The inference suggested by the present earthworks is something to the following effect:—Originally advantage was taken of a natural knoll, of an irregular figure, but about 300 yards north and south by 125 yards east and west, which was surrounded by a single ditch, or, where the ground allowed, by a scarp only. It may be that here, as partially at Malvern, and in other examples, this long enclosure was subdivided by two cross cuts into three parts, of which the central formed the citadel. This would probably be the work of the British. Then it would seem that a later people, the English, took possession, and threw up a mound at one corner of the citadel, isolating it by its proper circular ditch, the principal dwelling being on the mound, and the horseshoe remainder below containing the base court for the dependents, while the north and southern portions would serve for protected enclosures for cattle. When the Normans took possession they seem to have built a shell keep upon the mound, and to have employed the base court below as an outer ward, probably surrounding the whole with a stone wall, now removed, and replacing the English stockade. This would constitute the castle proper, to which the north and south platforms would be appendages, no doubt stockaded for cattle. The history of Kilpeck commences with Domesday, which records, “Hæ villæ vel terræ subscriptæ sitæ sunt in fine Arcenefelde. Will’us filius Normanni tenet Chipcete. Cadiand tenuit tempore Regis Edwardi.” The church is decidedly older than the masonry of the keep, and it may therefore be that the early Norman lords contented themselves with a residence and defences of timber, and did not build for a century or so after their occupation, when the shell keep was constructed. It is not probable that this was preceded by any earlier work in masonry, as Norman buildings were substantial and durable. The church has been the subject of a “monograph.” The priory, of which not a trace remains, stood in a field south-east of the castle and village. Chipcete in Irchenfield is the present Kilpeck, where William Fitz Norman sat in the seat of Cadiand, the dispossessed Englishman. The lands paid no geld or military service, which in that border district is remarkable. William was a large Herefordshire landowner. In 1134, 25 Henry I., Hugh, son of William Fitz Norman, gave to St. Peter’s, Gloucester, the church of St. David at Kilpeck, and the chapel of our Lady of or within the castle. Of the chapel no more is said, but the church is included in the confirmation charter by Stephen to Gloucester in 1138, and in many later confirmations and charters of Inspeximus.