Castell Pistog (The Gatehouse Record)

Castell Pistog

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bangor Teifi; Castell Bangor

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SN38254037
Latitude 52.03805° Longitude -4.35968°

Castell Pistog has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A steep-sided, rather oval mound, about 34m north-south by 32m, ditched about, except on the north, where the ground falls away, having a round summit area, some 15m in diameter, dished up to 1.8m; there are no indications of any further works. (Coflein)

An agreeable little motte standing on the S. slope of a minor stream-valley. It is in no sense backed against any serious obstacle, but the S. is certainly the weakest side. There is a ditch all round, forming a mere step on the N. side, but elsewhere 6 ft. deep. There is no sign of a bailey, and I do not believe there ever was one. There is a deep hollow in the top, and the N.W. side has been severely mutilated, probably by treasure-hunters, fairly recently. The ungrassed sides of the cavity reveal no peculiarities of structure, only earth and a great deal of slaty stone. I doubt if all of this can have been dug out of the rather narrow ditch. (King 1956)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte and ditch, dating to the medieval period (c. 1066 -1540 AD). A motte is a large conical or pyramidal mound of soil and/or stone, usually surrounded by either a wet or dry ditch, and surmounted by a tower constructed of timber or stone. Castell Pistog stands on the south slope of a minor stream valley. The motte measures c.33m in diameter and is c.7m high, surrounded by a well-preserved ditch c.4m wide, extending on its southern arc up to 2m deep below the level of the field beyond, although it runs out to almost nothing on the steeper slope to the north. The top of the motte is c.15m in diameter and is disturbed, with a large semi-circular chunk c.3m wide and c.2m deep having been quarried out of the west side. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is CD103.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 303775.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 2342.

Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 234 (listed)
  Davis, Paul, 2000, A Company of Forts. A Guide to the Medieval Castles of West Wales (Gomer Press) p. 30
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 41
  Salter, Mike, 1996, The Castles of South West Wales (Malvern) p. 46 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 44
  Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales online copy
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
  King, D.J.C., 1956, 'The Castles of Cardiganshire' Ceredigion Vol. 3 p. 55 no. 4 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 22:33:51

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