Tomen Castle, Cae Banal (The Gatehouse Record)

Tomen Castle, Cae Banal

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Llanfihangel Nant Melan

In the community of New Radnor.
In the historic county of Radnorshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO17265889
Latitude 52.22201° Longitude -3.21255°

Tomen Castle, Cae Banal has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A motte, 33m in diameter and 3.8m high, with a rather dished summit, 15.5m by 17m, is ditched, except on the E, where it rests on steep natural scarps, with a counterscarp facing a level approach on the SE. (Coflein)

Motte. 33m base dia. summit 17m N-S by 15.5m E-W. 3.8m high. slight central depression. ditch and counter- scarp on all but E sector. lies on spur. No ditch on the east where there are very steep natural slopes. Counterscarp bank on the SE is 4m wide and 0.5m high externally, and is visible for a length of 10m (Cadw). (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

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, and surmounted by a tower constructed of timber or stone. This site occupies the local summit of a steep south-easterly facing spur which overlooks the confluence of two streams. It is c.33m in diameter and c.3.8m high, with a slightly hollowed summit measuring c.17m north-south by c.15.5m. The motte is surrounded by a ditch up to c.1m deep on all sides except the east, where the natural slope is steepest; on the south-east there is a c.10m length of counterscarp c.4m wide and c.0.5m high outside the ditch. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

It stands on the highest point of a ridge overlooking a small steep valley. Any bailey or surrounding building sites may have obliterated by ploughing.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is RD108.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 306094.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 1496.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Remfry, P., 2008, The Castles and History of Radnorshire (SCS Publishing)
  Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 250 (listed)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 70
  Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p. 132
  Remfry, P., 1996, Castles of Radnorshire (Logaston Press) p. 110-1
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p. 213
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 409
  RCAHMW, 1913, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Radnorshire (HMSO) p. 91 no. 356 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
  Phillips, D.W., 1935, 'Notes on some monuments in Radnorshire' Transactions of the Radnorshire Society Vol. 5 p. 16-28 esp 18-19 online copy
  1911, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 65 p. 100-1
  Banks, R.W., 1875, 'Tomen Castle, Radnor Forest' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 30 p. 339-41 online copy

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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 10:13:38

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