Carreg Cennen Castle and the families of Deheubarth, Giffard and Lancaster
Standing on top of a 200 feet high cliff Castell Carreg Cennen
dominates
the mountains and valleys of Deheubarth and controls the passage to the
sea at Swansea. The site was first used by prehistoric man
and
Roman coins have been found in the clearances of the castle.
The
name is first mentioned before 1143 and there seems little
doubt that a castle of some description stood here from that date
onwards. Unmentioned in the brutal wars that scarred
Deheubarth
in the twelfth century the castle first finds prominence in the Welsh
Chronicles for 1246 where it was wrongly reported that the
castle had
been betrayed to the French. In fact royal forces were
holding
the castle for the legitimate heir and his widowed mother. In
1248 that heir, Rhys Fychan, came of age and inherited the castle with
the consent of King Henry III. In 1276 the
castle was surrendered without a siege and was then
burned and repeatedly
rebuilt in the ensuing wars, changing hands twice in 1282 and once in
1287.
The new book, Castell Carreg Cennen and the Families of Deheubarth,
Giffard, Talbot and Lancaster, details the history of the fortress and
includes translations of original documents relating to the castle's
repairs and rebuildings in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The history of the site shows that the castle in its present
form was most likely built by either Rhys Gryg (died 1234) or his son,
Rhys Mechyll (d.1244). To this end the castle can be seen as
a Welsh princely answer to White
Castle and Pembroke, built on either side of the much
disputed territories of the princes of Deheubarth. The
princes of Gwynedd may have been the major power in Wales in the
thirteenth century, but their rivals of the south undoubtedly built the
better castles. The grandeur and style of the Welsh-built
Castell Carreg Cennen leaves Dolbadarn and Dolwyddelan almost in the
Dark Ages. The Welsh castle, surrendered to King Edward I in
1277, was devastated by Dafydd ap Gruffydd in 1282 during his final war
and repaired and refortified many times after this, being heavily
rebuilt after a particularly heavy slighting by Owain Glyndwr in 1403
or 1404. In 1462 the castle was finally demolished.
The history of
the castle is followed by a detailed survey of the
castle ruins and the investigation of the building phases which led to
the construction of this truly great princely castle which remains an
icon of Wales to this day.
The new book on the site detailing new translations from original documents and the architecutre of the fortress by Paul Remfry and Nigel Ruckley is now available for £39.95 via the PayPal link below. Further details of the book can be found by clicking here.