In 1257, Oswestry was again named for the meeting of a Welsh and English commission, and John Fitz-Alan, the new lord, had license to levy customs dues for five years, to pay for a wall round the town. At his death, in 1267, the castle was valued at £44. 12s. 5½d. per annum, and mention is made of the “walcheria” or Welshery. The wall probably proceeded slowly, for, in 1283, King Edward issued a patent, licensing the bailiffs to levy customs for twenty years, to complete the wall. Probably this was in consequence of an attack by the Welsh, who actually held the town for a short time. In 1302, on the death of Richard, Earl of Arundel, it was found that he held Oswestry Castle and its lands by the tenure of two and a half knights’ fees. There were one hundred and forty acres of demesne land and four water-mills, but the castle was worth nothing; and its maintenance cost £10 per annum. The mills were Bailey, Weston, Cotton, and Cadogan.
PENMARK CASTLE.
PENMARK CASTLE is about a mile east of Fonmon, and two, three, and four miles from the castles of East Orchard, Barry, and Wenvoe.
It was originally built by Sir Gilbert de Umfreville, soon after the conquest of Glamorgan, but the present ruins are scarcely older than the thirteenth century. It is probably of the reign of Henry III. or Edward I., with some trifling additions of later date; but it exhibits no traces either of a Norman keep or of any of the usual Perpendicular or Tudor additions. It is, and has been for some centuries, a complete ruin.
The castle stands along the brow of a steep bank, about 100 feet above the meads of the Duffryn brook, which, with its marshy banks, formed an excellent defence on the north or Welsh front. It is composed of two courts.
The inner court was oblong, about 70 yards by 50, of irregular figure, with a curtain upon the north side along the hedge of the bank, part of which, at each end, remains. On the south side the wall is gone, but its line is marked by its interior moat which, extending from the bank at one end to that on the other, formed the defence on the east, west, and southern fronts.
PENMARK CASTLE
At the eastern end the wall remains, about 10 feet high on the outside. Inside is a mass of earth, no doubt covering ruins. At the north-east angle a circular depression resembles the foundations of a tower.