Richard Fitz Scrob (or Fitz Scrope, Scrope, Scrupe or Scrob) was the son of a Scrob (Le Scrob) of Normandy, France. He was a Norman knight who settled in Herefordshire and became a landowner in England when he was granted lands by King Edward the Confessor prior to the Conquest. He built Richard's Castle in about 1048-1050 (near Ludlow) in county Hereford, on the Welsh border and administered this part of the border region. He held various manors in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire at the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), according to the Domesday book.
Richard's surname is said to be derived from the nickname "Le Scrob", or "the crab", given to him by jealous Saxons of Edward the Confessor's court.