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The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.

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Aberllynfi Church Hall Mound

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Glasbury; Glasbiry

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO17563827
Latitude 52.03670° Longitude -3.20223°

Aberllynfi Church Hall Mound has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Siege Work.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Probably natural mound some 20m diameter and 10m high. Noted as possible earthwork by CPAT site visit 1979. (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

1233. Aug. 29. Hereford.–Appointment, during pleasure, of W. son of Warin to the custody of the castle of Glasbiry; and mandate to Baldwin de Gisnes to deliver it to him. (CPR)

Comments

Mound formed by 3m deep rock cut ditches. Remfry identifies this site as a possible siege castle of 1233. Presumable he is considering this as the site recorded in 1233, near Aberllynfi but distinct from it, mentioned in Hogg and King under the name Glasbury but unlocated.
This site is a classic castle location, by a church and very close to a site of a early medieval Llys. Remfry's description of rock cut ditches is not consistent with a natural formation, but it's also unusual in early motte castles. Certainly use as a siege work can not be excluded but questionable about this being constructed as such. May actually be a feature of a post llys high status manorial site.

The map reference given in Archwillo does not quite seem to be correct.

Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >		County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	Historic Wales	V. O. B.	Geology	LIDAR
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio

Sources of information, references and further reading

The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 5569.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 11
  Remfry, Paul, 1998, Castles of Breconshire (Logaston Press) p. 141
Periodical Articles
- 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 (note as Glasbury)
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.)
- 1906, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1232-47) Vol. 3 p. 25 online copy

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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 before 1 February 2016

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