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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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Allt Pant Glas, Llanpumsaint

In the community of Llanpumsaint.
In the historic county of Carmarthenshire.
Modern authority of Carmarthenshire.
Preserved county of Dyfed.

OS Map Grid Reference: SN42172596
Latitude 51.90982° Longitude -4.29589°

Allt Pant Glas, Llanpumsaint has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Salter writes 'mound 9m across on top in trees by farm' Davis writes 'Tip of ridge cut off by massive bank with deep ditch in front. Possibly unusual form of ringwork or unfinished Iron Age Fort.' RCAHMW describes as 'A small scarped platform has been secured by the construction of a bank, with no apparent ditch.'

Although scheduled as a Motte the monument is perhaps better characterized as a defended enclosure dating to the Iron Age period (c. 800 BC - AD 74, the Roman conquest of Wales). It consists of a massive single bank and ditch cutting off an eastward facing spur of land above the Nant Brechfa and a tributary stream. The bank is c 7m high from the ditch base and extends c 20m east to west. The ditch is partially rock cut and is c 5m deep. The east and south sides of the interior fall steeply, the north less so and here a hollow way approaches up slope from the north east. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Variously given Iron Age or Medieval date with no real evidence or certainty. The location has some strategic value for the control of a road in a narrow pass but nothing to really suggest medieval settlement.

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

Data >	Coflein	County HER	Scheduling
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 CADW scheduled monument record number is CM121.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 303950.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 1714.

Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 253 (listed as possible)
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 58
  Davis, Paul, 2000, A Company of Forts. A Guide to the Medieval Castles of West Wales (Gomer Press) p. 38
  Salter, Mike, 1996, The Castles of South West Wales (Malvern) p. 47 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 58
  RCAHMW, 1917, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Carmarthenshire (HMSO) p. 180 no. 540 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

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.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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 06/07/2016 09:03:45

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