MORLAIS CASTLE, GLAMORGAN.

UPON the northern limits of the county of Glamorgan, and above the eastern and lesser of the two sources of the Taff, stand the ruins of the castle of Morlais, so called from a small brook which rises a little to its north-east, and which, after receiving the Dowlais, flows into the Taff, within the adjacent town of Merthyr.

The castle is placed upon the edge of a considerable platform of mountain limestone rock, quarried extensively during the present century for the neighbouring ironworks, and about 470 feet above the Taff Vechan, which, descending through a steep and narrow gorge of considerable beauty, the boundary of the ancient districts of Brecheinioc and Morganwg, as of the modern counties of Brecknock and Glamorgan, escapes below the castle, through the defile and over the fall of Pont Sarn, to join the Taff a little above Merthyr.

The position, strong upon the north and west, is open upon the east and south; thus, in its want of complete natural defences, resembling in position the Norman castles rather than the Celtic or Saxon camps. It commands an extensive view over much of the upper Taff, and of the Merthyr basin, and was, on the whole, well placed to guard this frontier of Glamorgan against the inland tribes, to give notice of their approach to the garrisons of the plain, and to cut off any spoilers who, having invaded the vale, might be returning by this route to their native fastnesses.

The ancient trackway of Heol Adda, still a parish road, the shortest, and within memory the ordinary, way from Gelligaer and Merthyr to Brecon, passes about half a mile north-east of the castle, and was completely commanded by it.

The ground-plan of Morlais is very simple. A court, of an irregular oval shape, 140 yards north and south, by 60 yards east and west, is enclosed within an embattled wall capped by five or six circular towers, and encompassed on the north, east, and south sides by a moat, discontinued on the west side, which was always steep, though recently quarried into a cliff. The only remaining entrance to the court is on the east side, through a narrow archway in the curtain, which could only have admitted infantry, and which is approached by a steep path and a causeway across the moat. A broader causeway across the moat at its south end seems to have led to a larger gateway, probably commanded by a tower, connected by a curtain with the main wall; but this gateway, if it ever existed, is completely buried beneath the ruins.

J.T. Clark. delt.

J H Le Keux Sc.

REFERENCE

Morlais Castle.

The court seems to have been divided by a wall into a northern and southern portion, in the latter of which is the well.

Proceeding to details, A is the southern or keep tower, of two stories. The lower, a polygon of twelve sides, 28 feet in diameter, has a central column, with corresponding facets, branching into twelve fan-ribs, which, forming pointed arches, support the roof, and terminate on the containing wall in as many pilasters. The ribs are of limestone, but the upfilling of the vault is of a calcareous tufa, light, and very strong, and found in situ below a calcareous spring on the Heol Adda road, towards Pont-Sticcill. The whole chamber, though extremely elegant, is quite plain, the mouldings being a mere chamfer with no other decoration. There are neither windows nor loops, and the entrance is by an acute lancet-headed doorway, 5 feet wide by 13 feet high, which occupies the northern facet, and is approached from the court by a descending flight of steps. The upper chamber was probably not vaulted. Like Castell Coch, it seems to have contained several large fireplaces, as well as a garderobe chamber. It was approached by a winding stair, which appears to have terminated below upon a sort of drawbridge across the stairs leading to the crypt, and thus to have communicated with the eastern walls by another stair, exterior to the tower, and also leading to its battlements. In the curtain wall, close north-east of the keep, is a singular cavity, the use of which, if one it had, has not been discovered.

The opposite or northern tower, B, was of much less elaborate construction. It appears to have been a mere shell, 37 feet in internal diameter, of two stories, divided by a timber floor, entered below from the court on the level, and above probably by a winding stair on its north-east side, communicating also with the ramparts of the eastern curtain.

The east entrance, I, 5 feet broad, which was provided with a portcullis, and had a sharply-pointed arch, destroyed about twenty years ago, is placed between two smaller drum-towers, C and D, about 16 feet in diameter, each with its subsidiary well-stair. The northern tower, close to the door, completely commanded its exterior, and the southern, at some distance from the door, but nearly opposite to the causeway, K, commanded that passage, and the steep way up to the gate.

The western wall, probably 6 feet thick, was altogether weaker than the eastern, which was about 12 feet, and instead of two, it seems to have contained but one tower, a chamber of, or perhaps a drain from which, still remains. South-west of the keep are two heaps of rubbish which evidently indicate the position of two towers, one upon the curtain, and the other some way in advance, which latter seems to have terminated a sort of spur wall, projecting 60 feet from the curtain, and intended to cover the principal entrance by the southern causeway.

