Penllyn Castle is a Norman-style

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

, dating mainly from the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

period, located in

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for e ...

, south-east of Bridgend,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Built by Robert Fitzhamon in 1135, the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Earl of Gloucester, it shares an oblong tower like contemporary

Ogmore Castle Ogmore Castle ( cy, Castell Ogwr) is a Grade I listed castle ruin located near the village of Ogmore-by-Sea, south of the town of Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales. It is situated on the south bank of the River Ewenny and the east bank of the Riv ...

. The high-location was chosen as it gave clear-view over both the River Thaw and

Ewenny River The Ewenny River ( cy, Afon Ewenni) is a river in South Wales. For most of its length, it forms the border between the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend. It is a major tributary of the River Ogmore, which it joins near its estuary. Course The riv ...

valleys. Reportedly attacked by

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...

, today the two surviving main walls of the original castle stand on the edge of a low cliff above the River Thaw. They include near the base six courses of "herringbone" masonry, a feature of early Norman construction. These add to the academic theory that the castle was one of the first Norman structures built during Fitzhamon's occupation of Glamorgan. In Tudor times, the Turbeville family built a manor house in the residual grounds, for which the former castle keep forms one corner. In the 1790s, a new manor house was built by Miss Gwinnett between 1780–1790, and the old house which now lies derelict converted into a stable block. In 1846, after his return from

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

, France, where his father, ironmaster Jeremiah Homfray, had been living in order to escape his creditors after his bankruptcy, the castle was bought by John Homfray. Using a "Tudorbethan"-style to match the previous works undertaken by the Turbeville family, he rebuilt the estate between 1846–60. This included the construction of a new entrance lodge, which today itself is a Grade I listed building as part of the estates group value. Homfray demolished most of Miss Gwinnett's manor house, and rebuilt it in a contemporary Victorian architecture style with stucco-plaster walls, which itself today is only Grade II listed. The castle was sold to the Cory family in 1961 in order to pay death duties. The castle is not accessible to the public. In 2005, the semi-derelict castle stable block and manor house were both used as the main shooting location for '' Tooth and Claw'', the second episode of the

second series The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

of the resurrected BBC One television series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. The castle was set as a Victorian-era Scottish castle, home to some monks who were playing host to Queen Victoria. The castle was sold in October 2018 to Terence and Judith Edgell with a view to restoring it to its former glory and using it as their family home.

References

External links

Penllyn Castle @ CastleWales.com
{{Coord, 51.474612, -3.471911, display=title Castles in the Vale of Glamorgan 1135 establishments in Europe Grade II listed buildings in the Vale of Glamorgan Grade II listed castles in Wales 12th-century establishments in Wales