Cae Castell, Llechart (The Gatehouse Record)

Cae Castell, Llechart

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Rhyndwyclydach; Nant Llwydyn

In the community of Mawr.
In the historic county of Glamorgan.
Modern authority of Swansea.
Preserved county of West Glamorgan.

OS Map Grid Reference: SN69410473
Latitude 51.72572° Longitude -3.89125°

Cae Castell, Llechart has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Rhyndwyclydach is a rectangular earthwork enclosure, c.21m across, on ground falling generally to the SSE, resting above steep natural scarps on the NE, elsewhere ditched about; an irregular rampart, rising up to 4.7m above the ditch, occupies the N part of the enclosure, facing rising ground: thought to be a medieval castle, the site has no recorded history. (Coflein Ref. RCAHMW, 1991)

This quite singular earthwork might have a slight affinity with the motte and bailey, if the elevated NW angle were taken to be the intended strong-point of the site. Its square form virtually discounts any possibility that it represents an unfinished motte; square mottes are extremely rare in Britain. No record of this site is known, but its high altitude and remote situation, deep in Gower Wallicana and far from any known manorial centre, suggests it was the work of a medieval Welsh lord. (RCAHMW 1991)

The monument consists of the remains of an earthwork probably dating to the medieval period. Square in plan, it measures approx. 18 x 21m and is situated 183m above OD on the western edge of a deep ravine. Interestingly, it lies within a field recorded on early tithe maps as 'Cae castell' - castle field. The west, south and north sides are enclosed by a broad shallow ditch with bank. The east side is defined by the edge of the ravine. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is GM439.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 301259.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 01178w.

Books
- Davis, Paul R., 2007, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Y Lolfa) p. 104
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 111
  RCAHMW, 1991, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan Vol. 3 Part 1a: The Early Castles (London: HMSO) UW2 p. 142-3
  Davis, Paul R., 1988, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Swansea)
  Salter, Mike, 1991, The Castles of Gwent, Glamorgan and Gower (Malvern) p. 75 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 168
Periodical Articles
- Spurgeon, Jack, 1987, 'The Castles of Glamorgan' Château Gaillard Vol. 13 p. 207
  Spurgeon, C.J. and Thomas, H.J.,1980, 'Cae Castell, Rhyndwyclydach', Archaeology in Wales Vol. 20 p. 71, 73
  Spurgeon, C.J. and Thomas, H.J., 1978, 'Medieval Glamorgan' Morgannwg Vol. 22 p. 20 online copy
  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

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 06/07/2016 17:09:33

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