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The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.

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Troed yr Harn Motte

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Ty'n y Caeau; Ty'n y Caernau; Alexanderstone Motte

In the community of Brecon.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO07012948
Latitude 51.95600° Longitude -3.35480°

Troed yr Harn Motte has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a Siege Work although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Very feeble motte in a very boggy field in the bottom of a valley full of brooks. It is not very clear what useful function it could play; it is exceptional small, and not the least useful for observation purposes. There was no bailey; the ditch of the motte has silted up. When the valley in its natural state it cannot have been at all easy to access. (King)

A circular, possibly ditched mound, c.20m in diameter and c1.5m high, set in marshy ground by a stream. (Coflein)

The monument comprises the remains of a Motte and ditch, dating to the medieval period (c. 1066 -1540 AD). A Motte is a large conical or pyramidal mound of soil and/or stone, usually surrounded by either a wet or dry ditch, originally surmounted by a tower constructed of timber or stone. The Castle Mound is circular in plan, around 18m in diameter and 2m high with a flat summit approximately 12m in diameter. On the western side of the mound are the faint traces of a ditch, but this is not visible around the whole circumference of the Motte. There are no traces of a bailey or of structures on the summit of the monument. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Remfry suggest a possible siege work of the early 1270's.
Close to road but isolated from settlement. Does not seem to have a name (the given names all relate to nearby, but distinct, places). Not only would access be difficult but construction, even of a small mound, would have required considerable effort and an exceptionally dry season unless this was a natural glacial mound. If it is a natural glacial mound then was it actually ever used as a motte? Would this mound have been identified as a motte if it were not in the Welsh marches?

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

The CADW scheduled monument record number is BR046.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 305712.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 616.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
  CastleUK.net
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 231 (listed)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 11
  Remfry, Paul, 1998, Castles of Breconshire (Logaston Press) p. 130
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 17
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
  King, D.J.C., 1961, ‘The castles of Breconshire’ Brycheiniog Vol. 7 p. 85 no. 17 online copy
  Renn, D.F., 1959, 'Mottes: a classification' Antiquity Vol. 33 p. 106-12 (listed as precussor to Alexanderstone)

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.)

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This record last updated 05/07/2016 17:42:38

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