Ashperton parish and village are some 5 miles northwest of Ledbury. There are several suggestions as to the origin of the name Ashperton - one theory is that is derived from the Old english words for pear tree, 'peretun' with 'aesc' meaning ash tree as a prefix.  Another suggestion is that the name is derived from the Old english 'aescbeorh' which means 'ash hill'.  The first suggestion is more likely as it fits with the modern form more easily. (Herefordshire Place Names - Copleston-Crow, BAR  British Series 214, 1989)

The remains of the site consist of earthworks forming an oval island within a moat and a roughly oval enclosure to the east within which stands the church. The island rises about 1 foot above the surrounding ground which covers about 0.6 acres. This island is approached by a causeway on the east. The moat is approximately 20 foot wide on the east but it widens to an angle on the north, west and south.

©Paul Wood 2003

Around the north and east sides of the outer enclosure runs a dry ditch. Traces of this ditch can also be seen on the east and south sides of the churchyard.

1270: Ashperton was the property of John de Monmouth until this year when he died and the land passed to Wiiliam de Grandison, who was the son of a Burgundian noble. He was called to Parliament in the reigns of both Edward I and Edward II.

1292: William de Grandison had built a manor at ashperton and in this year he received a licence from the king to crenellate, which meant that he could convert it into a castle. Three of the children of Wiliam gained great distinction in their own lifetimes.

The eldest son Sir Peter was summoned to the parliament of Edward III and died in 1357. He is buried in Hereford Cathedral and his tomb, once supposed to commerorate one of the Bohuns, is on the north side of the Lady Chapel.

1327: The middel son, John de Grandison was the great-nephew of Bishop Cantilupe, 'St Thomas of Hereford', and was himself made Bishop of Exeter. 

The younger son Sir Otho Grandison was a statesman and warrior and was sent as an ambassador to the Pope by Edward II. Otho died in 1359 and left strict instructions for his burial. He wished that no horse or armed mand should go before him and his body should not be wrapped in a cloth decorated with gilt and arms, but a plain white cloth marked with a cross.