Llawhaden Castle ( cy, Castell Llanhuadain) is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Llawhaden Llawhaden ( cy, Llanhuadain) is a village, parish and community in the Hundred of Dungleddy ( cy, Daugleddyf), Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The community of Llawhaden includes the parish of Robeston Wathen, part of Narberth and the hamlet of Gell ...

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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, east of

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

. A

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

is thought to have previously occupied the site and the present structure was built by the bishops of the Diocese of St David in the 13th century. The castle was abandoned in the 16th century and some of the stone was removed for local building projects. The site is privately owned by the Lord of the Manor of Llawhaden and managed by

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...

Description

The ruins of Llawhaden Castle stands on a hill overlooking the

River Cleddau The River Cleddau ( cy, Afon Cleddau) consists of the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. They unite to form the Daugleddau estuary and the important harbour of Milford Haven. The name of the combined estuary – ...

, Oman (1926): p. 211 The remaining ruins date from the early 13th century. It is surrounded by a ditch, which was designed to be only crossable by a

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

. The castle is pentagonal in shape and while the north-western and western sides of the castle are no longer present, the other three sides remain. The

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...

is located on the southern side, which is formed of two

drum towers The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

and a gateway. This was also where the drawbridge would have been located to allow entrance to the interior of the castle. Oman (1926): p. 212 The ruins are managed by

, and are open to the public.

History

Llawhaden and its hinterland were lands owned by the Bishopric of the Diocese of St David, since at least the later years of the realm of

Deheubarth Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of ...

. Following the Norman conquest of Deheubarth, these lands (of which Llawhaden and its hinterland were a detached part) became the

Marcher Lord A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales. A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in F ...

ship of

Dewisland 250px, The cantref of Pebidiog in ancient Dyfed The Hundred of Dewisland (often written "Dewsland") was a hundred in northwest Pembrokeshire, Wales. Formerly the pre-Norman cantref of Pebidiog, it included the city and the peninsula of St Davids. ...

, ruled by the Bishops;Judgement in ''Crown Estate Commissioners v (1) Mark Andrew Tudor Roberts (2) Trelleck Estate Ltd: ChD'' (Mr Justice Lewison), 13 June 2008 it was the only ecclesiastically-ruled Marcher Lordship. Marcher Lords had such great authority that they were almost sovereign. The first Norman Bishop,

Bernard Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

, constructed a castle on the site in the year that he was appointed - 1115. Only a moat and an earth bank from this period survive, although it is thought to have been a

. The stone-built building came later; the vast majority of the ruins seen today date from the construction commissioned by Bishop Adam de Houghton between 1362 and 1389. This was much grander, with two suites of residences situated on the first floor. The gatehouse shown in the picture was probably added at a later date. Additions continued to be made to the castle into the early years of the reign of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. The building fell into decline under the control of Bishop

William Barlow William Barlow may refer to: Religious figures *William Barlow (bishop of Chichester) (c. 1498–1568), English cleric * William Barlow (bishop of Lincoln) (died 1613), Anglican priest and courtier, served as Bishop of Rochester and Bishop of Linco ...

, the first Bishop appointed after Henry's

Laws in Wales Acts The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 ( cy, Y Deddfau Cyfreithiau yng Nghymru 1535 a 1542) were Acts of the Parliament of England, and were the parliamentary measures by which Wales was annexed to the Kingdom of England. Moreover, the legal sys ...

had abolished Marcher Lordships. Barlow was an ardent Church Reformist, whose appointment had been encouraged by

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...

, and who was significantly unenamoured with St. Davids and its traditions. Barlow sold the lead from the castle roof, supposedly to pay for the

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

of one of his daughters, resulting in damage to the rest of the building from which it never recovered. After the dissolution of the monasteries (which met no resistance from Protestant reformists like Barlow), the castle was completely abandoned, falling into disrepair; it was subsequently quarried for building stone. In 1930,

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spent ...

, then

First Commissioner of Works The First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings was a position within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and subsequent to 1922, within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irel ...

in the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, organised a party of 1,300 previously unemployed men for six months to do renovation work on several castles. Llawhaden Castle was among those worked on, with several tasks undertaken including digging out moats and ditches, as well as removing ivy and undergrowth.

Notes

References

External links

Cadw website entry on Llawhaden Castle

Castle Explorer: Llawhaden Castle
{{Pembrokeshire Castles in Pembrokeshire Castle ruins in Wales Grade I listed castles in Wales Grade I listed buildings in Pembrokeshire Scheduled monuments in Pembrokeshire