The curtain next east of the tower looks older than the tower, but this is probably not the case. The tower was more probably the original building, and the whole of it. It would be a refuge in case of attack, either from the Welsh or from pirates, capable of holding out until the garrisons of Pennard, Llandremor, Webley, or Llwchwr, or those more distant of Swansea and Oystermouth, could bring up assistance. The tower is probably of very late Norman date, in the transition or pointed style. The curtain eastward was probably the first addition to the tower, and is the remnant of the rectangular appendage upon its north-eastern side. This curtain has been much cut into, and contains several later openings; but the door on the ground floor next to the tower is evidently original, and of early English date. It now leads into the enclosure of the chemisette, but was obviously once an outer door, and possibly the main entrance to the rectangular building. The court was probably next enclosed, and the concentric building, or chemisette, added to the round tower, either as a prison or a cellar, the door leading into it being the old main entrance above mentioned. The gatehouse and the north-west tower are somewhat later. Recently three stones, evidently parts of a window or door-jamb, have been dug up near the round tower; these show a simple half-round bead moulding, six inches diameter, and are evidently parts of a Norman jamb, perhaps of the lower and pointed doorway of the round tower. The north-west tower has a small trefoil-headed window in the third floor, which may be of Decorated date, though the building has rather a Perpendicular aspect. The masonry generally is of a very rough character; the round tower windows within had coigns of ashlar, but the gatehouse is of very inferior workmanship, even the portcullis groove being in rubble.
This is a very curious ruin. A round tower of this early date is a very rare feature; the chemisette may be compared to the more perfect envelope at Tretower and Launceston, but it is evidently an addition. The dimensions are nearly those of Bronllys, which is, however, rather later, and of far superior work. It is singular that the original castle should have been placed so far from the edge of the cliff which constituted a part of its later defences. The excavations now in progress may yet throw a light upon the precise age of some of the parts. It is something to have found mouldings of the Norman period.
The only parts absolutely destroyed belong to the north front, where the wall has certainly been blown down by gunpowder, probably during the occupation of Gower by Cromwell.
This is not the only stronghold within the parish and manor of Penrice. About half a mile south-west of the castle, and west of, and very near to, the parish church, is a circular earthwork, composed of a single mound, with an exterior ditch, and an entrance on the north-west side. The diameter of the interior space may be 100 feet, and the mound from 6 to 10 feet high. This is a very perfect, and evidently a very early work, and no doubt was stockaded with timber.
The adjacent church, though much altered in recent times, has a Norman wall and arch, masked with plaster, between the nave and the chancel, and a remarkable south porch of early Decorated and a south door of early English date. Outside the south door of the church and in the porch, on the right on entering, is a water stoup, hollowed out in a sort of stone seat. The upper part of the tower and a small north transept are said to have been rebuilt in the last century.
The church stands upon a strong position, superior in many respects to that selected for the castle. The adjacent church of Nicholaston has a rude coupled east window of early English date.
The castle, the ruins of which have been described, was for many generations the seat of a considerable Gower family, who no doubt derived their surname from their estate, therein differing from several of their neighbours, the owners of Nicholaston, Reynoldston, Leysanston, and Scurlage, whose names were bestowed upon and are preserved in those manors. Either custom was here common, and there are several examples of each in the Vale of Glamorgan.
No doubt the lords of Penrice were followers of the Bellomonts and early Norman settlers in Gower, where they probably erected, before the close of the twelfth century, that part of the castle to which the lately-discovered Norman fragments may be assigned. The castle descended by a Penrice heiress to the Mansels, and is at this time the property of their descendant, Mr. Talbot.