Draft:Llanthomas Castle Mound

  • Comment: Scheduled monuments do not appear to have the same notability as listed buildings, there being 950 in Powys alone, almost none of which have standalone articles. If better notability can be established, I still recommend removing the "Introduction to early medieval castles in Wales" section, as this historical information is already sufficiently covered in Castles in Great Britain and Ireland, and serves here only to artificially promote this particular monument's importance. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 18:59, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
Scheduled monuments are nationally protected and this one appears to have significant coverage. Crouch, Swale (talk) 20:28, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Llanthomas Castle Mound edit

Llanthomas Castle Mound
 
Llanthomas Castle Mound
 
 
Llanthomas Castle Mound
Location within Powys
Principal area
Preserved county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHEREFORD
Postcode districtHR3
Dialling code01497
PoliceDyfed-Powys
FireMid and West Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Powys

52°03′22″N 3°09′17″W / 52.056°N 3.1548°W / 52.056; -3.1548

Reference no.
Cadw BR078

CPAT PRN443
Coflein NPRN306308

 
Early attempt at reconstruction of a château à Motte by A. de Caumont, 19th century

Llanthomas Castle Mound (LCM) was built by the Normans after the 1066 Norman conquest of England but before 1215 [1] [2]. It is a first generation motte and bailey castle design, the building materials were earth and timber.

 
Cadw BR078 scheduled area: hashing shows raised ground covering buried masonary

The typical motte and bailey castle would have had a multi-storey wooden watchtower (i.e. the keep) on the summit of the motte, a wooden palisade fence around the bailey (i.e. the courtyard) and a deep ditch surrounding the bailey.

A millennium later the above ground wood has perished. The remains of LCM consists of the motte, the ditch and buried masonry underpinning part of the wooden fence surrounding the bailey [1]. Traces of a possible site for the bailey have been found to the south-east of the motte [3]. Digeddi Brook (a tributary of the River Wye) runs along the base of the ditch [4].

Cadw have described LCM as an important relic of medieval architecture which might extend knowledge of medieval defensive practices [1]. After translation from Latin and Tudor English the tudor antiquarian John Leyland (1503-1552) described the role of LCM as a defensive architecture [5] [6].

Motte Height 3.5 m Motte summit diameter 9.0 m Motte base diameter 24.0 m

Toponymy edit

“Llan” is Welsh for the sacred land around a church [7]. Llanthomas translates to Thomas church in English.

Motte and bailey castles without evidence of the original bailey are called castle mounds (or tumps or twts) [8]. Until recently the grazing meadow surrounding the motte was called bailey court [6]. The words bailey and court are of Norman origin [9].

LCM alternative names edit

Many antiquarian and modern sources reference LCM [10] [11] with names reflecting its close proxity to Llanigon and Hay-on-Wye e.g.

Some antiquarian sources indirectly reference LCM e.g.

  • the tumulus on the brook below Llanthomas [17] [18],
  • the mound at Llanigan Castle [19] ,
  • and the mound in Bailey Court [6] etc.

Location edit

 
Hay Bluff
 
River Wye at Hay-on-Wye

LCM [20] is on a private property but can be viewed from Llanthomas lane [21], opposite the walled Llanthomas gardens [22], once part of Llanthomas manor [23]. LCM is near the village of Llanigon and less than 2 miles from Hay-on-Wye the "town of books". It is on the same lane as the Hay Festival fields (Dairy Meadows) [24].

LCM [25] is located in Powys, Wales but has a Herefordshire postcode. It is about 2 miles from the border with England, in the area known as the Welsh Marches [26]. LCM is in the foothills of Hay Bluff in Bannau Brycheiniog (previously known as the Brecon Beacons), It was in the historic county of Brecknockshire/Breconshire which became Powys in 1974.

LCM is on the Middle Wye Valley [27]. The castle location may have been chosen because it occupies a high point overlooking the River Wye less than a mile away. The fording point Little Fford Fawr [28] is located between LCM [29] and the south bank of the river. Mottes often had a direct line of sight to a nearby motte e.g. LCM and Llowes Castle Tump on the north bank of the river [30]. Other surviving Norman castles near LCM on the Middle Wye Valley include:

OS Map Grid Reference SO 2091 4036
what3words provoking.rave.longer
Postcode HR3 5PU
Latitude: 52.056 Longitude: -3.1548
Latitude: 52° 3' 21"N Longitude: 3° 9' 17"W
OS Eastings: 320919 OS Northings: 240366
Mapcode National GBR F0.DL2G

Cadw scheduled report for LCM edit

Cadw perform a role in Wales, similar to English Heritage in England, and are a division of the Welsh Government. The Cadw scheduled report for LCM (BR078 [1]) states that there is a “strong possibility” that LCM and the scheduled area has “both structural evidence and intact associated deposits”. The report concludes that LCM is “an important relic of the medieval landscape”.

