Cefnllys Castle
| Cefnllys Castle | ||
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 View across the Irfon Valley to Castle Bank with the remains of Cefnllys Castle |
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| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 14 '36.2 " N , 3 ° 20' 2.7" W | |
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Cefnllys Castle is an Outbound hilltop castle in Wales . The remains of the castle are about three miles east of Llandrindod Wells in Powys .
history
It is possible that there was already an Iron Age hill fort on the ridge on which the castle lies, and it is said that the ridge was used by Welsh rulers to build fortifications as early as the 10th or 12th centuries. There is no archaeological or written evidence for these assumptions. The remains come from a castle that was built in the 13th century as a fortification by the Mortimer family , an Anglo-Norman family from the Welsh Marches . It is also controversial whether the castle was built on two hills at the same time or whether it consists of two complexes, of which the northeastern one is the older, which was destroyed in 1262, after which a new castle was built in the south of the ridge after 1267.
Fortification for the rulership of Maelienydd and destruction in 1262
The northern part of the castle was after the successful campaign of King Henry III. erected in Wales from 1241 to 1245 by Roger Mortimer at the behest of his father Ralph de Mortimer to secure the claims of the Mortimer family to the controversial Maelienydd. The castle became the center of the rule of the Mortimer family in Maelienydd. At the beginning of the Anglo-Welsh War from 1262 , the castle was conquered by rebellious Welsh from Maelienydd shortly before November 27, 1262. The conquest was arguably part of a spontaneous local revolt. The gatekeepers were slain and the Welshman Hywel ap Meurig , who served as a constable in the service of Roger Mortimer, was taken prisoner with his family. Then the castle was burned down. In order to quell the revolt, Roger Mortimer and Humphrey de Bohun , the Lord of Brecknockshire, quickly mobilized into their Welsh possessions and moved to Cefnllys. There, to their surprise, they met a strong Welsh army under Lord Llywelyn of Wales , who had moved south in support of the insurgents. The Marcher Lords' contingent was quickly defeated. Mortimer withdrew into the ruins of Cefnllys with the remnants of his army. A part of the Welsh then besieged the ruins, while the main Welsh army subsequently conquered Knucklas , Presteigne , Knighton and Norton Castle , the other castles of Roger Mortimer in Radnorshire . These castles surrendered to the Welsh by December 28th. With no hope of relief, Mortimer had to start negotiations with his cousin Llywelyn, in which he achieved that he could withdraw with his troops to Wigmore Castle .
New construction and role during the conquest of Wales
In the Treaty of Montgomery , which was to end the Anglo-Welsh War in 1267, Maelienydd's possessions were not clearly regulated. However, Roger Mortimer had been allowed to build new castles, so he began to rebuild Cefnllys Castle. Prince Llywelyn, however, viewed the building as a provocation and complained to the English king about the building in 1272. These and other disputes led to Prince Llywelyn refusing to swear allegiance to the new English King Edward I , whereupon the latter subjugated Wales in a rapid campaign in 1277 . During the campaign and during the following campaign to conquer Wales from 1282 to 1283 the garrison of the castle was increased, but the castle was not involved in combat operations. Presumably after the conquest of Wales, an English borough was founded, which received market rights in 1297 and in which twenty-five Burgesses lived before 1304 . However, the settlement did not develop any further and was already partially deserted by the end of the 14th century.
Later history and decay
During the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion , the castle was reinforced along with Clyro Castle , Painscastle and Radnor Castle in 1403. In 1406, however, the castle was probably destroyed by the rebels and the surrounding properties looted. In 1425 the castle was inherited by Richard of York , who had repairs carried out again in the 1430s. Probably was during this time in the bailey a new house for the Constable of the castle built, which of the Welsh bard Lewis Glyn Cothi was sung. Richard's son and heir, Eduard , became the English king in 1461, with the result that the complex fell to the English crown. In 1493 the crew was withdrawn, and by 1588 the castle had fallen into ruins. The Burgstall is protected as a Scheduled Monument .
investment
The castle site lies on an easily defendable ridge called Castle Bank , which lies in a bend in the river north of the River Irfon . Except for the northeast side, the ridge drops steeply on all sides. The remains of the castle extend about 300 m from northeast to southwest. Only ramparts, ditches and collapsed wall remnants remain from the complex, which extend over an area of about 356 by 102 m. The northeastern, probably older, complex consisted of a round tower with a diameter of about 10 to 12 m, which was surrounded by a rectangular, walled castle courtyard with a diameter of about 35 m. There were probably round towers at the northern and eastern corners of the complex, of which the eastern tower also secured the simple castle gate.
Only a few remains of the southern, probably younger, complex have survived. Apparently this part was also surrounded by a rectangular wall. The fortification was separated from the lower outer bailey in the north by a ditch five meters deep in the rock. The core of the southern complex was a presumably rectangular tower; there were apparently more buildings on the northwest side of the wall. The outer bailey was located between the two systems. There was probably a wooden house built there for the castle administrator in the 15th century. The short-lived English borough was probably south of the castle near the preserved church of St Michael . It is possible, however, that it only extended over the area of the outer bailey.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust: Historic Settlements Survey - Radnorshire. Cefnllys. Retrieved November 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Gatehouse Gazetter: Cefnllys Castles. Retrieved November 15, 2017 .
- ^ Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415 . Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-820198-2 , p. 312
- ^ Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415 . Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-820198-2 , p. 322
- ^ Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust: Historic Settlements Survey - Radnorshire. Cefnllys. Retrieved November 15, 2017 .