Carreg Cennen Castle
| Carreg Cennen Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Carreg Cennen Castle, view from the south |
||
| Creation time : | 12th Century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 51 '16.4 " N , 3 ° 56' 7.6" W | |
|
||
Carreg Cennen Castle is a ruined castle in Carmarthenshire , Wales . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument, is located 6 km southeast of Llandeilo, east of the small town of Trapp, on a steep hilltop above the Cennen River. The impressive and mighty castle was the center of the Commote Iscennen , but because of its remote location it was of no great historical importance.
history
The striking hilltop in the north of Black Mountain in the west of the Brecon Beacons National Park was already used in Roman times, as coin finds show. According to legend, the castle belonged to the mythical King Urien during the time of King Arthur . In fact, the first castle was not built on the mountain cone until the end of the 12th century under Lord Rhys , ruler of the South Welsh principality of Deheubarth . After his death in 1197, his empire fell apart during the wars of succession between his sons and their descendants. Carreg Cennen Castle eventually fell to Lord Rhys youngest legitimate son Rhys Gryg . His daughter-in-law Mathilda de Braose, a daughter of the Cambro-Norman Marcher Lord Reginald de Braose , betrayed her son Rhys Fychan after the death of her husband Rhys Mechyll in 1244 , by handing the castle over to the English. Rhys Fychan was able to recapture the castle in 1248, but he later lost the castle to his uncle, Maredudd ap Rhys, who was his enemy . During the conquest of Deheubarth during the campaign of King Edward I of England against Wales , the castle was surrendered without a fight in 1277. During the rebellion of Maredudds son Rhys ap Maredudd , the castle briefly fell into the hands of the rebels in 1287, but the castle was recaptured by the English in the same year. Edward I had given the castle to the Anglo-Norman Lord John Giffard in 1283 . He and his son of the same name tore down the old Welsh fortress and built the current castle. The younger John Giffard was executed in 1322 after the Despenser War , the rebellion of the Marcher Lords against Edward II , and the king gave Carreg Cennen to his confidante Hugh le Despenser . After his fall in 1326 Edward III forgave . In 1340 the castle passed to his son John of Gaunt , and when his son became King Henry IV in 1399 , the castle returned to the possession of the crown. During the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr it was besieged around 1403 and badly damaged, the damage was repaired between 1414 and 1421. During the Wars of the Roses, the Justiciar of South Wales, Gruffudd ap Nicolas , a supporter of the House of Lancaster , briefly manned the castle in 1454 and 1455. After the defeat of Towton in 1461, his sons Owen and Thomas ap Gruffudd holed up in the castle, where they had to surrender to a Yorkist force under Richard Herbert in early 1462 . After the handover, the castle was razed by the Yorkists so that it could no longer serve as an enemy base.
After the Wars of the Roses, the ruins fell to Thomas ap Gruffudds son Rhys ap Thomas . It later passed into the possession of the Vaughan family of Golden Grove , who gave the ruins to the Earls of Cawdor in the early 19th century . From the end of the 18th century, the romantically situated ruin became a motif for numerous painters such as Turner , Paul Sandby and Mansel Lewis . The 2nd Earl of Cawdor had the ruins restored in the 19th century. Although the castle was transferred to the custody of the Office of Works in 1932 , the Cawdors continued to own the ruin until accidentally mistakenly identified the castle as part of the nearby farm in the 1960s, so the ruin is now the property of the owners the Castell Farm at the foot of the mountain .
Today the ruin lies in the middle of agriculturally used, privately owned areas. The ruin itself is looked after by Cadw and can be visited.
investment
Outer bailey
The castle is in an impressive location on a 90 m high limestone cliff that drops steeply to the Cennen River. The ruins of the castle come from the new building at the end of the 13th century. A steep climb leads to the outer bailey , which is in front of the inner bailey in the north and east . The outer bailey is surrounded by the remains of a wall with what were formerly three small corner towers, access was through a gate in the east wall secured by double towers. The outer bailey is divided into two halves by a wall leading from the gate to the gate kennel. There are no remains of the buildings that used to be in the outer bailey, and the walls were probably also badly damaged when it was razed in 1462. In the southeast are the remains of a round lime kiln .
Vorwerk
Access to the Kernbürg was via an elaborate gate fence in the form of a ramp enclosed by walls. The access to the ramp was angled and was dominated by the mighty northeast tower of the inner castle behind it. Then the ramp led through a small gate tower secured with a drawbridge and on to the square middle gate tower. The tower was also secured with a drawbridge, today only the foundation walls remain. The access then led through the middle tower at a right angle over another drawbridge that crossed the moat, which was cut into the rock, to the main gate of the inner castle.
Core castle
The mighty main gate had two octagonal twin towers, of which the western tower is still preserved with two storeys. The gatehouse was the tallest building in the castle and, similar to Caerphilly Castle and other castles from the late 13th century, also served as the keep . The courtyard is almost square. Between the gatehouse and the northwest tower are the remains of an oven and two cisterns. The north-west tower, of which only the ground floor has been preserved, is the castle's only round tower. On its ground floor there is an embrasure , which was probably built in the 15th century for defense with firearms. The west wall built directly on the rock is badly damaged and was probably crowned by a wooden battlement in the past, while the south wall built on the steep cliff has been preserved in almost its full height and still has a stone battlement. On the east side of the courtyard are the remains of the residential buildings attached to the east wall, which had a basement. The kitchen is adjacent to the mighty octagonal north-east tower, followed by the hall, from which one reaches the chapel tower that protrudes into the outer bailey. To the south of the hall there are two rooms that were the private apartments of the lords of the castle.
The cave
In the southeast of the castle courtyard, a gate leads through a tunnel into a natural, damp limestone cave. The cave has an opening on the south side of the rock that was probably walled up in the 13th century. This and the tunnel were intended to prevent enemies from entering the castle through the cave or undermining the walls at this weak point. The cave was used as a dovecote, as the entrance holes in the wall show.
literature
- Thomas Lloyd et al. a .: Buildings of Wales - Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. Yale University Press, New Haven 2006. ISBN 978-0-300-10179-9 , pp. 156ff
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ British Listed Buildings: Carreg Cennen Castle. Retrieved August 29, 2013 .
- ^ Adrian Pettifer: Welsh castles: a guide by counties. Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2000. ISBN 978-0-85115-778-8 , p. 45