Cefnllys Castle
Cefnllys Castle | |
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Castell Cefn-llys | |
Revolt of Owain Glyndŵr (1400–15) | |
Official name |
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Reference no. |
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Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Church of St Michael |
Designated | 12 December 1952 |
Reference no. | 9301 |
Cefnllys Castle (
Castle Bank is often considered to be the site of an
The castle may have been sacked during the revolts of
Etymology
Cefnllys derives from the Welsh words cefn, meaning 'ridge', and llys, meaning 'mansion' or 'court'. Llys is associated with the unfortified courts of medieval Welsh rulers and may refer to the administrative manor (maerdref) of a local lord.[3] The name is first mentioned in 1246 as Keventhles and the form Kevenlleece, standard in the 19th century, is recorded by 1679.[4][note 1] Another name for the settlement and parish, Llanfihangel Cefn-llys ("church of St Michael at Cefnllys"), appears in records c. 1566 and refers to the medieval church which still stands.[5]
An older name, Dinieithon (also Dineithon and Castell Glan Iethon), meaning "fort on the River Ieithon" (din being Old Welsh for 'fort', cognate with dun), is also related to fortifications at Cefnllys – particularly the earlier Norman castle, which is sometimes called "Cefnllys Old Castle". Dinieithon or Swydd Diniethon ("shire of Dinieithon") was the name of the commote within the cantref (hundred) of Maelienydd.[5]
Location
The isolated ridge of Castle Bank is located 1.7 miles (2.7 km) east of the modern town of
Description
Earlier (north-east) castle
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Later (south-west) castle
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Other features
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Castle Bank is a naturally defensible position, protected on three sides by a loop of the River Ithon. The hill is open access land,[7] and the highest point is 304 metres (997 ft) above sea level.[8] The mottes of two castles are situated at opposite ends of the hill, the ruins heavily deformed and mostly rubble; only their basic characteristics have been identified. The earlier northern castle consisted of a keep within an elevated triangular inner bailey, with an accompanying outer bailey which may been entered via a gatehouse at its north-east corner.[9][10] The main feature of the later southern castle was a circular (or octagonal) tower inside a walled court,[11][12][note 2] separated from the main part of the ridge by a deep rock-cut ditch.[9] There was probably a small bailey to the south-west, and a scarp across the main ridge suggests the southern half of Castle Bank may have formed a large north bailey. The outline of a building in this area is likely to be the oak hall recorded at Cefnllys in the 15th century.[15] A stone curtain wall and rampart extended along most of the hilltop rim.[16]
St Michael's Church sits at the foot of the hill next to the Ithon, 300 metres (980 ft) to the west. Earthworks surrounding the church are commonly supposed to be the remains of the medieval town.[17][18] Alternatively, several historians infer that the primary settlement may have been sited within the enclosure of Castle Bank, adjacent to the castles.[19] During the borough's later history, the population may have been dispersed along the valley, instead of being focused in a nucleated settlement.[20] The Norman motte-and-bailey castle was located on the bank of the Ithon further upstream, 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Castle Bank.[3]
History
No archaeological excavation has been undertaken at Cefnllys – modern understanding of the site's history rests on contemporary texts.[21] Prior to the 14th century, sources are limited to accounts of military campaigns and the castles are referenced in the Welsh chronicles Brut y Tywysogion and Annales Cambriae. Greater stability following Edward I's conquest of Wales resulted in a growth of documentary evidence in the Welsh Marches, though at Cefnllys this is largely restricted to rudimentary public records as the majority of the Mortimer estate archives have been lost.[22] An extensive topographical survey combined with photogrammetry was carried out at Castle Bank in 1985 by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), with a follow-up appraisal in 2006.[21]
Hillfort origins
A number of scholars have suggested that the medieval castles utilised the remains of an Iron Age hillfort. Indications of a pre-Roman provenance include the ridge's large, elongated enclosure of 10 hectares (25 acres),[23] interpretation of visible earthworks and the extensive use of scarping and ditching to artificially steepen the gradient of slopes surrounding the hilltop.[14] The archaeologist A. E. Brown tentatively linked the entrance hollow-way with this period,[17] and the banks encircling the hilltop could also have an Iron Age origin.[15] Other features previously posited as pre-Roman were determined to be medieval by the 2006 RCAHMW report, although it did not rule out the possibility of a hillfort.[1] The complexity of earthworks on Castle Bank is compounded by alterations caused by later agricultural use and quarrying,[14] making confident assessment difficult. Among recent archaeological studies, Chris Martin & Robert Silvester (2011) state that the large bailey's Iron Age origins have been "convincingly argued",[24] while Robert Scourfield & Richard Haslam (2013) surmise, on the basis of the RCAHMW report, that "the hill is no longer considered as having been first fortified in the Iron Age".[25]
Initial medieval activity
Cefnllys is connected in tradition with
The timber motte-and-bailey north of Castle Bank is assumed to be the work of
First masonry castle
The death of Llywelyn in April 1240 led to an internal power struggle within Gwynedd, presenting
And after they had come inside by treachery they slew the gate-keepers and seized Hywel ap Meurig, who was constable there, and his wife and his sons and his daughters.
