Coity Castle

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Coity Castle ruins, view from the west

Coity Castle ( Welsh Castell Coety ) is a ruined castle in the Welsh village of Coity Higher about two kilometers northeast of Bridgend in South Wales . It goes back to a simple ring wall from the time of the early 12th century and was expanded into a two-part stone castle by various noble families in four subsequent construction phases. Abandoned as a residence in the 17th century, it gradually fell into ruin that is now in the care of the Cadw .

The facility is a Grade I Listed Building under monument protection and is also a Scheduled Monument . It can be viewed free of charge every day throughout the year. In the immediate vicinity of the castle is the fortified St Mary's Church from the 14th century, another architectural monument .

history

Coity Castle was founded in the early 12th century and was expanded to form the complex in five construction phases, the remains of which are visible today. It was started in 1106 by the from the Normandy originating de Payn I Turberville , one of the legendary twelve knights of Glamorgan , as a rampart with a wooden palisade erected. The complex served as a border fortress and to support the Norman settlement of the western glamor organ . Payn II de Turberville replaced the earth-wood construction in the 1180s with a stone keep , which he had surrounded by a curtain wall. In the 14th century, the interior of the residential tower was redesigned and a multi-storey extension was added on its north side. A gate was added to the south, replacing an older, simple gate to the outer bailey to the northwest . This was fenced in with its own circular wall reinforced with three square towers and connected to the main castle. On the south side of the main castle , leaning against its circular wall, another building was built with a hall on the ground floor, which was connected to utility rooms such as kitchens and storage rooms in the east. A round tower built on the outside of the southern curtain wall with a connection to the southern building offered a latrine on each of its floors .

View of the castle ruins on an engraving by the brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck from 1740

The Turbervilles died out around 1367 with Richard II de Turberville in the male line. From him the castle came to his nephew Lawrence Berkrolles, whose father had married Roger Richard Turberville's heir, Catherine. The Welsh uprising for Wales' independence from England fell during the time of Lawrence Berkrolle's castle owner . In the course of this rebellion, Owain Glyndŵr besieged Coity Castle from 1404 to 1405, but unlike his other military endeavors, he was unsuccessful in the Coity case. The castle garrison was able to successfully withstand his siege, but the facility was badly damaged. The damage was then repaired by Lawrence, for example by completely renewing the northern part of the Kernburgring wall. Possibly he also had the north-east gate of the core castle built.

When Sir Lawrence died in 1419 without leaving an heir, several parties fought over his estate. The castle and lordship of Coity finally came to Sir William Gamage. He was the grandson of another William Gamage who was a daughter of Payn III. de Turberville had married. To back up his claim to the facility, William had previously besieged it. It was his family who made further radical changes to the system. In the early 15th century she added a chapel on the west side of the south building , which was increased again in the course of the century. The outer bailey was also redesigned. A large stable building was built based on the southern section of the curtain wall, and access to the outer bailey was made possible by a new, simple gate on the west side. From the 15th century onwards, however, the main access was granted to the south tower of the curtain wall , which was transformed into a gate tower.

Coity Castle mid-19th century

Further changes to the castle in the Tudor period - perhaps under Sir Thomas Gamage - primarily served to improve living comfort. The buildings got bigger windows, and in the great hall of the south building, splendidly designed chimneys were installed as heating means. In addition, the keep and its northern extension were given a third floor, and that part of the moat that separated the outer and core of the castle was probably also backfilled in the 16th century . John Gamage's heir, Barbara, married Sir Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester in 1584 and gave him the property. The couple lived at the ancestral home of the Sydney's in Kent , Penshurst Place , and Coity Castle was no longer used as a residence. The result was a gradual deterioration of the facility. This remained in the possession of this family until the 19th century, but Thomas Wyndham of Dunraven Castle was its owner in 1811 at the latest . His daughter Caroline brought them to her husband, Windham Quin, 2nd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl , in 1833 . At that time the castle was already described as a ruin.

Coity Castle has been under state custody since 1929 and is therefore now under the care of Cadw.

description

Plan of the castle ruins

Coity Castle is a two-part complex, consisting of a core castle and an outer castle to the northwest of it. Local quarry stone was used in both areas . It is surrounded in the north, east and south by a dry trench that is between four meters in the north and six meters in the south. Its width varies between 90 and 100  feet (27.5 to 30.5 meters).

Today the visitor enters the facility through a gate in the outer bailey, which measures approximately 55 × 39 meters. This is located in the southern part of their approximately 20 feet (approx. Six meters) high wall. The foundations of a large, 29-meter-long stable building are located within the outer bailey area.