The well, N, is a singular excavation, rough and unlined, 27 feet square, and now about 44 feet deep. A few years ago it was partially filled up, and it is said before that to have been 70 feet deep. However this may be, it is certain that no water would be reached here at less than 400 feet, a depth which was not likely to have been attained. Close to the well, at O, is an oblong chamber, 44 feet by 24 feet, with broad steps, which appears to have been a tank, probably for rain-water. Near this tank is an oval oven, 11 feet by 15 feet, very perfect, and, singularly enough, formed of limestone. Near to this are the foundations of the kitchen. The wall dividing the court crossed just north of the well, opposite to which are traces of a large bow, and east of this of a doorway. In the southern court, against the east wall, were ranges, probably of barracks, roofed with shingle or tile-stone, with leaden trimmings, the stones and lead having been turned up in the ruins. Near the well is a large heap of mixed iron slag, coal, charcoal, and clinker, probably from a smith’s forge, near to which fragments of iron have been found. The heap is evidently old, inasmuch as it contains crystals of selenite. It also contains chlorine and sodium in various combinations, proving, or thought to prove, that common salt has been used in the operations of the forge, or perhaps in smelting the ore here.

The moat, which ranges from 14 yards to 40 yards from the walls, is about 40 feet broad and 14 feet deep, and its total length is about 370 yards. It has been quarried out of the rock, and its contents no doubt were used in building the castle, which is almost wholly of limestone.

In the moat, at Q, is a driftway, now much broken down, but which it is just possible may have been a private passage into the court. The area covered by the castle, measuring from the exterior edge of the moat, is about four acres.

Exterior to the moat, at its south side, is a sort of semi-circular space inclosed within a mound, and probably intended for the protection of cattle. East of the moat are various holes and ruined inclosures, the former probably old places for burning lime, and the latter shepherds’ huts and folds.

This castle, in 1833, was partially excavated by Lady C. E. Guest, when a metal seal was discovered in an adjacent field. The legend is, s . inon . fili . howel . gor .; but the names of Einon and Howell are exceedingly common in Glamorgan pedigrees, and the concluding abbreviation, no doubt a distinguishing cognomen, has not been explained, unless it may be read “Goch” or “the Red.” Coins have also been occasionally picked up. Very recently there were found together several silver pennies of Edward I., and one of Alexander I. of Scotland.

The castle at this time is a ruin, only the mere outline of the walls, and the débris of the towers remaining. The keep alone is above ground. The foundations are, however, tolerably perfect, and have been excavated and traced very recently with a view to the annexed plan. There is reason, from the disposition of the rubbish, to infer that the walls and towers were regularly pulled down from the top, and not, as usual in later days, blown up; so that the castle was probably deserted and dismantled at an early period. Mr. Stephens, whose general authority is in this instance strengthened by accurate local knowledge, was of opinion that this castle was never completed; and this may certainly have been the case.

In the course of the recent excavations a few discoveries were made. The oven was before unknown, as were the staircases of the two eastern towers, and the chambers in the wall of the upper story of the keep, and in the western wall. Very many cut stones, parts of door and window-cases, brackets, &c., were dug up, but all were perfectly plain, having only the chamfer moulding.

The brothers Buck engraved a view of Morlais from the north-west in the last century, which shows the keep, and a small part of the curtain, in a much more perfect state than at present.

The details of Morlais, though good, are, as became an obscure castle, so bare of ornament that it is difficult to refer the building to any precise date. Still the general proportions of the openings, the character of the crypt, and, perhaps, the general plan of the building, point with tolerable certainty to the latter period of the early English style, or the close of the thirteenth century, as about the time of its construction.

The history of Morlais is scanty, but it corroborates the internal evidence supplied by its architecture, and connects it with one of the most remarkable legal struggles between the Crown and the lords of the Welsh marches.

It appears from the public records that, towards the middle of the reign of Edward I., a quarrel arose between Gilbert de Clare, the Red Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, Lord of Glamorgan, and Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, Constable of England and Lord of Brecknock. Both were powerful peers, and De Clare, during the quarrel, had married, 29th April, 18 Edward I., 1290, Joan, the king’s daughter, while De Bohun’s wife, Maud de Fienles, was of kin to the queen. De Clare was the elder, and had the wardship of De Bohun.

