Castell Gwynionydd, Llandysul (The Gatehouse Record)

Castell Gwynionydd, Llandysul

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Coedfon

In the community of Llandysul.
In the historic county of Cardiganshire.
Modern authority of Ceredigion.
Preserved county of Dyfed.

OS Map Grid Reference: SN42394205
Latitude 52.05429° Longitude -4.30009°

Castell Gwynionydd, Llandysul has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a Masonry Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Castell Gwynionydd is a D-shaped enclosure, some 50m north-east to south-east by 36m, defined by a crescent of rampart and ditch, resting on steep natural slopes above the Teifi on the south-east, having a north-east facing entrance between the rampart & these scarps: site identified with 'the castle of Gwynionydd'. (Coflein)

The monument comprises the remains of a well preserved castle-ringwork, which dates to the early part of the medieval period (c. AD 1066 - 1485). Castell Gwynionydd covers an area of c 0.8ha on the edge of a scarp above a river valley, though the river channel has since moved away from its base. The site occupies a slight natural promontory defended by a semi-circular bank and ditch from higher ground on the north and west, while a natural steep slope bounds the site on the south-east; a slight bank runs along the cliff-top on this south-eastern side too, but this is not necessarily ancient. The bank and ditch are well-preserved and impressive, the bank being c.5m high externally and 2-3m high internally, while the ditch is c.2m deep. The line of the ditch continues down the scarp on the east of the site and traces of a dam are present at the top. Traces of a possible causeway across the ditch at the north-west may indicate the position of an entrance. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is CD018.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 303830.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 1667.

Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 234 (listed)
  Davis, Paul R., 2007, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Y Lolfa) p. 84
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 41
  Davis, Paul, 2000, A Company of Forts. A Guide to the Medieval Castles of West Wales (Gomer Press) p. 29
  Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p. 53
  Salter, Mike, 1996, The Castles of South West Wales (Malvern) p. 46 (slight)
  Davis, Paul R., 1988, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Swansea)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 46
  Rees, Wm, 1932, Map of South Wales and the Border in the 14th century (Ordnance Survey) (A handbook to the map was published in 1933)
Periodical Articles
- King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol. 3 p. 90-127
  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., 1956, 'The Castles of Cardiganshire' Ceredigion Vol. 3 p. 61 no. 17 online copy
  Hughes, I.T., 1930, 'Some South Cardiganshire earthworks' Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 7 p. 112-7 (plan) online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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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 22:20:50

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