Starting in 1256, a large Welsh uprising led by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the new prince of Gwynedd, caused an English military reversal across Wales. By the time a truce was signed in 1260, Cefnllys had become Roger's most advanced outpost following the loss of the neighbouring commote of Gwrtheyrnion and the castle at Builth.[40] In late November 1262, Cefnllys was seized from Roger's constable Hywel ap Meurig by a small band of Welshmen, who entered the castle "by treachery" and took Hywel and his family captive, before sending word to Llywelyn of their success and torching the castle.[note 4] In response, Roger Mortimer levied an army of Marcher lords and arrived at Cefnllys to start repairs on the walls, but was caught off guard when Llywelyn surrounded him with a larger force.[35] After a three-week siege within the damaged and unprovisioned castle, during which Llywelyn's soldiers sacked Roger's other castles at Bleddfa and Knucklas, Roger was forced to negotiate safe passage.[44] Llywelyn allowed the Marcher force to retreat, a chivalrous gesture probably designed to strengthen his case at future peace negotiations,[13][45] before destroying the remaining defences and continuing his campaign against England.[45] The impact of Cefnllys' fall is illustrated in a letter written to Henry III by Peter of Aigueblanche, bishop of Hereford, as he fled for Gloucester: "Mortimer's castle of Cefnllys has capitulated: Roger and his retinue have left unharmed. All this has led to rumours of treachery and the whole March is in terror."[4][46][47]
The peace signed at the Treaty of Montgomery in September 1267 was a major success for Llywelyn, granting him formal recognition as Prince of Wales. Even though Cefnllys remained outside of his direct control and Roger Mortimer was permitted to rebuild the castle, Roger would provisionally hold the land on Llywelyn's behalf, as long as Llywelyn could demonstrate his right to it.[13][48] Cefnllys, and the ambiguous clause regarding it, would become an imminent point of contention.[49]
Second masonry castle
In the treaty [of Montgomery] it was provided that Roger Mortimer could only repair the castle at Kefen y Llys in Maelienid and that when the said castle was restored, justice should be done to Llywelyn concerning both the castle and the adjacent lands, according to the laws and customs of the Marches. This justice Llywelyn has not been able, so far, to obtain, although the said work has long been repaired. But the said Roger has, against the form of the peace, and to Llywelyn's prejudice, constructed a new work, not merely a fence, as has been suggested to the king, but a wide and deep ditch, and stones and timber have been brought to construct a fortress unless it is prevented by the king or by Llywelyn.
— extract from Llywelyn's 1273/4 letter to Edward I.[48]
Roger Mortimer moved quickly to refortify Castle Bank after the Treaty of Montgomery. The northern castle may have been repaired before the end of 1267, when Llywelyn wrote to Henry III complaining about the status of Cefnllys.[50] Roger then started building a new, stronger castle on the southern side of the ridge, which Llywelyn, who interpreted the treaty as only permitting repairs to the existing castle, viewed as a provocation.[49] Llywelyn sent a letter to Edward I on 22 July 1273 or 1274 protesting Roger's "new work", and requested that Edward prevent construction from continuing, lest he take action himself.[48][51] The argument over Cefnllys was foremost among a series of territorial disputes between Llywelyn and the Marcher lords,[52] which fed into a deteriorating climate of suspicion and distrust, further increased when Edward accepted defectors from Llywelyn's realm in 1274.[53] The historian Robert Rees Davies wrote that Llywelyn, who also faced intense financial and domestic pressure,[54] came to suspect "an orchestrated attempt to undermine his hard-won gains, especially in the middle March, and to subvert the terms of the Treaty of 1267".[53] These grievances escalated into Llywelyn's refusal to pay homage to Edward I in 1275 and fuelled Edward's determination to pacify the insubordinate prince, culminating in Edward's subjugation of Wales between 1277 and 1283.[55][56]
Cefnllys was not directly attacked in the ensuing conflict but formed part of a chain of garrisoned castles encircling Llywelyn's territories, which contributed to the rebellion's suppression.
