An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: Volume III - Part 1b: Medieval Secular Monuments the Later Castles from 1217 to the present

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales

tammi 2000 · Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales

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 Forty-three castles and fortified sites here described were
founded or given their most significant fabric after 1217. They include
tower-houses, strong houses, possible castles, and twenty masonry castles
ranging from the great Clare works at Caerphilly and Morlais to the small
modestly fortified sites at Barry and Weobley, and the exceptional fortified
priory at Ewenny. The density and variety of the medieval fortifications in
Glamorgan are unrivalled, and their study is enriched by an exceptional range
of works on the history and records of a historic county formed by merging the
lordships of Glamorgan and Gower. Part la described the early castles and traced
their role in the Norman conquest and settlement of the fertile southern
lowlands down to 1217, when the Clares inherited Glamorgan. In that year the
Welsh had expelled the English from Gower and remained unconquered in the
Glamorgan uplands. Gower was soon lost again, and under  two redoubtable Clare lords the Glamorgan
uplands were appropriated in the mid-13th century and secured in a notable
programme of castle works. The castle-building of Earl Richard de Clare
(1243-62) and his son, Gilbert, the 'Red Earl' (1263-95), as they achieved this
'second conquest of Glamorgan', foreshadowed the later campaigns of Edward I
against Gwynedd. At Caerphilly, above all, Earl Gilbert's castle deserves
comparison with the great Edwardian works; it introduced defensive features
later to be adopted by King Edward's Savoyard master masons. Gower sites
considered include the impressive masonry castles at Oystermouth and Penrice. A
notable ornately arcaded domestic range at Swansea is the only surviving
vestige of the chief castle of Gower, which is tentatively described from a
variety of records. AH the illustrated descriptions incorporate detailed
historical accounts. The introductory survey outlines the later descent of
Glamorgan and Gower to the end of the 15th century, and along with the
sectional preambles it provides general discussion of the sites.