Welsh Journals

^rrkratojgia Camera, FOURTH SERIES.—No. VIII. OCTOBER, 1871. THE TAKING OF HEREFORD BY COL. BIRCH, 18 DECEMBER, 1645. The following narrative is extracted from " Memoirs of some Actions in which Col. John Birch was engaged, written by his Secretary," Mr. Roe,—a MS. in the cus¬ tody of Col. Birch's descendants, and was intended to have been read at the Hereford Meeting of the Associ¬ ation in 1867. As Lady Frances V. Harcourt had kindly lent me her copy of the narrative, which forms the groundwork, I asked her permission to make it pub¬ lic. This permission was fully given, with a suggestion that I should first consult the late Rev. J. Webb of Tre- tire, who was editing Roe's narrative for the Camden Society. In compliance with his wish I withheld my paper; and on his death I sent it to his son, urging him to make what use he liked of it in completing the work commenced by his father. My MS. has been recently returned to me, and is now communicated to the Asso¬ ciation, as originally intended. A few introductory observations will suffice to explain the state of affairs at the time when the narrative, com¬ mences. The city of Hereford had, during the war, formed one of the strongholds of the royalist party. On the death of the Governor, Col. Mynn, in the engage¬ ment with Massey's forces at Red Marley, on the 27th July, 1644, Col. Barnabas Scudamore, brother of John 4th ser. vol. ii. 20