The castle survived into the 15th century in a reparable state, but its upkeep was increasingly neglected as advances in warfare and shifting social patterns undermined its importance.
Kastell gwyn(n) uwch llynwyn llawn |
A white castle above a full moat, |
—Lewys Glyn Cothi |
Castle town
The
The lack of visible remains has meant the town's location has not been conclusively proven. The population may have been small enough to fit within the enclosure of Castle Bank, and supporters of this interpretation emphasise the settlement's military role as a
The town was small, remote and short-lived: growth stalled before 1332 and in 1383 it was recorded as having only 10 residents.[19] Davies comments that its location, accompanying a castle site chosen for defensiveness and ability to radiate strategic power, undermined its economic viability: "the artificiality of [its] commercial setting was too obvious once the military opportunities ... had been removed".[81][82] The economic weakness of Cefnllys is also emphasised by historians Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham.[83] Major outbreaks of bubonic plague across Britain in 1349, 1361–62 and 1369 contributed to its failure,[84] and the persistent threat of violent conflict within the March expedited its demise. Cefnllys remained a borough after the decline of the medieval settlement,[85] and according to the 1831 census it comprised, besides the church and castle ruins, 16 inhabitants in "three Farm Houses and one small Cottage".[79]
See also
- Cefnllys (medieval town)
- Maelienydd
- Dineithon
References
Notes
- ^ Andrew Breeze argues that Cefnllys is "Mons Clece", a place-name in Wales shown on the Hereford Mappa Mundi. He points to Cefnllys' etymology and historical role as "the Mortimer stronghold protecting Hereford from attack" as evidence to support this.[4]
- ^ Across Wales during the 13th century, round towers increasingly supplanted the less advanced rectangular keep, and the tower at Cefnllys is generally assumed to fit this pattern given the rubble's circular outline.[11] Lewys Glyn Cothi's description of the castle as "eight-sided" has led some scholars to suggest that the tower may have had an unusual octagonal shape.[13] The Cadw scheduling report notes that the tower's walls are likely to survive to a height of several metres below the rubble.[14]
- ^ According to the 16th-century writer Siôn Dafydd Rhys (in Llanstephan MS. 56), Cefnllys was one of a number of sites in the region fortified by Glodrydd.[26]
- ^ Although described in primary sources as a spontaneous local revolt,[41][42] J. Beverley Smith suggests Llywelyn may have instigated events in order to force a favourable peace treaty upon Henry III, recognising his supremacy within Wales.[43] He would achieve this by striking at Mortimer, who represented the greatest obstacle to his authority in the March.[35]
- ^ In the context of the castles listed, Browne & Pearson identify "Rees ap Morgan" with Morgan ap Maredudd, a rebel in Glamorgan, and cast doubt on the accuracy of the record given his geographic distance from Cefnllys. They propose that Madog ap Llywelyn may have taken the castle, while acknowledging the possibility that the castle of "Kenles" described in the primary source could refer to a site other than Cefnllys.[49] Another interpretation is that the capture was led by the regional leader Cynan ap Maredudd.[58][60]
- ^ Maurice Beresford claims the town was established concurrently with the first castle in the 1240s,[71] but he supplies no evidence for this.[35] An attempt to replicate the success of royally-sponsored English colonisation at Flint, Aberystwyth and Rhuddlan soon after Edward I's conquest is considered more likely.[12][72]
Citations
- ^ a b c Browne & Pearson 2006, pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b Smith 1998, p. 140.
- ^ a b c d Silvester 2015, p. 20.
