- Heritage

Monmouth Castle

Built by William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, the castle builder, in around 1067 to 1071 and shares some similarities with Chepstow Castle, another of FitzOsbern’s designs further south on the River Wye in…

Montgomery Castle

The rebuilding of Montgomery Castle in stone was commenced in the late summer of 1223 on the sixteenth birthday of Henry III of England, a mile to the south-east of the original site. The architect of the new castle was Hubert de Burgh who also rebuilt Skenfrith Castle, Grosmont Castle and White Castle in the Welsh Marches. From 1223 until 1228 masons worked solidly building the entire inner ward, or donjon as it was then known on a great rock above the later town of Montgomery. This work consisted of the gatehouse, two D-shaped towers and the apartments which crowded around the curtain wall of the inner ward. After an unsuccessful attack by Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in 1228 the middle and outer wards were added to the castle. The castle was again attacked in 1233 which resulted in damage to the Well Tower which had to be subsequently repaired and…

Neath Abbey and Gatehouse

Neath Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located near the present-day town of Neath in southern…

Newcastle, Bridgend

Newcastle Castle, on Newcastle Hill, overlooking the town centre of Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales, was initially constructed in 1106 by William de Londres, one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, as part of the Norman invasion…

Newport Castle

Newport Castle is a castle ruin in the city of Newport, South Wales and is a Grade II* Listed building. It is the castle that gives Newport its original and real name in the Welsh language, Castell Newydd, shortened to Casnewydd (‘New Castle’). The ‘new’ is a reference to the ‘old’ Roman fortress in nearby Caerleon or the older motte and bailey castle on Stow Hill…

Ogmore Castle

Ogmore Castle, situated near the village of Ogmore-by-Sea, south of the town of Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales, was initially constructed in 1116 by William de Londres, one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, as part of the Norman invasion…

Old Beaupre Castle

Old Beaupre Castle (also known as Beaupre Castle, Old Beaupre Manor, or simply Beaupre) is a ruined medieval fortified manor house located in the community of Llanfair, outside Cowbridge in Wales presently under the care of Cadw. It is known in historic documents under the names Beawpire, Bewerpere, Bewpyr and…

Oxwich Castle

Oxwich Castle occupies a position on a wooded headland overlooking Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, UK…

Parc le Breos Burial Chamber

Parc le Breos was a great medieval deer park in the south of the Gower Peninsula, about eight miles (13 km) west of Swansea, Wales, and about 1 1⁄4 miles (2 km) north of the Bristol Channel. The park was an enclosed, oval area of 6.7 miles (10.8 km) in circumference, covering about 2,000 acres (810 ha) and measuring 2 ½ miles (east – west) by just over 1 ¾ miles (4.1 km by 2.9 km). Parc le Breos was established in the 1220s CE by John de Braose (of the powerful Cambro-Norman de Braose dynasty), Marcher Lord of Gower and husband to Margaret Ferch Llywelyn, Llywelyn Fawr’s daughter. Other than for deer husbandry, the park received an income from agistment, pannage, and from sales of wild honey, ferns and dead wood. There is evidence of rabbit warrening in the park. Whether the warrens were free or domestic is…

Penarth Fawr Medieval House

Fifteenth-century hall-house with impressive timber roof and…