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Bryn Castell, Caerhun

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Tal Y Cafn; Castell Maelgwn

In the community of Caerhun.
In the historic county of Caernarfonshire.
Modern authority of Conwy.
Preserved county of Gwynedd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SH78537191
Latitude 53.23011° Longitude -3.82116°

Bryn Castell, Caerhun has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Palace.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A mound traditionally identified as the site of a medieval castle. It is situated close to the modern bridge of Pont Tal-y-cafn, which replaced a more ancient ferry. This is an oval or near rectangular steep sided mound, about 30m across north-south and 4.0m high. It has a level summit some 15m across. The mound has been disturbed on the east, where a building is shown on the 1st edition OS County series (Caernarvon. IX.9 1888). There is apparently no trace of a ditch. With the exception of the mighty Conwy, this is the only castle in Arllechwedd Isaf commote. It is possible that this was the site of a llys, a princely court, before the rise of Conwy. (Coflein)

Bryn Castell, on the W bank of the River Conway at Tal-y-Cafn Bridge, about 40' abouve the river. An oval mound of fine gravel, 335' in circumference at the base on the E side is probably due to quarrying. There is no sign of a bailey. (Gwynedd Archaeological Trust HER Ref.–RCAHMW)

Motte castle commanding crossing of R Conway at Tal y Cafan. A tree-covered mound, just over 100m in circumference and 4.5m high. The top measures 16m N-S by 10m E-W. Stone robbing has removed a part of the E side of the mound. There are no signs of a bailey. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

A mound overlooking an important crossing of the Conwy. The lack of a bailey is significant. The area has not been particularly heavily developed so any attached court must have been just fenced or had the slightest of ditches which does not support this as a military base. It is an excellent location for toll collection and a tower on a mound with both symbolical express the right to take tolls and provide a lookout for traffic on the roads. Nothing about the site, other than the crossing, suggest a high status residence. A Roman fort, Canovivm, (The Caerhun of the local community placename) lies a mile up river and has a medieval church in the NE quadrant suggesting this may have been the site of the llys. The fort was extensively excavated in the 1920's as a Roman site and early medieval archaeology is notoriously difficult so it may be evidence of a possible llys was either missed or ignored by the excavators.

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 CN092.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 303128.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 658.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales
  Paul Remfry, 2016, The Early Castles of Gwynedd and Tal y Cafn Castle
Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 233 (listed)
  Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p. 36
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p. 49 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 32
  RCAHMW, 1956, A Survey and Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Caernarvonshire Vol. 1: East (HMSO) p. 27 no. 114 online copy
  Fisher, J. (ed), 1917, Tours in Wales (1804-13) by Richard Fenton (London: Cambrian Archaeological Association) p. 178 online copy
  Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales online copy
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

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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.
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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.
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 21:47:13

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