GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

St Illtyds Castle, Llanhilleth

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Twyn; Llanhithel; Castell Hithell; Y Tump; Twmp Siencyn Sion; Twmp y Castell

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO21720191
Latitude 51.71050° Longitude -3.13426°

St Illtyds Castle, Llanhilleth has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
Description

A castle mount standing on the south-west side of St Iltyd's church (NPRN 12897). This may be the 'Castell Hithell' destroyed in 1233. This is a roughly circular steep-sided flat-topped mound, about 36m in diameter and 4.0m high. The 16-17m diameter summit has been rather multilated. A ditch runs around the base of the mound, with a causway on the southern side. An elaborate and ornate masonry castle of two great towers has been excavated to the north of the churchyard (NPRN 91965). This is dated to the fourteenth century and presumably replaced the castle of the mount. (Coflein)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte and ditch, dating to the medieval period (c. 1066 -1540 AD). The monument consists of a steep-sided mound, 35m in diameter, with a flat summit 17m in diameter. On the S side the mound is 3.5m high with a ditch or quarry hole, 2m wide and 1.5m deep, towards the W end. The W side is 5m high and very steep. At its base is a flat-bottomed ditch 4m wide and 1m deep which stops halfway along the N side. On the NE side there is a hollow 8m long and 0.6m deep. A retaining wall has been built along the base of the motte on the E side. A path leads up the mound from the N side to the summit. (Scheduling Report)
Comments

A record of 1233 records Llywelyn the Graet burnt "the castrum called Castell Hithell" this may refer to either castle at Llanhilleth. See also Castell Taliorum, Llanhilleth.
Phillips interprets this as an early 'watch tower' motte. This seems a fairly straight forward manorial centre dressed up with some fairly simple C12 martial symbolism, although there must be an impressive view from the hill top site.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

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      

Sources of information, references and further reading
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 08:47:47
Home | Books | Links | The Fortifications and Castles | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact

¤¤¤¤¤