Benton Castle is a small fortification in the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
of
Burton,
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
, Wales, now in use as a private house, in a wooded area overlooking the
Cleddau river.
History
The castle was probably built in the 13th century, one of a number of castles protecting the boundaries of the ancient
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of
Rhos.
Its origins are obscure, but in the 14th century it was held by Thomas de Roche, Lord of
Llangwm.
A 1583 map of Pembrokeshire shows the castle on the west bank of the Eastern Cleddau (''Clethy''),
and
George Owen mentions it in 1603. The waterway was busy until recent times.
The castle is said to have been held and damaged in the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
with some, including Benton, more or less destroyed.
Richard Fenton
Richard Fenton (January 1747 – November 1821) was a Welsh lawyer, topographer and poet.
Biography
Fenton was born in January 1747 in St David's, Pembrokeshire, and was baptised in St David's Cathedral on 20 February 1747, "being then a month ...
, in his 1811 ''Historical Tour'', says:
Lewis's
Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...
''Topographical Dictionary'' of 1844 says:
In 1888, Edward Laws describes the castle as one of a chain protecting south Pembrokeshire, especially Milford Haven, from invasion in the 12th and 13th centuries:
Renovation
The ruins were stabilised in the early 20th century, and it remained uninhabited until 1930, after which date it was renovated. The courtyard was roofed by 1954, and the building was sold in the 1960s and further restored. The castle is whitewashed
and has been
Grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
"for its historic interest and rarity as a restored small medieval castle".
References
External links
{{Commons category, Benton Castle}
Historical links and sources on GENUKI
Castles in Pembrokeshire
Grade II* listed buildings in Pembrokeshire