The cause of quarrel was a castle, which De Clare had built upon his frontier, and, it was said, upon land belonging to De Bohun. That Morlais was the disputed castle is certain from the general tenor of the evidence, and from the mention of Penderyn Church, which is near to no other fortified place to which the particulars given would apply.

The trespass was the subject of a suit at law, and the king in Parliament, eight days before the Purification of the Virgin, 18 Edward I. (25th of January, 1290), gave a formal order to the two earls to abstain from hostilities. This order they disobeyed, and the new offence, of a far more serious nature than the original one, was at once noticed by the king, and the proceedings upon it are recapitulated with great minuteness in the parliamentary record, made on the occasion of the sentence, on the 7th January, 20 Edward I., 1292.

It appeared from the complaint of De Bohun, that De Clare’s retainers, headed by William de Valers, Richard le Fleming, and Stephen de Cappenore, with horse and foot, and the earl’s banner of arms displayed, had made three forays into Brecknock.

The first time, on Friday (3rd February) after the Purification, 1290, marching from the contested ground, they entered two leagues; the second time on Monday (5th June), before St. Barnabas, five leagues; and the third time, on Monday (27th Novem.), before St. Andrew, they entered seven leagues.

In these incursions they lifted and carried home 1070 head of cattle, 50 farm horses and colts, and sheep, goats and swine unnumbered. Also they wasted the land, and killed several people. The damage was rated by a jury at £100. Of the spoil, De Clare, according to the custom of marcher war, received one-third.

On other occasions, following this example, the loose rogues, “latrones et esketores,” of the district, perhaps some of those who gave name to “Bwlch-y-Lladron” above Aberdare, and “Rhyd-y-Milwr” above Rhymney, repeated the forays; and, besides other outrages, burned the house of “Tyraph,” and the church of Penderyn, taking from the latter a chalice, certain ornaments, and other matters. The earl and his captains were not charged with any knowledge of, or share in, these robberies or sacrileges.

It seems probable that the league (leuca) was not above an English mile, and that their depredations were confined to the south side of the Beacons. If so, that tract of country must have been at least as well stocked as it is now. And it may be doubted whether the modern church of Penderyn, with its hassocks and cassocks, and old prayer-books, would yield as much to any modern “esketores.”

Upon the receipt of this complaint, the king appointed by letters patent William de Luda Bishop of Ely, whom Nicholas calls Lord Chancellor (a statement unconfirmed by the very accurate Foss), William de Valence the king’s uncle, John de Mettingham the honest Chief Justice, and Robert de Hertford one of the judges of the Common Pleas, to inquire into the matter, and especially as to whether the outrages were committed after the royal inhibition. They were to summon witnesses from the counties of Hereford, Caermarthen, and Cardigan, and the parts of Gower, Ewyas, and Grosmont, and they were to report to the king by fifteen days from Easter (22d April), 1291.

The sheriff of Berkshire was to summon the Earl of Gloucester, and Robert de Typetoft, justiciary of West Wales, was to summon his captains. The sheriff of Hereford, the justiciary, Geoffrey de Genville and Theobald de Verdun bailiffs of Ewyas, and Edmund the king’s brother’s bailiff of Grosmont, were to provide the jury. Strathwelly, in Brecknock, was to be the place; and the Monday (12th March) after Quadragesima the time of meeting. Also, to prevent any collusion, the inquiry was to proceed, even should one of the parties withdraw.

The following magnates were also summoned by the king as jurors: John de Hastings, John Fitz-Reginald, Edmund and Roger Mortimer, Theobald de Verdun, John Tregoz, William de Braose, Geoffrey de Cammill (no doubt “Camville,”), and Roger Pycheworth, together with the king’s Welsh seneschals, and his brother’s seneschals of Monmouth, Grosmont, Skenfrith, and Whitecastle. Also were summoned the sheriffs of Hereford and Gloucester, and the seneschal of Crickhowel, so as to provide a jury of twenty-four knights and others. The preparations were not unsuitable to the rank and power of the offenders, and to what it is clear our English Justinian regarded as the excessive heinousness of the offence.

On the appointed Monday, Hastings, then Lord of Abergavenny, and his companions, met the commissioners at Brecknock, and were adjourned to Wednesday, at Laundon; but the commissioners proceeded the same day to Strathwelly, which they reached about three o’clock.

