Bleddfa Castle (sometimes referred to as Bledeach or Bledvach Castle) was a motte and bailey structure near

Llangunllo Llangunllo (sometimes Llangynllo) is a village and community in central Powys (formerly in Radnorshire), Wales, located about 5 miles west of Knighton. It is named after St Cynllo. The population of the community at the 2011 census was 369. ...

in modern-day

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It is believed to have been built before 1195 and abandoned by 1304. What remains today is described as a "mutilated oval mound" of , containing some traces of masonry. It is surrounded by a rectangular bailey measuring , with a hedge on its northern border.

Location

The ruins of castle are located along the

A488 road List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European isla ...

, near Llangunllo in the northern direction of the

Radnor Forest Radnor Forest ( cy, Fforest Clud) in the county of Radnorshire, Wales is a rock dome composed of Silurian shales, mudstones and limestone in Mid Wales. It is a forest in the medieval sense of the word (an area of land set aside for hunting). I ...

. Bleddfa means “abode of the wolves”, as in the past, during the period of the Tudors, wolves inhabited the area. The last Welsh wolf is said to have been hunted down at Cregina, which is between Builth and Glascwm.

History

The first record of Bleddfa appears in 1195, when Hugh de Say received from King

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

licence to fortify In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...

the castle and a square tower; Hugh had been killed in the battle of Radnor in later part of 1195 itself. In 1262 the castle was captured and razed by

Llewelyn ap Gruffydd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last ( cy, Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf, lit=Llywelyn, Our Last Leader), was the native Prince of Wales ( la, Princeps Wall ...

, who snatched it from the control of the

Mortimers Mortimer () is an English surname, and occasionally a given name. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point ...

. In 1304, Edward I began using material from the castle to erect church tower nearby, which was itself destroyed by the Welsh in 1403.

Features

There is a moat of depth, which is mostly in a ruined state. The masonry remnant in the mound is believed to have been a square tower. It has an inscription dated 1195, recording a grant for its renovation. Also noted near the bailey are remnants of two towers, which were defended by an artificial lake on the western and southern sides.

References

{{Authority control Castles in Powys Castle ruins in Wales