Usk Castle
| Usk Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 The ruins of the residential buildings of Usk Castle |
||
| Alternative name (s): | Castell Brynbuga | |
| Creation time : | 11th or 12th century | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 42 '16.6 " N , 2 ° 54' 7.2" W | |
|
||
Usk Castle ( Welsh Castell Brynbuga ) is a ruined castle in Monmouthshire , Wales . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , is located north of the center of the city of Usk . Although the owners of the castle belonged to the Anglo-Norman and English aristocracy and often inhabited the castle, it did not play a significant role in the history of Wales.
history
The time when the first fortification was built on the site of today's castle is unclear. Perhaps shortly after the conquest of Gwent under William FitzOsbern from 1067 a moth with earth and wood fortifications was built at the strategically important ford through the River Usk . According to other sources, the first fortification was not built until 1120 at the northern end of the Usk settlement built on the ruins of a Roman fort. The castle is first mentioned in writing after it was conquered in 1138 by the Welsh princes Morgan and Iorwerth from Owain of Caerleon . It was retaken by Gilbert de Clare , the Anglo-Norman Lord of Striguil or his son Richard Strongbow . Richard Strongbow expanded the fortifications and erected a stone tower before 1168, the later keep . Nevertheless, the castle was conquered by Hywel from Iorwerth of Caerleon in 1174 and only recaptured by the Anglo-Normans in 1184.
After his marriage to Isabel de Clare , the daughter and heiress of Richard Strongbow, the castle fell to William Marshal in 1189 . Marshal had extensive experience in contemporary castle building in Palestine and in the service of King Henry II in France. Inspired by these models, he had Pembroke and Chepstow Castle and Usk Castle expanded after 1200 as a demonstration of power against the Welsh and the neighboring Marcher Lord Reginald de Braose and the curtain wall around the inner castle and the Garrison Tower built. Marshal's wife and children often lived in the castle. After William Marshal's death, his sons successively inherited the castle. During Richard Marshal's rebellion against King Henry III. the castle was besieged in 1233 by royal troops under Baldwin of Guînes . The defenders soon had to surrender due to a lack of supplies. Marshal was able to recapture the castle a little later through the use of siege engines, but his rebellion failed in 1234. After William's youngest son Anselm Marshal died in 1245 without male descendants, Richard de Clare , a son of William Marshal's daughter Isabella von Pembroke , inherited the castle. Richards son Gilbert they increased further in 1289, leaving the new North or treasure tower and by the end of the 13th century, the bailey create. After the death of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford , the castle first fell to his widow Maud de Burgh and after her death in 1320 to his sister Elizabeth . In 1322 she was urged by her brother-in-law Hugh le Despenser to exchange Usk and Caerleon for the inferior rule of Gower . After le Despenser had been executed as a traitor in 1326, Elizabeth got the castle back, which she had further expanded until her death in 1360. In 1352 the chronicler Adam of Usk was born in the castle .
By marriage, Usk fell to the Earl of March in 1368 . In 1402 the city was burned down by Owain Glyndŵr during the rebellion , but the castle held out against the rebellious Welsh. During the siege of the castle in 1405, the rebels were decisively defeated in the battle of Pwll Melyn . After the battle, 300 Welsh prisoners are said to have been executed in front of the castle. In the 15th century the castle served as a retreat for Richard, Duke of York , the steward of the castle was from 1431 William ap Thomas , the father of Black Will Herbert . In the 15th century, the Keep was expanded as the stewards' apartment, but from the early 16th century the stewards used the outer bailey as an apartment, while the inner bailey fell into disrepair. The Castle House on the grounds of the outer bailey was expanded into a residential building around 1680 by Thomas Herbert, who was the steward of the Duke of Beaufort and managed the castle.
The ruins of the castle were purchased in 1899 by the Adams-Williams family, who began restoring the castle. The Castle House now serves as a residential building, the area of the outer bailey has been redesigned into a garden. The ruin of the core castle is freely accessible.
investment
The castle is located on a hill north of the city of Usk and east of the Usk River. The circular wall built at the beginning of the 13th century encloses the rectangular, approximately 80 by 54 m large inner castle. The quarry sandstone wall has an average thickness of 2 m, but has only been preserved at different heights. The oldest preserved building is the Keep, built around the middle of the 12th century. The rectangular tower was originally built as a gate tower. Towards the end of the 13th century it was converted into a keep, instead a simple gate was broken into the wall west of the tower. Only small remains of the semicircular flanking tower , which was built in the 14th century to protect the gate . The so-called treasure tower is located at the northern corner of the castle. The three-storey, semicircular tower was built around 1289. On the north side of the castle are the remains of the chapel and the living hall, which were built at the beginning of the 14th century. In the 14th century, a rectangular residential tower protruding from the wall was built between the chapel and the hall. The Garrison Tower in the middle of the western wall was built around 1209 on the model of contemporary French towers. The four-storey round tower is still fully preserved, while only small remains of the round tower in the south-west corner of the castle have survived.
The outer bailey, south of the main castle, was walled in in the second half of the 14th century. The round pigeon tower is located in the southeast corner. The core of the Castle House, built in 1680 in the northeast of the outer bailey, is the three-story gate tower from the 14th century.
literature
- Elisabeth Whittle: Glamorgan and Gwent. HMSO, London 1992. ISBN 0-11-701221-1 , pp. 106-108
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ British listed Buildings: Usk Castle and precincts, Usk. Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
- ↑ Ancient Monuments: Usk Castle (Unoccupied Parts). Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
- ↑ Usk Castle: A Brief History of Usk. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 19, 2013 ; Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
- ^ Castles of Wales: Usk Castle. Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
- ^ History of the Magna Carta: Restoring royal authority. Retrieved May 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Owain Glyn Dŵr and Gwent: a reappraisal of his campaigns in, the level of support he obtained from and the effects of his rebellion upon the region historically known as Gwent (Gwent local History, 95 (2003)). Retrieved December 18, 2013 .
- ^ John Newman: The Buildings of Wales: Gwent / Monmouthshire. Yale University Press, New Haven 2000. ISBN 978-0-300-09630-9 , p. 589