Cilwhybert Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

Cilwhybert Motte

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Modrydd; Old Manor Farm; Cilgilbert

In the community of Glyn Tarell.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO01452679
Latitude 51.93086° Longitude -3.43475°

Cilwhybert Motte has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A moated mound, about 50m in diameter and 0.5m high, having a summit area 14m in diameter; set upon a low spur rising above the Afon Tarell valley floor: a possible adjunct of the manor house thought to have occupied the site of Cilhybert farm, as depicted on OS County series (Brecknock. XXXIII.3 1888): the house of Cilhybert is 17th century & later (see Nprn25312): OS 2nd ed. (1904) shows the moat to have been partly filled & ornamental planting upon the mound itself. (Coflein)

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. Modrydd (Old Manor Farm, Cilwhybert) is a moderate-sized motte 33m in diameter at the base and approximately 4.5m high, with steep sides and a flat summit 11m wide. The motte is surrounded by a ditch, 6m wide and 2m deep with a counterscarp on the western side. The ditch holds water on the northern and western sides. The modern farm buildings to the south of the motte are probably located on the site of the Bailey. Some small scale excavations undertaken in the past have revealed that the motte is largely made of river boulders. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Fine motte largely made of river boulders. Possible adjunct of the manor house thought to have occupied the site of Cilhybert farm, which occupies the likely site of a bailey.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is BR127.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 305717.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 600; 606.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 231 (listed)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 23
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 18
  Remfry, Paul, 1998, Castles of Breconshire (Logaston Press) p. 105
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 20
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., 1961, ‘The castles of Breconshire’ Brycheiniog Vol. 7 p. 91 no. 31 online copy

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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 17:28:43

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