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

Castell Moch Fawr, Llanrhaiadr ym Mochnant

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castell Mochnant

In the community of Llanrhaiadr ym Mochnant.
In the historic county of Montgomeryshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ111246
Latitude 52.81118° Longitude -3.31906°

Castell Moch Fawr, Llanrhaiadr ym Mochnant has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Alleged motte and bailey on N bank of Afon Tanat (Richards, R, 1946). Site not apparent to any but Richards. (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

Comments

Spurgeon writes motte is destroyed and under farmbuildings. Site aside crossing of Afon Tanat. Richards suggested this was the caput of the commote Mochnant Uwch Rhaiadr. King, referencing Spurgeon, writes that "This is merely a conspicuous piece of river bank - entirely natural" he rejects it as a castle, however he gives the map reference of SJ120246 which is Nant Fagl Mound, which was rejected by Spurgeon, King appears to have confused two sites of similar names here and may have influenced the apparent rejection of this site by CPAT.
What we have here is a castle placename at a possible administrative centre, occupied by a later house and farmstead, which has been rejected by a notable authority although there are some doubts whether he correctly identified the site. This may well have been the site of a medieval fortification, presumable of earthworks and timber but not necessarily a motte and bailey castle.

Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >	Coflein	County HER
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

The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 452 (later house only).
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 1475; 1481.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 37
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 302 (misidentified and rejected)
Periodical Articles
- Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1970, 'Castles in Wales and the Marches (Additions and corrections to lists published in 1963 and 1967)' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 119 p. 119-124 (reject)
  Spurgeon, C.J., 1966, ‘The castles of Montgomeryshire’ Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 59 p. 31 online copy
  Richards, R., 1945-46, 'The mediaeval castles of north Montgomeryshire: a topographical survey, III', Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 49 p. 3-8 online copy
  Richards, R., 1942, 'The mediaeval castles of north Montgomeryshire: a topographical survey I' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 47 p. 164-82 esp. 179 online copy
  Hancock, T.W., 1871, 'Llanrhaiadr-yn-mochnant: its parochial history and antiquities' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 4 p. 201-48

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 before 1 February 2016

¤¤¤¤¤