Near the spot where Mr. Gilpin must have been is the ferry where Henry IV., who was waiting to be taken across, received intelligence of his queen’s being delivered of a prince at Monmouth Castle. The king, according to tradition, was so overjoyed at the news, that he presented the ferry and boat, which at this time belonged to the crown, to the ferryman. On the left bank, nearly opposite, are the church and village of Walford, in the former of which is buried Colonel Kyrle, who deserted the service of Charles I. for that of the parliament.
Goodrich Court, to which a winding path leads from the castle, is somewhat nearer Ross. It is the seat of Sir Samuel Meyrick, the well known antiquary, and presents, in the architecture, an exact imitation of a mansion of the middle of the fourteenth century. In this respect, as well as in the arrangement of its proprietor’s valuable collection of old armour, the house may be said to be absolutely perfect. It forms in itself and its contents, one of the most interesting museums in Europe; and it is open, with very little ceremony, to the inspection of the traveller, as all such things are, when they do not happen to be the property of persons unworthy to possess them.
The river sweeps boldly round the wooded headland on which Goodrich Castle stands; and the ruin is thus presented again and again, in new phases (but none so interesting as the first), to the voyager, as he glides down the now varied and romantic river. A steep ridge on the right bank is called Coppet, or Copped Wood Hill, where the stream makes a sweep of five miles, to perform the actual advance of one. The mass of foliage on the opposite bank is a part of the Forest of Dean, variegated, by rocks, hamlets, and village spires. Bishop’s Brook here enters the Wye, and serves as a boundary between the counties of Hereford and Gloucester, and between the parishes of Walford and Ruerdean. “The view at Ruerdean church,” says Mr. Gilpin, “is a scene of great grandeur. Here both sides of the river are steep, and both woody; but on one (meaning the left bank), the woods are interspersed with rocks. The deep umbrage of the Forest of Dean occupies the front, and the spire of the church rises among the trees. The reach of the river which exhibits this scene is long; and of course the view, which is a noble piece of natural perspective, continues some time before the eye; but when the spire comes directly in front, the grandeur of the landscape is gone.”