Dinefwr Castle
| Dinefwr Castle | ||
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 The Keep of Dinefwr Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Dynevor Castle | |
| Creation time : | 12th Century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 52 '35 " N , 4 ° 0' 58.9" W | |
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Dinefwr Castle , also known as Dynevor Castle, is a ruined castle near Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire in Wales . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , was the residence of the Princes and Lords of Deheubarth in the 12th and 13th centuries , also known as the Dinefwr dynasty after the castle .
history
According to legend, Dinefwr Castle was built by Rhodri the Great in the 10th century. The elongated range of hills was easy to defend and therefore offered a good place to build a fortification, but there is no written or archaeological evidence that a castle was built here before the mid-12th century.
The first builder of the facility is Lord Rhys , under whom the Principality of Deheubarth achieved its greatest importance around 1180 and who built Dinefwr Castle as his residence. His castle probably consisted of a stone ring wall with two gates. After his death in 1197, his sons fought for a successor and the castle changed hands several times during the civil war. After 1208 the castle was owned by Rhys Gryg , Lord Rhys' youngest son. In 1213 it was conquered by his nephew Rhys Ieuanc after a siege and after heavy fighting . Ultimately, no one could enforce the descendants Lord Rhys, so that in 1216 the Prince of Gwynedd , Llywelyn the Great , the Agreement Aberdyfi prevailed, in which the Principality Deheubarth was divided into three depending on his dominions. Dinefwr Castle fell to Rhys Gryg, who continued to expand the castle in the relatively peaceful years up to his death in 1234 and, above all, built the mighty keep . After his death, the sons of Rhys Gryg continued to divide the country among themselves and no longer achieved any supra-regional importance. Dinfewr Castle temporarily fell directly to Llywelyn from Iorwerth before it came back into the possession of the descendants of Rhys Gryg.
English conquest
In 1277 the English King Edward I began his wars of conquest against Wales . An English army under Payn de Chaworth broke the Welsh resistance at Carmarthen in 1277 . Numerous South Welsh rulers submitted to the king, including Rhys Wyndod , a great-grandson of Rhys Gryg, who handed the castle over to Payn de Chaworth in June 1277. During the revolt of Rhys ap Maredudd it fell briefly into the hands of the rebellious Welsh in 1287, but otherwise it remained in the possession of the crown and served as an administrative center and a symbol of royal power. The English had the castle repaired and built the new main gate with the kennel in front . The rectangular hall, which was attached to the previous living quarters, was probably built around 1326. Towards the end of the 14th century the castle was considered neglected, but the ten-day siege by Owain Glyndŵr in 1403 was unsuccessful. After the siege, the southern wall was renewed and further new buildings were built in the outer bailey.
Late Middle Ages until today
Around 1425, Gruffudd ap Nicolas acquired the castle. Under him, the castle was further neglected because he preferred the Newton House to the north as his residence. His grandson Rhys ap Thomas moved his residence to Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire in the 1490s , so the castle was eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair. At the end of the Middle Ages it was a ruin overgrown with ivy. In the late 17th century, the Keep was expanded into a picturesque summer house and picnic area. These buildings were destroyed by fire in the late 18th century and the ruins were left to nature again. In the 20th century, the castle was partially restored by the barons of Dynevor, but the medieval walls were also destroyed.
Today the castle belongs to the Cadw and can be visited all year round.
investment
The ruin is located west of Llandeilo and north of the Afon Tywi on a mountain peak. The southwest side drops steeply to the valley of the Tywi, on the other three sides the inner castle is surrounded by a deep moat carved into the rock. The castle is approached from the east via a ditch through a first gate into the outer bailey to the east , of which only a few remains have been preserved. Over the moat of the inner castle, through the second gate, one arrives at a kennel south of the inner castle, from which the simple main gate in the south wall leads into the pentagonal inner courtyard of the castle. The oldest parts of the polygonal curtain wall that surrounds the inner castle date from the early 13th century. On the east side there is a mighty, compact keep, which is crowned by the ruin of the summer house from the 17th century. The two-storey round tower is about 12 m high and has a wide base. It resembles the Keep of Skenfrith Castle or that of the nearby Dryslwyn Castle . This was built by Rhys Gryg before 1230, so the Dinefwr keep probably dates from this time. The original entrance was on the upper floor, the current entrance on the ground floor was added later. The stone staircase that leads to the adjacent curtain wall and from there over a stone bridge to the top of the keep was built in the 17th or 18th century to access the summer house.
In addition to the keep, the curtain wall has another, rectangular tower in the northwest of the core castle. The living quarters in the northeast of the complex were built towards the end of the 13th century. Around 1326 they were expanded by adding a hall.
Web links
- Dinefwr Castle at the National Trust
- Llandeilo Past & Present: Dinefwr Castle. Llandeilo.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ British Listed Buildings: Old Dynevor Castle, Dynevor Park, Llandeilo. Retrieved August 26, 2013 .
- ↑ Ancient Monuments: Old Dynefwr Castle. Retrieved February 20, 2014 .
- ^ Llandeilo Past & Present: Dinefwr Castle. Retrieved August 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Cadw: Dinefrw Castle. Retrieved August 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Castles of Wales: Dinefwr Castle. Retrieved August 25, 2013 .
- ^ Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles: A Guide by Counties. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2000. ISBN 978-0-85115-778-8 , pp. 48f