COYTY CASTLE, GLAMORGAN.

THE lordship of Coyty is regarded by the Welsh as an Honour of high antiquity, the estate and seat of a royal lineage, and the inheritance of one of the sons of Jestyn, the last native lord of Morganwg. It is divided into the lesser lordships of Coyty Anglia and Wallia, and it formed one of the “members” of the county under the Norman lords. Being a member, and not in the body of the shire, it is not included in the thirty-six and three-fifths knights’ fees which paid military service to Cardiff Castle; but it was, nevertheless, held under the lord of Glamorgan, and the castle, manor, and members of Coyty appear accordingly in inquisitions of the Earls of Gloucester and their successors in the reigns of Edward I., II., and III. In the 24th Henry VI., for some probably temporary reason, only the castle and a fourth part of the manor are returned in the chief lord’s schedule.

Coyty was granted by Fitzhamon to Sir Pagan, or Payne de Turberville, a knight, who probably held Bere-Turberville and other lands in Dorset, and the manor and castle of Crickhowel in Monmouthshire. Unlike most of the sites of the Norman castles in Glamorgan, Coyty was evidently an earlier place of strength, and its circular and raised area, and its circumscribing moat, much resemble the earthworks so common in England and upon the Welsh marches, and usually attributed to the English of the eighth and ninth centuries. Of this position Sir Pagan judiciously availed himself when he received from Fitzhamon Coyty as his share of the spoil. Probably he found some sort of strong house existing, which he and his immediate successors found it convenient to occupy; for, though the extant masonry cannot be attributed to his age, it is of a date too near to it to have allowed of the decay of a substantial Norman structure. Sir Pagan is reputed to have married Sybil, heiress of the old Welsh lords of Coyty, and thus to have added a title respected by the natives to that acquired by his sword. Certain it is that the Turbervilles much inclined to the Welsh side in the frequent disputes between them and the over-lords.

Sir Pagan died, and was followed by his son, Sir Simon, who died childless; and he by his brother, Sir Gilbert, who was father of a second Sir Pagan, who was father of a second Sir Gilbert, who married Maud, daughter of Morgan Gam, lord of Avan, a descendant, and probably the representative, of Jestyn. Gilbert, who was in possession in 1207, may well have been the real constructor of the castle. This view is supported by the evidence of the actual building, the oldest parts of which may be early English, but certainly are not Norman.

The castle is composed of a circular enclosure or inner ward, about 48 yards in diameter; to the north-western side of which is appended a rectangular court, 68 yards long by 43 yards broad, forming the outer ward, and probably an addition. The whole castle is surrounded by a ditch, which varies in breadth from 90 to 100 feet, and in depth from 20 feet to 60 feet. It is far deeper and broader where it protects the circular than where it is continued round the outer ward. It shallows towards the north-west, and at that end is scarcely perceptible. It is probable that the original circular castle was surrounded completely by the ditch, and that this was in part filled up when the outer ward was added. This could be ascertained by probing the ground.

The circular or inner ward is much higher, either naturally or artificially, than the exterior ground. It is enclosed within a strong and lofty curtain-wall, 8 feet thick, upon which are two gatehouses and a drum-tower, and against it the hall, chapel, and other domestic buildings. The interior is an open, irregular, but on the whole four-sided court, about 60 yards in the side.

The principal gatehouse is to the east, and opens upon the churchyard, which forms the counterscarp of the ditch. It is quadrangular, 20 feet broad by 24 feet deep, of which 16 feet project beyond the curtain. A passage cut through a low bank of earth thrown up outside the ditch led from the churchyard towards the portal. A causeway now occupies the place of the drawbridge, the chains for lifting which passed through two holes seen in the spandrels of the gateway. The entrance is 6 feet broad, beneath a pointed arch set in a square-headed recess, intended to house the bridge when lifted. The first defence was a portcullis, the groove of which is large, and intended for a wooden grate, and behind it was a door. The passage was covered in by a plain vault. On the right is a well-stair ascending to the roof; on the left, a sort of lodge, the two windows of which look into the court. The inner archway has fallen, as has the vault.

The gatehouse had two upper floors, each 20 feet by 10 feet. The first, the portcullis chamber, has a window at each end, and two in each side. In the south wall is a fireplace. From this chamber a mural stair leads to the rampart of the south curtain. That of the north curtain is reached from the well-staircase. The second floor of the gatehouse has a window in each face. The floor of this room and the roof were of timber, and are gone. The gatehouse is probably of the reign of Richard II. The windows are Tudor insertions.

Wyman & Sons. Gᵗ Queen Sᵗ London.

COYTY CASTLE.—GROUND PLAN.

The northern gatehouse, that between the outer and inner wards, is destroyed; but the foundations show a passage 9 feet broad by 33 feet deep, which seems to have traversed a mass of buildings 84 feet broad by 30 feet to 40 feet deep. Of this, the part to the west of the portal, was a nearly rectangular building, 30 feet by 22 feet, having an entrance from the passage, and in its south wall a mural staircase. East of the portal is a much larger building still in part standing, and which seems to have been the keep.

