The Lordship of Cilvae extends from near the Neath to the Tawe, upon which is posted the castle of Abertawe or Swansea, a structure remarkable for its open parapet with a rampart wall above the arches, the work of Bishop Gower. Swansea was the “caput” of Gower under the Earls of Warwick and the De Braoses, and subsidiary to it were the castles of Oystermouth, still standing, and Lwchwr on the Burry river, called the keys of Gower. Lwchwr is now but a small square tower standing upon a small mound connected with a large Roman camp. Within the peninsula are Penrice, an early castle of that family with a good round keep, and in the same parish, and near the church, a moated mound; Oxwich, a late building of the Mansels, a good example of the transition from the castle to the fortified house; Pennard, a quadrangular castle of the Edwardian type; Weobley and Llanrhidian. At Scurlage and Llandewi were castles, and at Llandimor. Mr. Freeman has remarked that twelve of the sixteen churches of Gower have towers evidently built for defence. The exterior doors, where they occur, are usually insertions. The low country beyond the Burry is protected by Kidwelly, a tolerably perfect early castle built by the De Londres family, and inherited from them by the Chaworths. It stands upon the Gwendreath, and to its north is the strong castle of Carreg-Cennen. But the real defence of Caermarthen is the river Towy, strengthened by the four castles on its banks, Llanstephan, Caermarthen, Dynevor, and Drysllwyn, to which may be added Laugharne, upon an adjacent inlet of the sea, and the tower at Llangattock, which commanded the end of the pass from Brecknock. Near to Llandeilo was Llanymdhyfri, which in 1113 belonged to Richard de Pons. Most of these castles seem to have been established by the De Clares of the Strongbow line, but strong as they were, and usually well defended, they had to bear the brunt of the border war, and were often taken and retaken by and from the Welsh, who at times permanently occupied them.
This was much or even more the case with the castles of Cardigan, which, though usually small, and with two or three exceptions not individually of great importance, were very numerous, and collectively served sufficiently well for the ordinary defence of the territory. They were almost all founded by the De Clares and their followers early in the twelfth century. At the head of them and exceptionally strong stood Aberystwith near the north of the county, upon the shore of Cardigan Bay, and partly covered by the junction of the Ystwith with the Rheidol. Its position on the sea and in the rear of the strongest parts of South Wales made it particularly obnoxious to the Welsh; it was exposed to the full fury of the attacks from both North and South Wales, and strong as it was both by art and nature, was often taken and retaken, destroyed and rebuilt. Between it and the extreme limit of the county, the Dyfy, were the lesser castles of Geneur-glyn and Glan-Dyfi, and near it was Stradpythyll Castle, built by Ralph, steward to Earl Gilbert. It was besieged in 1122. Cardigan is traversed obliquely by the Teivi, and near the head of that stream was the great castle of Ystrad-Meyric founded by Gilbert de Clare, of which the ruins remain. Tregaron was lower down, as were a number of other strong places, such as Llanllwyni, Llanfihangel, Llandissul, Llangollen, of which it is difficult to say whether they were castles of the de Clare period or earlier residences. Blaen-porth-gwythian Castle was built by Earl Gilbert before 1112. At Newcastle was a strong castle also on the Teivi, and nearer to the mouth of the river, on the Cardigan bank, the castle of the town of Cardigan. Besides these there occur in local histories the names of Castell-Gwynionydd or Coedvon near Llampeter; Castell Abereinon; Humphrey’s Castle in Llandissil; Blaen Porth near Cardigan; Iscoed, where the mound seems to have had a keep in masonry; Llanven; Llampeter, where the mound remains but the masonry has been removed; Dinerth, the mound of which is called Danish, but where Roger de Clare founded a castle in 1135; Castel Rhos in Llanyrysted, built in 1158; Caerwedro, taken by the Welsh in 1135; and Llanyondri.
