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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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Maesmor Hall Castle Mound, Llangwm

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Tomen Maesmor; Y Domen; Maerdy; Llandderfel

In the community of Llangwm.
In the historic county of Denbighshire.
Modern authority of Conwy.
Preserved county of Clwyd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ01284458
Latitude 52.98953° Longitude -3.47208°

Maesmor Hall Castle Mound, Llangwm 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

A flat-topped oval mound, 43m WNW-ESE by 29m & up to c.3.0m high; formerly regarded as a castle mound, a similar mound lies c.100m to the SE. (OS).
Portrayed as a garden feature by OS County series (Denbigh. XXXII.11 1889), having a path running about its c.26m by 14m oval summit.
Associated with/part of: Maesmor Hall gardens (Nprn266443). (Coflein)

A long squat mound no resemblance to a motte. No ditch no bailey. Probably a natural mound altered to form part of a garden mound 35m long, 12m wide, max 3m high. Considered a possible motte by Spurgeon (Manley, J, Grenter, S & Gale, F, 1991, pp171). (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

An oval mound 35m long, aligned WNW - ESE, and 12m wide located 100m WSW of Maesmor Hall. It is set within the grounds of the hall c. 70m SW of the present course of the Afon Ceirw. There are signs that it was surrounded by a ditch, and there may have been a bailey, but its location has led to the disappearance of both of those features. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

In 1963 Hogg and King recorded this as a certain motte, in 1970 they moved it to their possible list (meaning doubtful) with the description 'oval, with gradual slope (in information of O.E. Craster). Described by King 1983, as 'Possible oval motte, not certainly medieval'. Does now seem to usually rejected although, as with a number of other prospect mounds in the grounds of high status houses, might just be a much adapted motte.

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 DE149.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 275770.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 100798.

Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 237 (listed)
  Manley, J., Grenter, S. and Gale, F., 1991, The Archaeology of Clwyd
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 105
  RCAHMW, 1914, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Denbighshire (HMSO) p. 126 no. 442 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1970, 'Castles in Wales and the Marches (Additions and corrections to lists published in 1963 and 1967)' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 119 p. 119-124 (possible)
  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.)

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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This record last updated 06/07/2016 16:39:08

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