THE TOWER OF LLANQUIAN, GLAMORGAN.
ABOUT two miles east of Cowbridge, and half a mile or so north of the old Roman way from that town to Cardiff, a brooklet from St. Hilary Down crosses the road, and descends a deep and narrow ravine, to fall into the broad Aberthin valley, about two miles above its junction with the Cowbridge Taw, near the village of Aberthin. The ground on either bank of the ravine is very strong, and has been occupied for the purposes of defence from an early period. On the right bank is a large and irregular, and, therefore, probably British, enclosure or encampment; the defences of which, on the upper or eastern side, are two banks, each with an exterior ditch; and on the lower, or northern and western sides, a single bank, the ground below being sufficiently steep to render a ditch impracticable and unnecessary. This camp is locally known as Erw Gron, or the round acre (unless otherwise described, the acre would probably be a rectangular slip).
On the left or western bank, nearly opposite to the camp, is a rocky knoll, a little raised above the ground immediately adjacent to the west and south, but which towards the east and north slopes rapidly towards the brook and the Aberthin valley, perhaps a hundred feet below. Beyond the depression on the west and south, the ground expands into a platform of moderately level but broken ground, beyond which again is a considerable rise. Thus the knoll is both secluded from observation, and naturally strong, at least on the northern and eastern sides, and very defensible on the others. The approach was from the south-west, from the Cowbridge road, in which direction are buildings and remains of buildings, part modern, but part evidently having belonged to the outworks and outbuildings of the Tower.
The Tower, or castle proper, was a shell of masonry, circular, or nearly so, about 64 feet diameter, placed upon and covering the top of the knoll, the sides of which were scarped down to a dry ditch about 30 feet diameter, and now about 8 feet deep. Of this shell the outline of the whole foundation is to be traced, and towards the north-west are fragments of the wall and of ruined chambers; and to the north-east a small, low mound probably conceals the foundations of a mural tower.
There are the ruins of a rectangular building about 28 feet square, with walls about 4 feet thick, parts of which retain their original facing of coursed limestone (apparently lias) roughly dressed with the hammer. The walls are about 10 feet to 12 feet high, and one forms a part of the enceinte. These fragments may probably be parts of a small gatehouse, covering a narrow doorway, which would be all that could be needed for so small an enclosure. The masonry is evidently original; and the tower, probably, is of the reign of Henry III., which seems to have been the date of a somewhat similar but superior structure at Whitchurch. Llanquian then belonged to the powerful family of Nerber of Castleton in St. Athan’s, under whom it was probably held by the family of De Wintonia or De Wincestria, afterwards Wilkins, still extant, whose occupancy is preserved in the mead below, designated in the Ordnance Map as “Pant Wilkin.”
Across the site of both tower and camp are written in black letter, on the same map, the words Twr Gron, which appears to be a new name, compounded of those of the two very distinct remains. It is also singular that, in a map usually so very correct, the name of Llanquian does not appear.
About half a mile south-east of the Tower, a part of the Cowbridge road is still known as “Pant y lladron,” that is, via latronum, or the robbers’ way: a name indicative of the former bad character of the spot, and suggesting a suspicion that the inhabitants of the strong place either connived at the robberies or perpetrated them themselves.