Stormy Castle, Cynnig (The Gatehouse Record)

Stormy Castle, Cynnig

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Tythegston Higher; Sturmieston; villa sturmi

In the community of Cynnig.
In the historic county of Glamorgan.
Modern authority of Bridgend.
Preserved county of Mid Glamorgan.

OS Map Grid Reference: SS84588153
Latitude 51.52090° Longitude -3.66489°

Stormy Castle, Cynnig has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A degraded circular mound, 35m in diameter and 3.0m high, with a summit diameter of 15-18m. Thought to be the castle of the Sturmis. Geffrey Sturmi founded a vill here, after 1115, on previously uncultivated land. The site was in the possession of Margam abbey by 1166. (Coflein)

Building remains are a mutilated motte with no trace of a bailey. The sheepfold on the N. side has lately been destroyed. (Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust HER)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte dating to the medieval period together with an area to the south containing the remains of later settlement with indications of medieval origins. A motte is a large conical or pyramidal mound of soil and/or stone, often surrounded by either a wet or dry ditch and surmounted by a tower constructed of timber or stone. Stormy Castle consists of an eroded circular mound approximately 3.0 m high, 35 m in diameter with a summit height diameter of between 15m and 18m. No trace remains of any ditch. The motte has been disturbed by a hedge bank and by two pits cut into its sides to the north and west. In the area to the south are scarps and grass-grown banks indicating former buildings; finds of pottery indicate occupation during the 18th to 19th centuries. A stone east gable to the southernmost building survives within a later field boundary and appears to be medieval. The motte is believed to represent the land-holding of the Norman lord Geoffrey Sturmi established before 1154 and eventually disposed of to Margam Abbey about 1175. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Fairly remote now but was site of DMV.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is GM217.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 19997.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 00158m.

Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 240 (listed)
  RCAHMW, 1991, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan Vol. 3 Part 1a: The Early Castles (London: HMSO) MO5 p. 61-3
  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
  Hague, D.B., 1971, in Pugh, T.B. (ed), Glamorgan County History Vol. 3 The Middle Ages (Cardiff) p. 446
  Randall, Henry John, 1961, The Vale of Glamorgan, Studies in Landscape and History (Newport: R.H.Johns Ltd) p. 77
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.)

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.
Help is acknowledged.

This record last updated 06/07/2016 18:08:45

¤¤¤¤¤

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