Aberllynfi Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Aberllynfi Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Great House; Abberlewin; Abrelenuith; Aberllyfni

In the community of Gwernyfed.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO17173806
Latitude 52.03475° Longitude -3.20826°

Aberllynfi Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Aberllynfi Castle is a compact motte and bailey occupying a diamond-shaped area on a natural bluff roughly 80m by 78m. The motte is at the western end. It is 30-35m in diameter at the base, up to 6.0m high, the summit being 16-17m across. (Coflein)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte and bailey castle, a military stronghold built during the medieval period. The site is keyhole shaped in plan and located on the end of a small bluff which is surrounded on three sides by water meadows bordering the Afon Llynfi. The motte has a base diameter of 34m, is 6m high and has a flat summit 16m in diameter. The bailey lies to the E of the motte and measures 50m by 30m. It is separated from the motte by a the filled-in remains of a ditch, and is bounded by natural slopes to the N and S. An original causewayed entrance crosses the moat on the S side. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Site recorded as captured in 1233. Hogg and King writes that although survived well into C13 never rebuilt in stone, Remfry writes stone lying about near motte may suggest stone round tower. Sometimes identified with the vanished Glasbury Castle although Kings is certain this was a different castle (see Glasbury).

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is BR080.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 306023.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 513.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
  Paul Martin Remfry
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 231 (listed)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 11
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 18
  Remfry, Paul, 1998, Castles of Breconshire (Logaston Press) p. 140-1
  RCAHW, 1913, An inventory of the historical monuments in Radnorshire p. 47
Periodical Articles
- Kay, Richard, 1994, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 61 p. 26-7
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 116 p. 71-132 (survived into C13 without being rebuilt in stone)
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 112 p. 77-124
  King, D.J.C., 1961, ‘The castles of Breconshire’ Brycheiniog Vol. 7 p. 84 no. 15 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete, particularly for the major royal castles and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1905, Calendar of Close Rolls Henry III (1231-34) Vol. 2 p. 257, 273 view online copy (requires subscription)

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)

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This record last updated 05/07/2016 17:12:20

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