The floor plan of the round main castle clearly illustrates the size and shape of its former predecessor, a ring wall protected by a wooden palisade . The diameter of the main castle is 36.6 meters. In its north-western area are the ruins of a four-storey keep, the structure of which has been preserved for the most part from the 14th century and which has an area of ​​12.2 × 10.2 meters. Its two meter thick walls are still up to 16.5 meters high. The ground floor is occupied by a single room, the vaulted ceiling of which was supported by a central, octagonal pillar . Such a pillar is in exactly the same central position on the first floor. The keep has a rectangular extension from the 14th century on its north side. On the south side of the tower are the remains of the former gate to the outer bailey. Although only fragmentarily preserved, the nine-foot (about 2.7 meters) wide passage can still be seen.

Another gate is located in the northeast portion of the eight foot (2.5 m) thick core castle ring wall and provides easy access to the churchyard of the neighboring St Mary's Church. The former three-storey gatehouse has a 20 × 24 foot (around meters) floor plan, its second floor only partially exists. A fixed wooden bridge now replaces the previously existing drawbridge , the chain holes and blind niches of which are still preserved. The six foot (1.8 meter) wide gate previously had a portcullis that could be operated from the only room on the first floor. The room can be reached via a stone spiral staircase and had a fireplace for heating.

A 26 × 19 foot (about 7.9 × 5.8 meters) building is leaning against the southern curtain wall of the main castle. Above his vaulted cellar was a hall on the ground floor , the vaulted ceiling of which was supported by two pillars. The room used to be decorated with elaborate stone carvings. The upper floors of the building were used for residential purposes. This is also shown by the four-storey sandstone latrine tower in front of the residential building on the outside of the curtain wall . The remaining building fabric east of the building is the remains of utility rooms and staff accommodation. The foundations in the west, however, are the relics of the former castle chapel from the 15th century.

  • Ruin of the keep with northern curtain wall

  • Latrine tower

  • East gate to the churchyard of St Mary's Church

  • Octagonal central pillar of the keep

literature

  • George Thomas Clark: Mediæval military architecture in England . Volume 1. Wyman & Sons, London 1884, pp. 364-377 ( digitized version ).
  • John R. Kenyon, Clifford Jack Spurgeon: Coity Castle, Ogmore Castle, Newcastle . Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, Cardiff 2001, ISBN 1857601122 .
  • John Newman: Glamorgan: (Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan) (= Buildings of Walses . Volume 3). 2nd Edition. Penguin, London 2001, ISBN 0-140710566 , pp. 326-328 ( digitized version ).
  • Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 0-85115-778-5 , pp. 93-94 ( digitized ).
  • Courtenay Arthur Ralegh Radford: Coity Castle. Official Guide . HMSO, Cardiff 1946.
  • Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (Ed.): The early castles. From the Norman Conquest to 1217 (= An inventory of the ancient monuments in Glamorgan . Volume 3, part 1, a). HMSO, Cardiff 1991, ISBN 0-11-300035-9 , pp. 47, 218-258 ( excerpt ).

Web links

Commons : Coity Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Listed Building Report on Cadw's website , accessed January 5, 2017.
  2. ↑ Scheduled Monument Report on Cadw's website , accessed January 5, 2017.
  3. ^ A b Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales: The early castles. From the Norman Conquest to 1217. 1991, p. 226.
  4. ^ A b Thomas Nicholas: The History and Antiquities of Glamorganshire and its families . Longmans, Green & Co., London 1874, p. 64 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ a b c d e Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales: The early castles. From the Norman Conquest to 1217. 1991, p. 228.
  6. ^ A. Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties. 2000, p. 93.
  7. ^ A b Coity Castle on castlewales.com , accessed August 22, 2013.
  8. ^ A b c Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales: The early castles. From the Norman Conquest to 1217. 1991, p. 223.
  9. ↑ a b c d G. T. Clark: Mediæval military architecture in England. 1884, p. 488.
  10. ↑ Information on Coity Castle at castlefacts.info , accessed August 22, 2013.
  11. ^ A b c G. T. Clark: Mediæval military architecture in England. 1884, p. 490.
  12. ^ J. Newman: Glamorgan: (Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan). 2001, p. 327.
  13. ^ J. Newman: Glamorgan: (Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan). 2001, p. 326.
  14. ^ Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales: The early castles. From the Norman Conquest to 1217. 1991, p. 230.
  15. ^ Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales: The early castles. From the Norman Conquest to 1217. 1991, p. 232.
  16. ^ GT Clark: Mediæval military architecture in England. 1884, p. 489.
  17. ↑ Information on Coity Castle on burgen.de , accessed on August 22, 2013.

Coordinates: 51 ° 31'19 "  N , 3 ° 33'11"  W.