16 Edward III., 1342–3, Gilbert Talbot, Justiciary of South Wales, was directed to raise levies in the divisions of Builth, Ewias-Lacy, and Ewias-Harold, and similar precepts were issued in 1367.
34 Edward III., 1360–1, Roger de Mortimer held the castle and cantred of Builth, and 5 Richard II., Edward Earl of March and Philippa his wife held Bewolthe or Beult Castle, as did Earl Roger, their successor, 22 Richard II. On the attainder of the Mortimers the castle fell to the Crown, and so remained till granted away by Charles II., since which it has passed through many hands.
Regard being had to the position of the castle upon an exposed and very dangerous frontier, it is not surprising that its walls and towers were planned with some skill, and executed with great passive strength. But of the works in masonry, scarce a trace now remains above ground, and the site of a fortress which could hold Llewelyn and his armed Welshmen in check, probably for several weeks, is now indicated by heaps of earth of a rather remarkable character, and which, from their position and size, make a feature in the outline of the town from whatever point beheld.
J. H. Le Keux, Durham.
THE CASTLE OF BUILTH.
Moreover these earthworks, which have survived the masonry that for so many centuries crowned their summits, are, it is evident, of far earlier date than the Norman work, and have only in these latter times resumed much of the appearance which they originally presented.
For they resemble in their general features and in their details, those earthworks nearer to, or within the English border, as Wigmore, Richard’s Castle, Kilpeck, and Ewias-Harold, which again resemble those of Warwick, Leicester, Bedford, and Towcester, the dates and authors of which are on record, and all of which, wherever situated, are quite unlike the grand hill-camps so common on the border, and usually attributed to the British.
Hence a peculiar interest attaches to works such as these at Builth. Not only as regards the English part of the community is there the presumption, amounting almost to demonstration, that they were the work of their proper ancestors, but, what is of interest to all, it is possible to fix an approximate date to their construction, which is by no means the case with the larger and probably older hill-camps.
The town of Builth stands in the north-eastern quarter of Brecknock, in the Hundred of its name, just upon a bold curve of the Wye, which, escaping from the deep valley in which it descends from Rhayader Gwy, and about to plunge into that by which it reaches the more open country near Glasbury and Hay, here traverses a broad expanse of mead overlooked by the town, to which it not improbably gave origin.