Pen y Clawdd Castle facts for kids

Pen y Clawdd Castle is a ditched mound with a double moat, roughly circular in shape, with a diameter of approximately 28m to 30m and about 2.4m high. The castle is in Llanvihangel Crucorney, about five miles to the north of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, in south east Wales and lies between the Usk and Monnow rivers. The mound was designated a scheduled monument in 1950 and described as a defensive medieval motte.

Surroundings

The castle mound is adjacent to Pen-y-Clawdd Court (a Grade I listed building), a stable and cowshed with adjoining range, and a barn, all of which are Grade II listed buildings. These buildings, along with the castle mound, are set in a roughly rectangular area about 150m by 135m. This area is a possible location for the bailey part of the castle. Some of the features of the mound may have been changed by landscaping around the later buildings.

History

Very little is known of the exact origins of the castle, but it may have been built by Roger de Hastings during the 11th century, as one of a number of forts created after the Revolt of the Earls in 1075. However, no contemporary evidence of occupation of the site exists up to 1349 when, for half a knight's fee, Walter de Kymbard held the site from Laurence de Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who was also Baron [A]Bergavenny.

The adjacent Pen-y-Clawdd Court was probably built early in the 16th century and extended and remodelled early in the 17th century. The farm buildings were added later; cowshed (early 18th century), barn (mid 18th century), and stable and range (early 19th century).