The Earl of Hereford was punctual, but Gloucester and his captains were not forthcoming, though the sheriff and Typetoft proved their summons. It was, perhaps, the probability of this contumacy that had caused the previous adjournment to Laundon, to which place the commissioners next proceeded.

Here, his opponents being still absent, the Earl of Hereford stated his complaint, and demanded an inquiry. Upon this the magnates were called upon to swear, placing their hands upon the book. Hastings and the rest unanimously refused compliance. Their ancestors, they said, in those parts, had never heard of a compulsory oath, except in certain march affairs, sanctioned by custom. They were admonished that the king’s power was supreme, but they still, each for himself, declined, without consulting their peers.

The excuses of certain jurors were next stated. De Braose did not appear, because his lands were in the king’s hands. Pycheworth was a name unknown; but Pychard, who came, was not received. Genville had enfeoffed his son Peter with his Welsh lands. The seneschal of Abergavenny had received no summons. Certain Crickhowell jurors came unsummoned, as their seneschal testified. Roger de Mortimer held his Welsh lands under the Earl of Hereford, and of course could not act; and Edmund’s lands were far off, so no summons had found its way thither. From Tregoz and Camville came neither jurors nor seneschal.

The inquisition then proceeded, and the jury found that the three forays had occurred, and the robberies, &c., as stated; but that John de Creppyng, who had been indicted as a captain, had not been present in person, but had sent his men, and shared the booty.

Before the commission broke up, the charge to the earls to keep the peace was repeated.

The next step, the commission having apparently reported, was taken by the king in council, who summoned the two earls to appear at Ambresbury, on Monday (3rd September) preceding the Nativity of the Virgin. Thither accordingly they came; and as it was well known that there had been new and repeated breaches of the peace, the matter had become still more serious. With a view to fresh evidence on this point, the king further adjourned the inquiry to Abergavenny, where he, his council, the jurors, and the two earls, finally met about Michaelmas.

The Earl of Hereford was asked whether he had disobeyed the royal order either before or since the Laundon meeting; but the Earl of Gloucester, having absented himself, was taken as guilty of the former charge, and invited to meet only the latter. To this he pleaded not guilty; but he was permitted to take objections to the former judgment, and, by special favour, to hear read the previous proceedings.

The points he raised were ingenious, but rather fine spun. He took objection to the writ of scire facias, under which he was summoned, as not having been issued through a court of law in the regular way. This was overruled, on the ground of the importance of the case, and the pressing necessity for action. Next, he objected to the commission itself as an ex officio proceeding, and not binding upon him. Then he advanced that his father, under the orders of the late and present king, had slain or done various injuries to the parents and kin of many of the jurors from Caermarthen and Cardigan, which disqualified them from sitting on the inquest. These also were overruled, the latter on the ground that judgment had gone by his non-appearance. He then said that, between the date of the original prohibition and the first foray (25th January to 3rd February), there had not been time to communicate with his distant and scattered retainers. This also was pronounced invalid.

As to the second foray, the earl pleaded that he was not responsible for it, as the king had at that time seizin of his Glamorgan lands. This was no doubt on the occasion of his marriage, with a view to which event he surrendered, 18 Edward I., his estates, and, after the marriage, took a regrant of them to himself and his wife, under new limitations. It appeared, however, from the records, that the earl had received seizin nine days before the second foray; so this also failed. As to the third foray, he pleaded the recent enfeoffment, which, being entirely new, removed the effect of any prohibition issued to the old feoffee. This, however, was met by a declaration that the prohibition was not territorial but personal; consequently the verdict of guilty was confirmed against himself and his captains.

The breaches of the peace after the Laundon meeting were then inquired into. It was proved that, on the Thursday (29th July) before St. Peter ad Vincula, the Earl of Gloucester’s people having put certain averiæ, or “plough bullocks,” to feed in the disputed ground, the Earl of Hereford’s bailiff and retainers appeared in force. Upon this, De Clare’s men retired with the cattle into their own lands. The others followed, slew some of the men, captured and drove off the cattle, and lodged them in Brecknock Castle. De Bohun had not known of this; but, on its being reported, he directed the cattle to be retained and ransomed. At the time of the inquiry some of them had been killed, and others were in custody at Brecknock.

