Which, when it frowned with all its battlements,
Was only terrible. . . . . —Mason.
DOLFORWYN CASTLE.
DOLFORWYN CASTLE, MONTGOMERY.
DOLFORWYN, or “The Maiden’s Meadow,” is a name evidently transposed from the meads of the adjacent Severn to the ridge occupied by the castle, which rises 500 feet or 600 feet above, and half a mile west of, the river, from which it is separated by an intervening hill. The approach is by a steep road, which becomes still more so near the top of the ridge, and finally skirts along, and is commanded by, the works of the castle.
These works are very simple in plan, and of rude construction. A platform about 200 yards long by 100 yards broad occupies the centre of the ridge. Its rocky sides are scarped and revetted all round to a height of about 10 feet, and upon this wall was built a curtain of from 20 to 30 feet more, and about 5 feet thick. At each end a cross ditch was quarried in the rock, so as to isolate the castle from the equally high ground beyond. Probably there were no bridges across these ditches, and the entrance seems to have been by a plain doorway in the curtain upon the northern face of the works. The curtain appears to have been quite plain, without either buttress or pilaster or flanking tower, save at the eastern end of the area, near the centre, where are the remains of a circular tower about 30 feet in diameter with walls 5 feet thick. The curtain to the south, or most exposed, side is broken away; on the opposite side it is more perfect, and contains a doorway, broken, and now a mere hole in the wall. Within is a fragment of a building into which probably the gateway opened. The platform is very irregular, partly natural, chiefly from the heap of rubbish covering up the foundations of the domestic buildings. The building is not unlike Dinas Brân and Dinas Powis, and is probably of the age of Henry III. or Edward I., early in the reign. The material is the tile-stone of the country laid in courses. There is no sign of ashlar.
Dolforwyn has no history. All that is known is that it was granted by Edward I. [7 Edward I.] to Roger Mortimer of Wigmore as “the Castle of Dolvoron,” with the territories of Keddewy and Kery, to be held by the service of three knight’s-fees. In 14 Edward I. the castle was still held by a Mortimer, for Richard Labaunk was in prison at Wigmore, by reason of arrears in his account to Edmund de Mortimer whilst constable of his castle of Dolfnovan. He was liberated on bail. In 18 Edward I., Bogo de Knovill, being constable of Montgomery Castle, had a pardon for £90 due on his farm of lands of Kery and Kidgewenny. This, however, was from the king, who seems to have resumed possession. Dugdale says the castle was built by David ap Llewelyn, who flourished 1240–46, but the Welsh attribute it to Bleddyn ap Cynfin between 1065 and 1073. Bleddyn may have had some kind of stronghold here, as a place very convenient for a raid upon the flat country, then held by the English; but he certainly did not build the existing walls. These are not unlikely to have been the work of Roger Mortimer, and their destruction probably followed at the first convenient opportunity. The name of the castle has not been found in the Mortimer inquisitions, nor is it mentioned save as above, among their possessions, or those of any other landowner. After the settlement of Wales it would cease to possess any value.