was re-built in an extended project which continued through most of the 13th century. This began at the start of this century, when a south aisle was added (the Norman doorway was preserved from the demolished wall, and re-used). The chancel was rebuilt about mid-century, and then the nave was reconstructed -this was only completed in the early 14th century. The work included the addition of a narrow north aisle and a clerestory; the latter involved the replacement of the south aisle arcade, only about seventy years old. The bell-tower was added to the north-west corner around 1330–40, with a spire that is the second-tallest in the county. This tower is at an angle, which is unusual, and is thought to have doubled up as a fortified peel tower against Welsh raids. Finally, the north aisle was widened in the mid 15th century in the Perpendicular style, and a large east window provided for the chancel. Castle The castle ruins comprise a ring and bailey -there is no motte, and no surviving stonework. However, the Garnstone deer-park contains a large flat-topped mound that has been identified as a motte -although there is doubt about this. If the identification is correct, then the first castle was not on the present site. Weobley Castle is only first documented as existing during The Anarchy, when it was seized in person by King Stephen from Geoffrey Talbot in 1140, although it was still the property of the de Lacy family. Later, that family's involvement with the rebellion against King John by William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber led to the castle being in royal possession again from 1208 to 1213. A surviving depiction by Silas Taylor, executed in 1655, shows the ruin of a rectangular keep with round corner towers, and the style suggests that the castle was rebuilt by Walter II de Lacy after the de