Castle Arnold, Llangattock nigh Usk (The Gatehouse Record)

Castle Arnold, Llangattock nigh Usk

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Arnault; Castell Arnallt; Castell Ernallt; Castro Arnaldi

In the community of Llanover.
In the historic county of Monmouthshire.
Modern authority of Monmouthshire.
Preserved county of Gwent.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO31941001
Latitude 51.78493° Longitude -2.98714°

Castle Arnold, Llangattock nigh Usk has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Palace.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Castle Arnold, destroyed in 1177, is traditionally believed to be the site of the palace of Kings of Over Gwent. The visible remains at the site include a natural mound, approximately 80m east to west by 50m and up to 6.0m high set on the fringes of the Usk flood plain. A subrectangular enclosure, c.50m E-W by 26m, upon the summit of the mound, is defined by low banks on the west and east, elsewhere by steep natural slopes. Attached on the western side is a second enclosure, c.32m E-W, defined by a bank on the west. (Coflein)

The site of the stronghold of Sitsyllt ap Dyfnwal, treacherously murdered at Abergavenny Castle on Christmas Day 1175 by William de Breos. The site was then abandoned. (Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust HER)

Castell Arnallt should be reassessed as the site of an important Llys rather than a motte. (Phillips p. 103)

The monument comprises the remains of a castle mound, dating to the medieval period (c. 1066 -1540 AD). It consists of a large, long, oblong mound with relatively steep sides and a flattish top. It measures rough 87m E/W and 52m N/S, and is up to 4m high. The site is larger than a normal motte, and is likely to be natural in origin. Geophysical survey has revealed the presence of masonry structures on the summit of the mound. Historical references indicate that this was the fortified home of Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, the Welsh Lord of Gwent Uwchcoed. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

David Maynard kindly informs Gatehouse that "a geophysical survey was reported on in Archaeology in Wales the CBA regional journal. It didn’t really add much to the knowledge of the site, beyond confirming that there is something there."

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is MM086.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 275974.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 01354g.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 242 (listed)
  Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p. 110-164
  Phillips, Neil, 2006, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (British Archaeological Reports) p. 103, 144-6
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 284
  Bradney, J.A., 1904-33, History of Monmouthshire Vol. 1 p. 334-5
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
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete, particularly for the major royal castles and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1905, Calendar of Close Rolls Edward III (1346-49) Vol. 8 p. 581 (memtion as location in 1349) view online copy (requires subscription but searchable) alternative online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Maynard, David, 6-2-2007, pers. corr.
  Phillips, Neil, 2005, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (PhD Thesis University of Sheffield) Download

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 07/07/2016 08:18:59

¤¤¤¤¤

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