The remains of Aberedw Castle, also known as 'Castle in Elfael Uwch Mynydd', are located at the small village of Aberedw in the county of

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

Mid-Wales Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Se ...

. It was built in the late twelfth century and probably replaced the

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...

castle a few hundred metres away.

History

The

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

was signed to Walter Heckelutel, as a Licence of the Crenellate, by King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...

on 24 November 1284. This licence to

crenellate A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

was thought of as a way for central authority to exert power over the lords, although this is not confirmed. It is also suggested however, that the castle dates back to 1093 when the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

invaded South Wales. Aberedw is more famously known to be the residence of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd. This man is very well known as the last native

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. Aberedw was the last retreat Llewelyn made before he was killed and beheaded by Adam Francton, who then had his head sent to the

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Baili ...

, in 1282.

Description

It was a rectangular stone castle with circular towers in diameter at the angles, surrounded by a moat approximately wide. It stands to the east of the

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of the border between England and Wales ...

floodplain and remains of the moat are visible on the other three sides. It was entered via a causeway across the ditch on the east side and there are some signs of internal buildings. The eastern towers show some signs of latrine chutes. Today it is a ruin, as most of the west side was destroyed by railway construction in the 19th century. Many stones from the castle were used in the construction of the foundations of the track. The ruins are in poor shape and there is active

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

that is damaging the site.

References

External links

{{Authority control Castles in Powys Scheduled monuments in Powys