Clwyd–Powys Archaeological Trust record for LCM edit

Cadw collaborates with the Welsh archaeological trusts, who maintain regional historic environment records on behalf of the Welsh government. The trusts are Dyfed Archaeological Trust, Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, Gwynedd Archaeological Trust and Clwyd–Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT). The CPAT records for LCM include past Cadw reports: PRN: 443 (1986) [36], 38278 (1988) [37], 2586 (1995) [38].

Coflein record for LCM edit

Coflein is an online database known as the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW). The archive contains registered files produced by Cadw (founded in 1984) and their predecesssors e.g Ministry of Works, and the Department of the Environment. The archive is stored in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. The archive record for LCM (NPRN: 306308 [39]) include a 100 years of reports: 6057064, 6054097, 6064626, 6140925, 6140927, 6359576, 6464877, 6140926, 6140924, 6054098, 6059886, 6519900.

LCM Excavations edit

In 1921, the Reverend W.E.T.  Morgan, Vicar at the pre-conquest church of St. Eigon, Llanigon [40], and an amateur archaeologist hosted a visit from the Woolhope club [6]. The club study the natural history, geology, archaeology, and history of Herefordshire, England. Morgan dug a small excavation trench on the summit of the motte, but no artefacts were discovered [41]. There is no record of any professional level archaeological excavation or geophysical survey of LCM.

In 1988, a professional excavation of a possible site for the bailey courtyard revealed activity associated with the motte. A number of artefacts were found including a sherd from the base of a medieval cooking pot, and a pitt filled with charcoal. The archaeologists report suggests that this may have been the kitchen area within the bailey [3]. A private bungalow has since been built over the excavated site [42].

History edit

When appropriate the Normans speeded up castle construction by building on an existing Iron age or Bronze age hillforts, or Roman ruins or ditch, augmenting the castle's defensive architecture. Some antiquarian scholars believed that LCM was built on an Iron Age tumulus [17] [43] [44] [16].

 
Bayeux Tapestry - Building of a motte-and-bailey castle in Hastings
 
Bayeux Tapestry - Motte Castle Dinan

The second Norman invasion of Wales was led by the Norman lord Bernard de Neufmarché (c.1050–c.1125). Brycheiniog was conquered between 1088 and 1095. Brycheiniog was divided into lesser lordships, and gifted to the knights who contributed to the conquest [45].

Llanthomas lordship was part of the Hay lordship owned by William Revel, one of Bernard de Neufmarché knights [15]. LCM was part of the Llanthomas lordship [15].

Revel is thought to have built Hay Castle Motte, near St Mary's Church, Hay-on-Wye [46] [47]. St. Marys was separated from the ancient parish of Llanigon in about 1115 A.D. [48]. It is not known who built LCM but it is known to have existed from the early days of the Norman conquest [2] [49] [50].

By the 14th century, LCM was documented as part of Llanthomas manor the domicile of the lord of the manor. The manor also included a proprietary church called Thomaschurch. The church was funded by the lord of the manor, and was financially independent of the Swansea and Brecon diocese of the Church in Wales (an independent member of the Anglican Communion). The proprietary church had disappeared by the 18th century [51].

A local historian has suggested that one of the first lords of the manor may have been the English Earl

Authoritative historical documentation shows Llanthomas owners were high status individuals, including the nobility, the wealthy and the infamous:

Over time Llanthomas lordship became known as Llanthomas [56] or Llanthomas estate, and the main domicile became known as Llanthomas manor [57] or Llanthomas house [58] or Llanthomas hall [59]. Many parts of the original lordship have been sold [60], including the land around LCM which was sold for farming, but is now a private residential property. A subset of the original lordship remains and is known as Llanthomas [61].

Notable people edit

Online references to LCM edit

Online lists of medieval period castles in Wales, that include LCM:

Other online sites that reference LCM include:

  • Landscape Britain [83] has a radar map of the Llanthomas Castle Mound terrain [84].
  • Ancient OS maps e.g. 1888 c.f. tumulus 370[85]
  • Images of LCM [25].
  • Motte (Internet) weather station [86].
  • HR3 5PU streetmap [87].

Antiquarian books with references to LCM edit

  • Leyland, John (1906). The itinerary in Wales, 1536-1539 (Lucy Toulmin Smith ed.) [5].
  • Poole, Edwin (1886) [88]. The Illustrated History and Biography of Brecknockshire from the Earliest Times to the Present Day [89].
  • Lewis, Samuel (1833). A topographical dictionary of Wales, Vol 1 [90].
  • Lewis, Samuel (1833). A topographical dictionary of Wales, Vol 2.[91].

Modern books with references to LCM edit

  • Remfry, Paul Martin (1999, p 122). Castles of Breconshire: No. 8. Herefordshire: Logaston Press. ISBN 978-1-873827-80-2 .
  • Salter, Mike (2001, p 29). The Castles of Mid Wales (2nd ed.). Folly Publications. ISBN 1-871731-48-8.
  • Morgan, Gerald (2013, p 232). Castles in Wales - a Handbook (1st ed.). Y Lolfa. ISBM 978-1-84771-031-4

Selected journal articles with references to LCM edit

References edit

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