Twyn y Gregen, Llanarth (The Gatehouse Record)

Twyn y Gregen, Llanarth

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Twyn y Cregen

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO36270966
Latitude 51.78208° Longitude -2.92518°

Twyn y Gregen, Llanarth has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A mound, c.20m in diameter and 5.0m high, ditched except where it rests on steep natural slopes to the E, to the S a part of the mound has been consumed by a sand pit. Excavation in 1936 produced high quality C13 pottery, but no structural evidence. (Coflein)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte and ditch, dating to the medieval period (c. 1066 -1540 AD). The site consists of a large conical, steep-sided mound, 5m high, with a flat top. The surrounding ditch is not visible on the grounds. On the S side of the mound is a depression caused by the quarrying of the site for gravel. A brief excavation of the motte in 1936 revealed that it had been constructed by augmenting a natural mound by digging a ditch around it and raising and levelling the top. On the summit of the motte a hearth was found, together with charcoal and a reasonable assemblage of high quality medieval pottery. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

In August 2005 heavily overgrown with bramble. The mound is formed from a low ridge, is now invisible except at very close inspection but can never have been particularly prominent. In the Coflein record for Llansantffraed Court this seems to be described as a 'possible viewing platform'. Certainly high status C13 pottery may be better expalined by this being a hunting feature than by it being motte. However it is catalogued in Coflein as a motte and, therefore, record in Gatehouse as possible although I would dismiss it otherwise.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is MM080.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 306421.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 01834g.

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. 244 (listed)
  Phillips, Neil, 2006, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (British Archaeological Reports) p. 220-22
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford)
  Salter, Mike, 1991, The Castles of Gwent, Glamorgan and Gower (Malvern) p. 74 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 284
  Bradney, J.A., 1904-33, History of Monmouthshire Vol. 1 p. 301
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
  O'Neil, B.H.St.J. and Foster-Smith, A.H., 1936, 'Excavations at Twyn-y-Cregen, Llanarth, Monmouthshire' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 91 p. 247-58, 348-9
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Phillips, Neil, 2005, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (PhD Thesis University of Sheffield) Download

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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.

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 07/07/2016 08:52:15

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