Weobley, 1483: The castle is once more the centre of a rebellion.

Henry, Duke of Buckingham, rose against King Richard III because he wished, so he said, to release the young Princes in the Tower.

After news arrived of the death of the royal pair Buckingham backs the cause of Henry, Earl of Richmond, in a rising.

But, in his bid to march east, his troops melt away, his espionage system fails and the prophecies of his necromancer let him down. His downfall swiftly follows.

Leaving his two sons with their nurse and a servant, the duke flees for his life, dressed as a peasant. He is captured in Shropshire and taken for execution at Salisbury as his duchess is caught at Weobley.

The nurse, Mistress Olliffe, first hides the children, Humphrey, Lord Stafford, and little Lord Henry, at 'Little Parks,' Weobley. They are then concealed in and about Kinnersley Castle until she is able to smuggle them into Hereford riding pillion and disguised as girls....

Forget Pimpernel and other Hollywood offerings, for great drama just take a look back through Herefordshire's history.

The tale of the doomed duke and the dramatic escape of his sons is a highlight of the turbulent past of Weobley. Today, members of Weobley & District History Society are focusing on the site at the hub of the tale.

It has long been a mystery at the heart of the village. A few humps, bumps and hollows are all that remain of a once substantial medieval castle but little was known about the site.

The society engaged experts equipped with the latest ground-penetrating radar technology to begin a journey of discovery.

A report published in book form, edited by local archaeologists George Children and George Nash, recalls how excitement mounted among experts and volunteers alike as medieval features and structures were revealed.

The outlines of fishponds that served the castle, together with a leat, dams and sluices came to light. The site of a mill thought to be one of the earliest in Herefordshire was identified next to a stream.

Nearby houses gave up their secrets. The cellar of one was thought to be the guardroom, once part of the castle gatehouse.

Painstaking scanning of the castle and its surrounding revealed the most exciting discovery. The outlines of what appeared to be a major Iron Age enclosure in a field to the west suggest that Weobley's origins as a settlement may date from prehistory.

The voyage of discovery has only just begun as the report makes clear. A second phase of the Weobley Castle Project is planned.

l An Anatomy of a Castle: The Weobley Castle Project edited by George Nash and George Children is published by Logaston Press at £5.95.