Further, on Monday (9th August) after the Assumption of the Virgin, the Earl of Gloucester’s men went by night, like robbers, into the Bohun territory. The Bohun retainers, alarmed, drove them back three leagues into their own lands, recovered all the cattle they had stolen, and took several others besides, which they brought home and still kept. Of these expeditions the Earl of Gloucester was entirely ignorant. The Bohun leaders were John Perpoynt, seneschal of Brecknock Castle, and the earl’s bailiff, John Deucroys, or Everoys, Philip Seys, Howell Vaughan, and Howell ap Trahern. Their earl, however, not only did not approve of this second expedition, but on hearing of it, he bound over his captains to bail, under which they still remained. Also, it was shown that, on receiving the royal order, the Earl of Hereford caused it to be proclaimed at church, and market, and other public places. Nevertheless, as he had sanctioned the retaining of the captured cattle, he was also found guilty.

The Earl of Hereford, however, had not offended before the Laundon meeting, neither had the Earl of Gloucester after it.

In each case the jury notice with reprehension that the earls allowed proceedings in the marches which elsewhere would, as they knew, have been punished.

Both earls, with their followers, were committed to jail, and their Welsh franchises taken in hand by the king.

Upon this Edmund, the king’s brother, William de Valence, his uncle, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and John de Hastings, gave bail for Gloucester; and Reginald de Grey, Robert Typetoft, Robert Fitz-Walter, and Walter de Beauchamp, for Hereford; and, while thus at large, they were permitted to hold their franchises. The earls themselves, thus bailed, were permitted to become bail for their followers, and thus passed 1291.

The parties appeared again at Westminster on the morrow of Epiphany, 1292, but sentence was not finally pronounced until Thursday (17th January) after the octaves of Epiphany, when the parties again appeared before the king at Westminster.

With regard to the Earl of Gloucester, his whole franchise or royalty, totum regale, in Morganwg, was declared forfeited. But whereas he had married the king’s daughter, and had by her offspring; and whereas she had an equal share in the franchise, the earl having a life interest only, he could not forfeit more than his own rights, neither was it lawful to punish the innocent for the guilty. His forfeiture therefore was to be for life only. He was further to be imprisoned during pleasure, and to pay £100 damages to the Earl of Hereford.

The Earl of Hereford’s Welsh franchises, being held by him without limitation, were forfeited altogether, and he also was remitted to prison. But, inasmuch as his offence non est ita carcans, nor deserving of punishment so heavy as that of his brother earl, and as he had married a kinswoman of the queen, who made the marriage, so that the earl’s children and the king’s children would be of kin, his forfeiture also was limited to his life.

The obvious unfairness of the punishment seems to have been in some degree adjusted by the fines under which the earls were restored, Gloucester paying 10,000 marcs, and Hereford 1,000 marcs.

Neither earl long survived this transaction. Gloucester died in the castle of Monmouth in 1295, and Hereford in 1298, but not before he had on more than one occasion made a bold and successful, and strictly legal, opposition to his sovereign.

The retainers were let off lightly, on the plea that they had not been warned by their lords of the royal prohibition. John de Creppyng was fined fifty marcs; his securities being Richard de Creppyng, of co. York, and John Wogan, of Somerset.

Richard le Flemyng was fined £20; his securities were John le Waleys, of Somerset, and Stephen Haucumb, of Cornwall.

Stephen de Cappenore was fined twenty marks; his securities being Robert de Typetoft, and John Lovel, of co. Northampton, at ten marcs each.

William le Valers was fined £10; his securities were John de Creppyng, of Lincoln, and Robert Fylliot, of Cumberland.

Perpoynt and his fellows were left to the ordinary course of law, with a hint that their punishment was not likely to be very severe. And thus ended one of the most important transactions in the history of the Welsh marches; a trial evidently pressed forward by Edward with a view to break down the great, ill-defined, and ill-exercised power of the Lords Marchers, intended to be regulated by the celebrated statute of Rhuddlan.

No apology is necessary for introducing this event at some length of detail into the history of a march castle; besides which, the names contained in it show who were at that time the great lords of the district. They show also, that while De Bohun’s captains were native Welshmen, for the Perpoynts, descendants of Giles Perpoynt, had become naturalised at Gileston a generation or two earlier, De Clare’s affairs were in the hands of strangers to the soil, men whose names, with the exception of Flemyng, do not appear then or since in Glamorgan pedigrees. (“Rolls,” i., 70; Carte, “History of England,” ii., 221; Dugd., “Bar.,” i., 182; Jones, “Brec.,” iii., 143; “Rot. Fin.,” 20 Edward I.)