- ^ a b c Breeze 1999, pp. 173–174.
- ^ a b Morgan 1998, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 3.
- ISBN 9780319243930.
- ^ Brown 1972, p. 11.
- ^ a b Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 17.
- ^ Davis, Philip (2016). "Cefnllys Castles (The Gatehouse Record)". Gatehouse Gazetteer. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ a b King 1988, pp. 124–125.
- ^ a b c d Brown 1972, p. 15.
- ^ a b c d e f Davis 2011, pp. 90–93.
- ^ National Historic Assets of Wales. Archivedfrom the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ a b Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 18.
- ^ Browne & Pearson 2006, pp. 10, 16.
- ^ a b c Brown 1972, p. 16.
- ^ Soulsby 1983, pp. 31, 105–106.
- ^ a b c Trevor 1986, pp. 212–213.
- ^ a b c Martin & Silvester 2011, p. 3.
- ^ a b Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 1.
- ^ Davies 1978, pp. 6–10.
- ^ Hogg & King 1967, p. 97.
- ^ a b c d Martin & Silvester 2011, p. 2.
- ^ Scourfield & Haslam 2013, p. 298.
- ^ Jones 1936, p. 25.
- ^ a b Silvester 2015, pp. 12, 20.
- ^ Reid 1973, p. 57.
- ^ Bevan-Jones 2017, p. 47.
- ^ Dugdale 1655, p. 349.
- ^ Remfry 1998, para. 5.
- ^ Remfry 1998, para. 14.
- ^ Davies 2000, pp. 241–244.
- ^ Remfry 2008, pp. 13–16.
- ^ a b c d Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 4.
- ^ Holden 2008, p. 216.
- ^ Smith 1998, pp. 41–43.
- ^ Brut y Tywysogyon 1973, p. 239.
- ^ Dugdale 1655, p. 350.
- ^ a b c Brown 1972, p. 12.
- ^ a b Brut y Tywysogyon 1973, p. 253.
- ^ Annales Cambriae 2012, p. 100.
- ^ Smith 1998, pp. 139–147.
- ^ Breverton 2009, p. 61.
- ^ a b Smith 1998, p. 147.
- ^ Lloyd 1911, p. 730.
- ^ Smith 1998, p. 149.
- ^ a b c d Brown 1972, p. 13.
- ^ a b c d e Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 5.
- ^ Smith 1998, p. 362.
- ^ Pryce & Insley 2005, pp. 554–555.
- ^ Smith 1998, pp. 361–362.
- ^ a b Davies 2000, pp. 322–323.
- ^ Prestwich 1997, pp. 172–173.
- ^ Smith 1998, p. 363.
- ^ Prestwich 1997, pp. 174–175.
- ^ Morris 1901, pp. 171–172.
- ^ a b Breverton 2009, p. 62.
- ^ Luard 2012, p. 526.
- ^ Brut y Tywysogyon 2015, [1293–1294].
- ^ Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 6.
- ^ Cole 1964, pp. 31–39.
- ^ Brown 1972, p. 14.
- ^ a b Browne & Pearson 2006, p. 7.
- ^ Suggett 2005, p. 30.
- ^ Browne & Pearson 2006, pp. 3, 7.
- ^ Suggett 2005, p. 37.
- ^ Suggett 2005, p. 38.
- ^ Jones 1936, p. 19.
- ^ Owen 2011, pp. 77–78.
- ^ Beresford 1967, p. 344.
- ^ Soulsby 1983, p. 105.
- ^ Cole 1946, pp. 7–9.
- ^ Davies 1978, p. 156.
- ^ Davies 1978, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Cole 1964, pp. 34, 37.
- ^ Beresford 1967, pp. 127–128.
- ^ Barley 1976, p. 76.
- ^ a b c Soulsby 1983, p. 106.
- National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
- ^ Davies 1978, pp. 321, 334.
- ^ Davies 2000, p. 167.
- ^ Creighton & Higham 2005, p. 82.
- ^ Davies 2000, p. 427.
- ^ Beresford 1967, p. 313.
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External links
- Cefnllys Castle – 2006 RCAHMW report on Castle Bank, with a summary of its historical context and visible earthworks.
- Cefnllys site details – Cofleininformation page with links to digital images, details of associated sites and information on archive records.