Aberystwyth Castle
Aberystwyth Castle | |
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Part of Ceredigion | |
Aberystwyth, Wales | |
![]() Remains of the north tower gateway at Aberystwyth Castle. | |
Coordinates | 52°24′48″N 4°05′23″W / 52.41324°N 4.08968°W |
Type | Diamond-shaped concentric castle |
Site information | |
Controlled by | Aberystwyth Town Council |
Condition | Ruin |
Site history | |
Built | 1277–1289 |
Built by | Later work attributed to James of Saint George |
In use | Open to public |
Materials | Siltstone |
Demolished | 1649 |
Events | Welsh Wars English Civil War |
Listed Building – Grade I |
Aberystwyth Castle (Welsh: Castell Aberystwyth) is a Grade I listed Edwardian fortress located in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Mid Wales. It was built in response to the First Welsh War in the late 13th century, replacing an earlier fortress located a mile to the south. During a national uprising by Owain Glyndŵr, the Welsh captured the castle in 1404, but it was recaptured by the English four years later. From 1637 it housed a Royal mint of Charles I, which produced silver shillings. The castle was slighted by Oliver Cromwell in 1649.
History
[edit]Marcher lord Gilbert de Clare built an earlier motte and bailey castle a mile south of the current site in around 1110.[1] In 1116 it was unsuccessfully besieged by Gruffydd ap Rhys, King of Deheubarth. He was eventually successful in 1136, capturing it and burning it to the ground with the help of Owain Gwynedd and his brother, Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd, the sons of Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd. The Norman invaders had killed their sister, Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, Gruffydd ap Rhys's wife. Owain Gwynedd gave the castle to Cadwaladr to rebuild, but Cadwaladr's later attempt to murder Anarawd ap Gruffydd, the new king of Deheubarth, resulted in Owain Gwynedd sending his son Hywel to burn it in 1143.[2][better source needed] The castle was rebuilt and later reinforced with stone.[3][better source needed] After a succession of at least three owners, it was taken by Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great in 1221. Llywelyn razed the castle and erected a new one in its place.[4][better source needed]
The current castle, as well as a new town,[5] was built in a new location to the north, the current site, by Edward I of England. Construction began in 1277 after the end of the first war against Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Llywelyn the Great's grandson.[6] Work on the castle was initially slow, and at the start of the 1282 war, the Welsh took and burned both the castle and the town.[6] Probably under master mason James of St George,[7] the castle was eventually completed in 1289 at a cost of £4,000.[6] It was besieged extensively during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn[8] in 1294–5 but held out because it could be supplied by sea from Ireland.[6]
The adjoining walled town took its name from the older and important nearby village of Llanbadarn Fawr, and was thus called Llanbadarn Gaerog (English: Fortified Llanbadarn).[9] However, by the time of the Black Prince in 1343, the castle was in a bad state of disrepair; the main gateway and drawbridges, the king's hall and long chamber, the kitchen range, and the outer bailey were falling down.
In 1404, Owain Glyndŵr captured and took possession of the castle during a national uprising against English occupation.[10] It became a seat of givernment and later, a treaty was signed between Glyndŵr and the King of France at the castle. Four years later, it was retaken by the English.[11] In 1637 Thomas Bushell prevailed upon Charles I to establish a Royal mint in Aberystwyth, sited in the castle hall.[12] This was authorised to mint the half-crown, shilling, half-shilling, two-pence, penny, groat, threepence, and half-penny coins, from silver that was mined locally in Ceredigion.[13]
The mint's operator raised a regiment of Royalist soldiers during the English Civil War,[13] and the mint ceased operations in September of 1642, when Charles I issued the Wellington Declaration and Bushell seems to have removed bullion and equipment to Shrewsbury, and operations were diverted to Oxford.[13] Silver and lead continued to be warehoused at the castle.[11][better source needed] Oliver Cromwell's forces took the castle in 1646[6] and the castle was slighted in 1649.[14]
Architecture
[edit]Building work started in 1277 at the time of the First Welsh War,[6] during Edward I's first Welsh campaign at the same time as work started at Flint, Rhuddlan and Builth Wells.[7] The inner ward was built in a diamond-shaped concentric castle,[15] with a twin D-shaped gatehouse keep and mural towers at each corner.[16] The outer ward is described as consisting of a "twin D-shaped gatehouse, a barbican, a rock-cut ditch and a large curtain wall with towers".[4]
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Site of original Aberystwyth Castle at Tan-y-Castell
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Castle walls, view over the Old College.
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External view of the North Gate.
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The remains of the D-shaped towers that formed the inner ward's gatehouse keep.
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Side walls view.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ RCAHMW 301795.
- ^ "Aberystwth Castle". Castlesfortsbattles.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "Aberystwyth Castle". VisitWales. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ a b "Aberystwyth Castle". Aberystwyth.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ Gravett & Hook 2007, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d e f Kenyon 2010, p. 53.
- ^ a b Gravett & Hook 2007, p. 5.
- ^ Gravett & Hook 2007, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Chadwick 1958, p. 163.
- ^ Gravett & Hook 2007, p. 9.
- ^ a b "Aberystwyth Castle". BBC. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ RCAHMW 86.
- ^ a b c Evans 1915.
- ^ Gravett & Hook 2007, p. 58.
- ^ Gravett & Hook 2007, p. 22.
- ^ Gravett & Hook 2007, p. 15.
Bibliography
[edit]- Chadwick, Nora Kershaw (1958). Studies in the Early British Church. CUP Archive. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
- Evans, G.E. (1915). "The Royal Mint, Aberystwyth". Transactions of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society. 2 (1): 71. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
- Freeman, M (2011). Aberystwyth - A History And Celebration. Reigate: The Francis Frith Collection. ISBN 9781845896096.
- Gravett, Christopher; Hook, Adam (2007). The castles of Edward I in Wales, 1277-1307. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 9781846030277.
- Griffiths, Ralph A. (2018). The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages: The Structure and Personnel of Government: South Wales 1277-1536. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-1-78683-266-5.
- Ixer, R. A.; Browne, D. M. (2017). "Excavations at Tan-y-Castell (the first castle of Aberystwyth) – a re-evaluation. Part 1: the pottery". Archaeology in Wales. 56: 36–60.
- Kenyon, John R. (2010). The medieval castles of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales press. ISBN 9780708321805.
- "Aberystwyth Castle (86)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
- "Castell Tan y Bwlch Castle (301795)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
External links
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