The original cause of dispute seems to have been overlooked in the consequences, for nothing more is heard of the contested boundary. It is, however, noteworthy, that very near Morlais the county boundary quits the well-defined Taff Vechan, and crosses the mountain in a direction unmarked by any natural features, so that, until an amicable arrangement was arrived at twenty years ago, the actual limit of each county continued to be subject of dispute between the manorial lords on either side.

Morlais, though thus founded amidst contentions, seems, on the whole, to have enjoyed a peaceful, if not an ignoble, existence. No doubt the settlement of the country under the long reign of Edward III. destroyed its value as an outpost, and led to its neglect, or perhaps destruction. No mention of it has been discovered until the days of Leland, who says,—

Morlays Castelle standith in a good valley for corn and grass and is on the ... ripe of Morlais brook. This castelle is in ruin and longith to the king.—(“Itin.,” iv., 39.)

Leland probably had not visited the spot which he thus somewhat incorrectly describes, but his evidence as to the proprietorship is likely to be correct.

The circumstances that led to the construction of Morlais are sufficiently evident from its general position. The lower part of the county was protected not only by the lord’s castles of Cardiff, Llantrissant, and Kenfig, but by a considerable number of lesser castles belonging to private persons, and intended, primarily, for the protection of their estates. It remained to guard against the sudden inbreaks of the Welsh, who, descending from the north, and moving with great rapidity, and having, besides, the advantage of what strategists call “interior lines,” could readily select their point of attack, and cutting off detached parties, or sacking an occasional village or castle, could retreat through paths and at a rate which rendered useless any pursuit by the heavily armed Normans.

To check such marauders, or at any rate to cut them off in their retreat, other castles were constructed by the marchers, such as Castell Coch on the Taff, the tower of Whitchurch a little below it, and finally, at the head of the two great valleys of the Nedd and Taff, and at the apex of this contained triangle of mountainous country, Morlais.

Caerphilly belongs to the same class of defences. It was built hastily, and probably decided upon hastily also. It never was, and Cardiff being the chief seat of the lord, it may be doubted whether it ever could have been, of an importance at all commensurate with its extent and cost. Morlais, on the contrary, seems to have been solidly constructed, and to have been in all respects suited to the purpose it was intended to fulfil.

Local tradition, the tendency of which is, naturally enough, to ascribe all considerable works to the native lords of the soil, attributes this to Ivor Bach, a celebrated chieftain of east Glamorgan, late in the twelfth century, who is reputed to have fallen in fight upon an adjacent spot, still called “Pant-Coed-Ivor.”

That Morlais, like Caerphilly and Castell Coch, was built on the territory of the family of Ivor Bach is no doubt true, since he, his ancestors, and his descendants, as Lords of Senghenydd above and below the Caiach, possessed the whole tract of country between the Taff and the Rhymney, from Cardiff northwards to the Brecon border; but it is clear, from the position of the work, that it was not built by, but intended to curb the aggressions of, those turbulent native chieftains, among whom Ivor and his son Griffith, and their neighbour Llewelyn Bren (1315), played in their day a conspicuous part.

Moreover, the residences of Ivor and his descendants, said to have been anciently at Castell Coch, but known to have been afterwards at Brithdir, at Merthyr, and finally at the Van, have never been recorded as at Morlais, nor is it at all probable that they would have constructed so expensive a dwelling upon the very verge of their domain, and upon a spot far too high and rocky for ordinary cultivation.

It may be objected that, had Morlais been built by the Earls of Gloucester, it would have remained, like Caerphilly, in the hands of the chief lords; for the site of Caerphilly, seized upon by De Clare in the reign of Henry III., still remains an isolated part of the Cardiff lordship in the midst of the Van estate; but it may well be that, while the size and importance of Caerphilly, and its later use as a prison, caused the lords of Cardiff to retain it in their possession, Morlais, from its moderate dimensions and distant position escaping notice, would be dismantled, and the site allowed to revert to the descendants of its original owners, who still held the surrounding estate. It was probably soon after Leland’s time that the Crown allowed its right, as the then Lord of Glamorgan, to fall into disuse.

The Morlais property, including the castle, passed from Ivor Bach’s male descendant, Thomas Lewis of the Van, by the marriage of his daughter with an Earl of Plymouth, to the Windsor family, in which family it still remains.