Pembroke, far less exposed than Cardigan to the common enemy, is divided by the Haven of Milford, owing to which the southern part of the county, partially peopled by a colony of Flemings, was completely sheltered from the Welsh incursions, and became in fact a purely English territory. It was protected but also dominated by the grand castle of Pembroke, founded by Arnulph de Montgomery, the first Norman invader, but better known as the seat of Strongbow and the Mareschals, who thence took the title of their earldom. Pembroke Castle, though a ruin, retains much of its ancient magnificence. The hall, gatehouse, curtain wall, and mural towers still remain, and the grand round keep continues to give mass and character to the whole group. The town also was strongly walled, the castle forming part of the circuit. At the other end of the root of the peninsula, on the sea, was the Castle of Tenby, also attached to the earldom, strong in its position, and also, as its remains show, well fortified. The town of Tenby was walled, and still retains a portion of the wall and one of its gates. Near Tenby was Manorbeer, an early castle, though in its present form probably of the date of Henry III. There is no keep, and the hall is vaulted. The gatehouse remains. The ruins show it to have been strong. It is celebrated as the birthplace of Giraldus Cambrensis or de Barri. Carew Castle no doubt represents an early fortress, and hence sprung, as is supposed, the families of Fitz-Gerald and Windsor, and most certainly that of Carew. Lamphey was a castle of the Bishops of St. David’s and has an arcaded parapet, a poor imitation of that of Bishop Gower at Swansea; and Castle Martin was the residence of the Barons Martin. At Nangle was a fortified house of the Sherbornes, and it is very probable that Stackpole Court was preceded by an early castle built by the founder of the family of that name. North of the Haven, that great fiord which gives its distinctive feature to the name of Haverford, is the strong rectangular keep of Haverford-West, the present state of which reflects utter discredit on the county. It was the work probably of Gilbert de Clare early in the twelfth century, and around it, scattered over the whole face of the county, are an unusually great number of small castles and strong houses, built and inhabited by the Norman knights who followed Arnulph and Strongbow, and whose descendants continued to hold them by military service under the succeeding earls. Such was Upton, the castle of the Malefaunts, of which remain the chapel and the gatehouse; Dale, placed on the root of the peninsula of St. Ann’s Head, belonged to the De Vales; Narberth was founded by the Perrotts; Lawhaden was the chief seat of the Bishop of St. David’s and the “caput” of the Episcopal Barony (of it there remain a fine gateway and some other buildings); Wiston, the castle of Sir Philip Gwys, and afterwards of the Wogans, is mentioned as taken by the Welsh in 1146; Picton is thought to have been founded in the reign of Rufus. Besides these are Wallwyn’s Castle, of which only the mound remains; Castle Byth; Little Newcastle; Castell Hendre or Henry’s Moat; Roche Castle, a square keep perched upon a rugged rock, and built by Adam de Rupe, founder of the De la Roche family; Cilgerran, on the Teivi, a very considerable castle, of which much remains: it was held by the chief lords; Nevern, the chief castle of the old barony of Cemaes, afterwards replaced by Newport, of which the remains are considerable. Mention is also made of Benton Castle; of Castle Coning, near St. Dogmell’s; Castleton, built by the family of Castle; and Punch or Poyntz Castle, a grange of the bishops of St. David’s, where there is a large moated mound. Probably there are many other castellets and fortified houses in the northern and more exposed half of Pembrokeshire, the sites of which are confounded with the earlier Raths and circular earthworks of a period preceding the Norman Conquest. The term Rath, and the pattern of the fortification also, are probably imported from Ireland, where a circular bank and ditch surrounded the dwelling-place of almost every landed proprietor, differing from that in use in England and Normandy by the absence of the mound. The Irish enclosure was little if at all raised above the exterior ground, and therefore, though perhaps more convenient, certainly less strong than the moated mound. Of these Raths there are several in Pembrokeshire. Here also is another rather peculiar feature. Many of the church towers, as in Gower, are evidently constructed for defence, intended no doubt as a ready refuge against a sudden and temporary incursion of the Welsh, or a descent upon the coast by the Scandinavian pirates. Such a post, like the Irish round towers, could be held safely for a few hours until the alarm brought relief.
The castles of the Welsh border have not been critically examined, and it is, therefore, difficult to give a list of them that shall at all approach accuracy; it may, however, be stated roughly that there were in Wales at the close of the reign of Henry II. 251 castles and castellets, of which 21 had rectangular keeps, and 20 shell keeps. Of castles of which little is accurately known, or which do not admit of classification, there were about 220.
According to the preceding enumeration, there were at the close of the reign of Henry II. in England and upon the Marches of Wales about 657 castles, of which 55 had rectangular and 96 shell keeps, while of 506 little is known, or else they do not come under one or the other of the regular Norman types. Considering the difficulties which stand in the way of accuracy in obtaining these figures, the above total does not differ very widely from Moore, the only authority on the subject, who gives a list of about 568 of the earlier castles, including therein those of the reign of Henry III. and the three Edwards.
