Pen y Clawdd Castle facts for kids
Pen y Clawdd Castle is an old castle ruin. It's mostly a big, round mound of earth. It has two ditches around it, like moats. The mound is about 28 to 30 meters wide. It stands about 2.4 meters tall. You can find it in Llanvihangel Crucorney, a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It's about five miles north of Abergavenny. The castle sits between the River Usk and River Monnow. This special mound was made a protected historical site in 1950. Experts say it was a defensive motte from the Middle Ages. A motte is a type of castle mound.
Where is Pen y Clawdd Castle?
The castle mound is right next to a place called Pen-y-Clawdd Court. This old building is very important, listed as Grade I. Nearby are other old farm buildings, like a stable, cowshed, and barn. These are also protected as Grade II listed buildings. All these buildings and the castle mound are in a rectangular area. This area is about 150 meters long and 135 meters wide. It might have been the bailey part of the castle. A bailey is the enclosed area next to a castle mound. Some parts of the mound might have changed over time. This happened because of landscaping around the newer buildings.
The Castle's History
We don't know much about when Pen y Clawdd Castle was first built. It might have been made by Roger de Hastings in the 11th century. This was after a big event called the Revolt of the Earls in 1075. Many forts were built around that time.
However, there are no records of anyone living at the castle until 1349. In that year, a man named Walter de Kymbard held the site. He held it from Laurence de Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Laurence de Hastings was also known as Baron Abergavenny.
The building next to the castle, Pen-y-Clawdd Court, was probably built much later. It likely dates back to the early 1500s. It was then made bigger and changed in the early 1600s. The farm buildings were added even later. The cowshed was built in the early 1700s. The barn came in the mid-1700s. The stable and its attached buildings were added in the early 1800s.
