Ogmore Castle

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Ogmore Castle
Ogmore Castle, view from the west

Ogmore Castle, view from the west

Alternative name (s): Castell Ogwr
Creation time : 12th Century
Conservation status: ruin
Geographical location 51 ° 28 '48.4 "  N , 3 ° 36' 37.1"  W Coordinates: 51 ° 28 '48.4 "  N , 3 ° 36' 37.1"  W.
Ogmore Castle (Wales)
Ogmore Castle

Ogmore Castle ( Welsh Castell Ogwr ) is a ruined castle in Wales in Great Britain . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , is located near the village of Ogmore-by-Sea south of Bridgend in Glamorgan .

history

When the Normans conquered Glamorgan in the early 12th century, they built Newcastle , Coity and Ogmore Castle on the western edge of their conquests . The knight William de Londres built Ogmore Castle as a ring wall at a strategically important ford over the River Ewenny . When Gruffydd ap Rhys sacked the Gower Peninsula during his rebellion in 1116 , he abandoned the castle and brought his cattle to safety. Probably shortly after the death of his father in 1126, Maurice de Londres began building a stone keep , which is one of the oldest stone buildings of the Normans in south-east Wales. The castle became the center of the Anglo-Norman rule Bro Morgannwg . With the marriage of Hawise de Londres to Patrick de Chaworth , the castle fell to the Chaworth family together with Kidwelly Castle in the 13th century . In 1297 Maud de Chaworth married Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Lancaster , so that Bro Morgannwg fell to the later Duchy of Lancaster . During the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr , the castle was damaged in the early 15th century. The castle lost its military importance and was abandoned after 1530. The outer bailey served as the administrative center of the rule until the beginning of the 19th century.

The freely accessible ruin is still owned by the Duchy of Lancaster and is looked after by Cadw .

The entrance to the main castle, behind the keep

investment

The ruin is located on the south bank of the Ewenny River, just before its confluence with the River Ogmore , which itself flows into the Bristol Channel after about 1 km . The tide-dependent ford across the Ewenny River is now marked with stepping stones . The roughly rectangular core of the castle is surrounded by a deep moat that is filled with water during floods. The oldest surviving component is the rectangular keep on the west side of the castle, which was probably built after 1126. The western outer wall of the tower has been preserved up to a height of over 12 m. The originally two-storey tower has a floor area of ​​14 x 9.7 m and contained a living hall on the upper floor. When the stone ring wall was erected at the beginning of the 13th century , the tower was raised by one floor with additional living rooms and a latrine tower protruding from the wall was added. Immediately south of the keep are the remains of the simple gate tower, which was secured with a drawbridge over the moat. Apart from the keep and the gate, the curtain wall, which in the east and south is partially preserved up to the level of the battlements, had no towers. Opposite the keep are the foundations of the so-called cellar , a building erected in the 12th century, which was probably built into the earth wall at that time. Of the other buildings erected in the 13th century, only the foundations have been preserved. The large rectangular building on the north side, from which one could overlook the river, contained a living hall on the upper floor, another stone building was built on the inside of the south side of the curtain wall.

The outer bailey to the west of the main castle was surrounded by a rampart and a shallow moat. Only small remains of the ramparts have been preserved in the south and west; two walls running across the moat of the inner castle were probably connected to the wooden palisade. The two walls are provided with openings so that the ditch could be flooded during high water. On the north side of the outer bailey are the ruins of the court building, which was built in 1454 and was used until 1803. It was partly built over an old lime kiln that is still visible on the west side.

literature

  • Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. Volume III - Part I: The early castles. RCAHMW, 1991, ISBN 0-11-300035-9 , pp. 274-286.
  • Elisabeth Whittle: Glamorgan and Gwent . HMSO, London 1992, ISBN 0-11-701221-1 , pp. 111-113.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ British Listed Buildings: Ogmore Castle, St Bride's Major. Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
  2. Ancient Monuments: Ogmore Castle. Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
  3. ^ Inventory of the ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. Vol. III, Volume 1, p. 275.
  4. ^ Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 0-85115-778-5 , p. 102.