With the reign of Henry II. may be said to close the principal castle-building period of English history. Cœur de Lion was scarcely an English sovereign. He designed, it is said, and certainly built, the great fortress of Château Gaillard upon the Seine; but he built no castle in England, nor does any castle of consequence appear to have been founded in his reign. John, his successor, was always moving from one castle to another, exercising in a very unpopular degree the royal prerogative of purveyance. He introduced the Writ known as “Commissimus,” by which castellans were appointed to the royal castles, and he showed his distrust even of his supporters, by continually transferring these officers from one castle to another, lest they should establish any local interest. The siege of Rochester Castle was the great military engineering operation of the reign, in which the outer wall was undermined near one angle, and the gallery carried on beneath the keep, which stood but a few feet within the enclosure. The result was to bring down the wall and the lower part of one angle of the keep, and the place and extent of the mischief may still be traced, owing to the angle having been rebuilt with very indifferent masonry. Almost the last event of his reign was the siege of Dover by Louis of France, who set up a “malvoisin” to overtop the walls, but failed to take the place, though before it for four months. John died at Newark, which, if not the finest castle of the Midlands, contains certainly the grandest Norman gatehouse in England. From his accession in May, 1199, to his death in June, 1207, John dated public instruments from 131 castles in different parts of England, and must have visited a great many more.
Henry III. found his realm over-built with castles, and amongst the vigorous exertions by which William Marshall and Hubert de Burgh restored the royal authority should specially be recorded the sieges of Biham and Bedford castles, two very strong places. The Close Rolls show the extent of the preparations for these sieges. The sheriffs of the whole Midland and westward to the Forest of Dean are directed to provide and forward materials and munitions of war. Carpenters, smiths, quarrymen to dress stone bullets, miners and engineers, are placed under requisition, and from all sides are ordered timber, stone, lead, cord, cable, chain, iron bars, balistæ, catapults, mangonels, crossbows of wood and horn, targets, quarrels, arrows, slings, hides to cover the malvoisins, and mining tools. Both castles were stiffly defended, and both were taken. Of Biham no trace remains; of Bedford a fragment of wall and a mound, reduced almost to a mole-hill, still shows that Henry’s work was not done negligently. Towards the end of the reign occurred a still more famous siege, that of Kenilworth. Here, as on the former occasion, Henry commanded in person, and the celebrated “Ban of Kenilworth” shows how complete was his victory. Henry also conducted a campaign in South Wales in which the castles of Monmouth, Usk, Chepstow, Caerleon, and Cardiff played important parts—castles calculated to prove a sharp thorn in the side of an English prince, and to render a uniform and just government impracticable. Henry is not certainly known as the founder of any important English castle, but he added to and restored very many. Skenfrith near Monmouth dates from a little before his time; but Grosmont and White Castle, the two other members of the great border trilateral, may be of that reign. Henry, no doubt, was a great builder, and very princely in his operations; but his works as regards castles were chiefly shown in building, repairing, and adorning the walls and windows of the royal lodgings, halls, and chapels in the royal castles, works which were in all cases carried on outside the keep, within the middle or outer wards, and which in most cases have long since been swept away. Henry found his castles built to his hands, and had no opportunity of introducing any specific style or type of military work. White Castle is a mere pen or enclosure, with high walls and mural towers, though its earthworks, probably of earlier date, are on a great scale.
Castles of the type known as Edwardian or concentric, though taking their name from Edward I., were, as a chronological fact, introduced in the reign of his father, and Caerphilly, one of the earliest, probably the very earliest, of the concentric type, and curiously enough one of the most complete, was constructed by the Lord of Glamorgan in the very last year of Henry’s reign. Caerphilly is second only to Windsor in extent, and second to no mediæval fortress whatever in the skill with which it is laid out, and the natural features of the ground turned to advantage. It was executed, and probably planned, with great rapidity. Its cost must have been enormous, and must have taxed to the utmost the resources of even so wealthy a noble as the Earl of Gloucester and Hertford.
The type thus introduced was adopted by Edward I., and is exemplified in the castles of Harlech and Beaumaris. Conway and Caernarvon, though superior in magnificence to these and less symmetrical, are chiefly remarkable because they form a part of the defences of the towns attached to them, the whole being of one date and parts of one plan. The reign of Edward much diminished the value of English castles. Even the fortresses erected by him in North Wales, when their end was attained and the province reduced to subjection, ceased to be of value and gradually fell into decay, and in England when once his rule was established and his power realised, the lords even of the strongest castles did not venture to garrison them against him.