The keep is nearly rectangular, 37 feet by 40 feet, having at its eastern end a projection into the ditch, 18 feet by 24 feet. This projection contained in its basement a plain vault, 15 feet by 9 feet, with two loops; and a culvert, probably a garderobe, has its vent below a recess in the north wall. This recess was probably a prison. The basement of the keep is occupied by a chamber, 28 feet by 22 feet, at the ground level, and vaulted in eight cells, the ribs forming which spring to and from a central eight-sided pier. The arches are pointed. There are two loops in this chamber, and three doors,—one from the court, set in a square-headed recess; a second into the vaulted accessory chamber; and a third to a postern opening into the ditch, and by a mural stair to the chamber above.

The first floor also is composed of two chambers, both vaulted, and the ribs of the large chamber spring from an octagonal pier resting upon that below. There was a second, and a third story roofed with timber. The fireplaces were in the north wall, and the windows in the north and east walls, and of moderate size and Tudor pattern. This tower seems of early Decorated date. A part of it has recently fallen.

The round tower is altogether a very curious and a very unusual structure. It is placed on the south-west front of the inner ward. It is 18 feet diameter, but projects into the ditch 22 feet, being connected with the curtain by a neck of wall 14 feet broad. It is lofty, having a basement and three upper floors. The basement is a huge vaulted receptacle for sewage, with an outlet to the south. The two upper floors are alike in dimensions and use, being 9 feet by 7 feet, and lighted by narrow loops, three on each floor. They are vaulted, and contain garderobes, with shafts into the vault below. The third story had a flat wooden roof, now gone. A well-stair led to the battlements. Laterally, the upper part of this tower is widened by a pair of cheeks resting on a row of corbels, so as to give greater space within. On the east side of this tower, at its base and junction with the curtain, is a postern of 3 feet opening, from which a vaulted staircase ascended to the domestic buildings. This door is protected by a mass of masonry filling up the hollow angles above it, and machicolated at its summit. This part of the castle seems of the age of Henry III.

The whole southern side of the court, from gatehouse to gatehouse, is occupied by the remains of the domestic buildings. The hall seems to have had a vaulted basement, 26 feet by 19 feet in plan, with plain ribs springing from two piers, and to have been on the first floor, with windows in the curtain. A long chamber east of the hall, with a long east window, seems to represent the chapel, also on the first floor. In this quarter some excavations made by the late Lord Dunraven have shown the stairs leading to the postern, and some vaulted cellars, and probably the kitchen. All these buildings are of an early Decorated character, and have been much altered in the Tudor period.

The curtain-wall, from the keep to the great gatehouse, is about 20 feet high, and is of the age of the gatehouse, and later than the wall elsewhere. Near the gatehouse it is 20 feet thick. Part of its parapet, 6 feet, and rear wall, 5 feet high, remain. The former is bracketed out on corbels, most of which are removed newels from an older well-stair. This part of the curtain is reached from the gatehouse, and has no communication with the keep. Of the same date with this curtain is the wall on the other side of the gatehouse, southwards for about 16 yards, when there is a junction with the older wall. This part of the curtain is polygonal outside, and curved within, and externally about 40 feet high. Beyond, or northward of the round tower, the height of the curtain is 60 feet, and it is pierced with windows belonging to the hall and other apartments. There remains also, on the wall, a lofty chimney. Towards the junction of this curtain with the wall of the outer ward it is connected with a sort of gallery, looped towards the field, and intended for the defence of the hollow angle where the three walls meet. The dividing wall between the inner and outer ward is nearly destroyed, and does not seem to have been strong.

The well is in the open court, 4 feet diameter, circular, and rudely walled.

The outer ward does not present any very noteworthy features. Its south wall is low, and pierced with windows, as of lodgings. The north wall is strongly buttressed outside. There was an outer gateway in the western wall, now broken down. It seems to have been a mere opening in the wall, without a gatehouse, but flanked by a pair of buttresses. The walls of this ward are about 20 feet high. The northern front of the outer ward, being naturally weak, has been protected by a double ditch, the contents of which are thrown outwards, and form banks. The ditches are dry. In a field to the north-east are some banks and ditches which may have been thrown up when the castle was attacked.

The castle has little to boast of either in material or workmanship. It is mainly built of lias rubble, but the round tower is of sandstone. The mortar generally is of inferior quality, and there is but little ashlar. The roofs were covered with slabs of fissile sand or tile-stone. The southern curtain is probably the oldest part of the castle. It is composed of large boulder or popple-stones, necessarily with very open joints. In it are two small trefoil-headed windows of early English or early Decorated date, which appear to be original. They open from the vaulted chamber beneath the hall. The angles of the curtain are quoined with Sutton stone. The castle, built probably in the early English and Decorated periods, seems to have been thoroughly restored and repaired late in the Perpendicular period. It is fast going to decay, and large portions of it have fallen since 1832. It is the property of the Earl of Dunraven; but the ditch belongs to Mr. Nicholl, of Merthyr Mawr, and was planted by his grandfather, the eminent judge.

END OF VOL. I.

WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W.C.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] “By writ of May 30, 1225, the king orders Godescall de Maghelines to enjoin all persons who have fortalices (motas) in the valley of Montgomery, to strengthen the same with wooden turrets (bretaschiis) for their own security and the defence of these parts.”—Eyton’s Antiquities of Shropshire, xi., p. 134.

[2] Dr. Simpson, whose opinion on such a subject carries great weight, attributes this keep to the reign of Stephen, the end of the Norman period.

[3] The tower at Warwick is 105 feet high and 38 feet diameter; a polygon of twelve sides, with five vaulted stories.

[4] “Dictionnaire de l’Architecture,” tom. vi. “Hourd.”

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