Dolforwyn Castle

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Dolforwyn Castle
Dolforwyn Castle

Dolforwyn castle is a castle situated within the Welsh county of Powys (Ordnance Survey Landranger map : series No 136) some 4 miles from Montgomery close to the village of Abermule. Positioned on a wooded ridge overlooking the Severn Valley the site commands excellent views in all directions except east.

Dolforwyn Castle is a fine example of the type of castle built by the Welsh princes as opposed to those built by the English within Wales.

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[edit] History

[edit] First Period

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Gwynedd's main land holdings lay in the Gwynedd. In order to assert his claim to be the most important of the Welsh princes he felt the need to exercise his authority in the strategic area which is the Severn Valley, giving as it does access to the heartlands of Wales. In 1257 he invaded the area so that by 1263 he had captured the districts known as Cedewain and Ceri. As a result of this Henry III recognised Llywelyn as Prince of Wales under the terms of the Treaty of Montgomery of 19 September 1267. In order to consolidate his newly conquered lands and to affirm his control Llywelyn ap Gruffydd constructed the castle at Dolforwyn between 1273 and 1277 for a recorded cost of £174.6s 8d.

The castle was fairly primitive in its concept compared to some structures to be found elsewhere. A rectangular platform was hewn from the rock some 240 feet by 90 feet and the initial castle consisted of a rectangular keep at the south west end of the platform and a circular tower at the opposite end. The two structures were subsequently connected by ramparts to make a rectangular shaped enclosure with a D shaped tower on the northern wall. The enclosed area was divided into two by a ditch cut through the rock and a two storey structure was built against the north wall. The main entrance was in the west wall of the castle and a smaller entrance was made in the south wall.

[edit] Second Period

Following the construction of the castle without the authorisation of Edward I tensions grew between Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the new English king Edward I whose frontier post was at Montgomery Castle and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn Prince of Southern Powys who held Powis Castle at nearby Welshpool.

In 1277 shortly after the castle had been completed Roger Mortimer and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln besieged the castle. Because the castle lacked water (a well had not been constructed), it fell on 8th April 1277. Custody was firstly given to Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn but subsequently to Roger Mortimer along with the lands of Ceri and Cedewain.

Following its fall into English hands the castle was modified. The South gate was blocked up, new buildings constructed in the courtyard and a well dug.

Due to an inventory dating from 1322 it is known that the following rooms existed at the castle on that date: an armoury in the round tower, pantry, buttery, kitchen, brewhouse, bakehouse, chapel, hall, a lady's chamber and two granges for the storage of grain.

[edit] Later history

Following the death of Roger Mortimer in 1282, the castle passed to his son Edmund Mortimer, then to his son Roger who lost the family estates in 1322 after an act of treason.

Dolforwyn appears to have been occupied until rhe reign of Richard II (1377-99), but by 1381 it was already described as being in poor repair, and in 1398 it was described as being "ruinous and worth nothing." It appears that after this date the castle was almost lost from memory and attracted little interest.

The ownership of the castle passed to the Earls of Powis and was subsequently bought by the grandfather of the antiquarian John Davies Knatchbull Lloyd who gave the site to the Welsh Ancient Monuments Board Cadw in 1955. Cadw arranged for excavation of the site between 1981 and 2002 and the monument is now open to the public.

[edit] Legends

According to legend the maiden Sabrina, is said to have drowned at Dolforwyn, and become goddess of the River Severn.

[edit] Etymology

Dolforwyn: maiden's meadow. A possible reference to the Sabrina legend.

[edit] Literary associations

John Milton in his masque Comus presented at Ludlow Castle in 1645 before the Earl of Bridgewater invokes the goddess Sabrina:

Sabrina fair
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, transluscent wave,
In twisted braids of lillies knitting
The loose train of they amber-dripping hair,
Listen for dear honour's sake
Goddess of the silver lake."

Bernard Cornwell in The Winter King, part of the Warlord Chronicles, places some of the action at Dolforwyn castle. The following is a small extract from the passage associated with the betrothal of Ceinwyn and Arthur.

“ The real capital of Powys was Caer Dolforwyn, a fine hill, topped by a royal stone…named after a meadow at the hill's base…far beneath the Severn twisted in its valley…to the north the great hill ranges stretch dim to darkening Gwynedd. ”

[edit] Excavation

Dolforwyn Castle was archaeologically excavated between 1981 and 2002 as a joint project between the University of York Department of Archaeology and CADW. Each summer for 3 or 4 weeks students and CADW employees excavated the entire site under the directorship of Dr Lawrence Butler while the site was rendered by a team of local masons employed by CADW. Finds from these excavations included part of a leather book cover, a small dice, a silver coin from the reign of Edward II and a large array of stone catapult balls from the English siege of 1277. The excavation produced many unexpected features as the excavators removed over 15 meters of debris/infill. These included a small stone lined hall, English repairs to Welsh masonry (shown by different types of mortar), a suspected wheat drying oven and the cistern/cellar well excavated to a depth of approx 6 meters with signs of it still continuing. Some features remain to be explained, such as the true use of the cistern/cellar and why certain rooms (such as the D-shaped North tower) were altered with no apparent reason.

[edit] Visiting

Visitors should, from the main A483 road at Abermule, follow the marked signing for Dolforwyn Castle until they arrive at its small car park. Opposite the car park the visitor will discover a narrow, rather difficult track leading uphill for some 500 metres past yew tree cottage to a wooden gate. The track continues uphill until a sharp turn to the right leads onto the ridge where the platforms of timbered houses may be seen. These are the only remains of the small town which existed outside the walls of Llywelyn's castle. On the fall of Dolforwyn the town was replaced by the new settlement of Newtown in the Severn Valley some four miles away. The castle ruins may be seen behind the remains of the town.

[edit] See also

Other examples of the castles of the Welsh princes are:

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 52.54621° N 3.25341° W

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