Nantcribba Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Gaer, Nant y Cribbau; Gwyddgrug; Wydrug; Wyrebruch; Nant Cribau

In the community of Forden with Leighton and Trelystan.
In the historic county of Montgomeryshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ23740140
Latitude 52.60499° Longitude -3.12747°

Nantcribba Castle has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The summit of an isolated knoll of rock, c.80m N-S by 64m, appears to have been scarped to produce an enclosure, c.45m by 30m, upon which traces of masonry have been found. The knoll, mutilated by quarrying, is set within an oval enclosure, c.140m N-S by 210m, defined by a broad ditch and external bank. (Coflein)

It stands beside Offa's Dyke, and a ditch on the hill side may show some continuity between a Dark Ages site and a medieval site. The final traces of a stone wall remain on the hill top, and probably enclosed an area of around 40mx35m. Round towers may have stood at the south and west corners. The site was probably the castle of Gwyddgrwg begun around 1260 by the owner of Caus Castle (Thomas Corbet), and destroyed in 1263 by Gryffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. (Dan Mersey)

A lofty and impressive conical outcrop of igneous rock, with steep and partly precipitous slopes, dominates a rounded plateau thrust out from the S. end of Long Mountain. Upon its summit are the vestiges of a stone castle of the 1260s. Surrounding the rock, at a distance of20 m to 30 m from its base, is a wide oval ditch. The area enclosed against the rock is level, except to the E., where the ditch descends a slight fall to form a right-angle about 80 m away. The ditch is wet to W. and S., where there is a continuous counterscarp bank. The absence of an internal bank, except for some 110m around the W. side, is difficult to explain. The outline and large area enclosed by the ditch would seem inappropriate as the outer line of the very short-lived castle on the rock. Overall, the ditch encloses 1.95 ha (4.28 acres), of which the rock occupies about a third. Offa's Dyke passes only 110m W. of the site. Being in the township of Wropton (Urbetune in Domesday), it was the obvious centre for the pre-Norman settlement here, and a crossing of the Dyke may be indicated by the gap for the lane to the adjacent farm. (Spurgeon, 1988)

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is MG148.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 306979.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 139.

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. 245 (listed)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 47
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 152
  Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p. 55
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 296 Vol. 2 p. 563
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 367
  Spurgeon, C.J., 1972, 'Enclosures of Iron Age Type in the upper Severn Basin' In Burgess, C. and Lynch, F., Prehistoric Man In Wales and the West (Adams & Dart, Bath) p. 321-44.
  RCAHMW, 1911, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Montgomeryshire (HMSO) p. 35-6 no. 175 online copy
  Pennant, T. (Rhys, John, ed.), 1883 (orig pub 1784), Tours in Wales Vol. 3 p. 188 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Musson, C.R. and Spurgeon, C.J. 1988, ‘Cwrt Llechrhyd. Llanelwedd: an unusual moated site in central Powys’ Medieval Archaeology Vol. 32 p. 97-109 online copy
  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 from early castle list 'masonry castle only')
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 116 p. 71-132
  Spurgeon, C.J., 1966, ‘The castles of Montgomeryshire’ Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 59 p. 35-6 online copy
  1964, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 8 p. 262 download copy
  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
  Spurgeon, C.J., 1965-6 ‘The castles of Montgomeryshire’ Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 59 p. 1-59 online copy
  Spurgeon, C.J., 1961-2, 'Gwyddrug Castle (Forden) and the Gorddwr dispute in the thirteenth century' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 57 p. 125-36 (plan) online copy
  Vize, J.E., 1884, 'Parish of Forden (continued)' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 17 p. 112-4 (plan) online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1880, 'The moated mounds of the Upper Severn' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 35 p. 208 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1877, 'The moated mounds of the upper Severn' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 10 p. 337 online copy
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.)
- Brut y Tywysogion 1264 (Several transcriptions and translations exist the best being Jones, T., 1952, Brut Y Twysogion (University of Wales, History and Law series 11)–based on the Peniarth MS 20 version. There is a flawed translation Williams ab Ithel, John, 1860, Brut Y Twysogion or The Chronicle of the Princes (Rolls Series) online copy)
  Williams (ab Ithel), John, (ed), 1860, Annales Cambriae (444 – 1288) (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts)1264 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Silvester, R.J., 1992, Montgomeryshire Historic Settlements (CPAT report)

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