Tomen Las Castle Mound, Pennal (The Gatehouse Record)

Tomen Las Castle Mound, Pennal

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Y Domen Las; Towyn

In the community of Pennal.
In the historic county of Merioneth.
Modern authority of Gwynedd.
Preserved county of Gwynedd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SH697002
Latitude 52.58448° Longitude -3.92451°

Tomen Las Castle Mound, Pennal has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Palace.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Tomen Las is a medieval castle represented by a mound or motte, that would originally have been crowned by a great timber framed tower. The castle is undocumented, however, it was probably attached to the court or llys of the Princes of Gwenydd at Pennal, removed from the earlier site in the Roman fort on Cefn Gaer (see NPRN 300159). A princely hall and associated offices would have stood near the mound, although the site is generally marshy. The surviving remains include a circular mound 26m in diameter that rises 3.0m from the traces of its ditch. The level summit is 15-17m across. There are no traces of further earthworks. The mound was treated as a tree clump in Plas Talgarth park (see NPRN 265177). (Coflein– John Wiles, RCAHMW, 11 February 2008)

Tomen Las Castle Mound is located in Talgarth Park, in marshy ground alongside a stream in the valley bottom of the Afon Pennal. The monument comprises the remains of a motte and the faint remains of a 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. The surviving remains of Tomen Las measure approximately 4m in height and 30m in diameter, with a flat top approximately 15m across. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is ME043.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 302965.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 1744.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 242 (listed)
  King, D.J.C. with Kenyon, J.R., 2001, 'The Castles: a Study in Military Architecture' in Smith J.B. and Smith L.B. (eds), History of Merioneth Vol. 2 p. 412
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 120
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p. 49 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 277
  RCAHMW, 1921, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Merionethshire (HMSO) p. 168 no. 534 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

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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.
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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.

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This record last updated 06/07/2016 19:05:04

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