Bleddfa Castle (sometimes referred to as Bledeach or Bledvach Castle) was a

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 ...

structure near Llangunllo in modern-day

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It is believed to have been built before 1195 and abandoned by 1304. What remains today is described as a "mutilated oval mound" of , containing some traces of masonry. It is surrounded by a rectangular bailey measuring , with a hedge on its northern border.

Location

The ruins of castle are located along the

A488 road List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the ...

, near Llangunllo in the northern direction of the

Radnor Forest Radnor Forest () is a rock dome composed of Silurian shales, mudstones and limestone in the historic county of Radnorshire, Powys, Mid Wales. It is a forest in the medieval sense of the word (an area of land set aside for hunting). It lies within ...

. Bleddfa means “abode of the wolves”, as in the past, during the period of the Tudors, wolves inhabited the area. The last Welsh wolf is said to have been hunted down at Cregina, which is between

Builth Builth Wells (; ) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of the Wye Valley. In 20 ...

and

Glascwm Glascwm is a community in the upper Edw valley in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales. The main settlement is concentrated in the two centrally located small villages of Frank's Bridge, located on the eastern slope of the valley, and Hundred House, locat ...

History

The first record of Bleddfa appears in 1195, when

Hugh de Say Hugh is the English-language variant of the masculine given name , itself the Old French variant of '' Hugo (name)">Hugo'', a short form of Continental Germanic Germanic name">given names beginning in the element "mind, spirit" (Old English ). ...

received from King

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

licence to fortify In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...

the castle and a square tower; Hugh had been killed in the battle of Radnor in later part of 1195 itself. In 1262 the castle was captured and razed by

Llewelyn ap Gruffydd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ( – 11 December 1282), also known as Llywelyn II and Llywelyn the Last (), was Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 1282. Llywelyn was the son o ...

, who snatched it from the control of the Mortimers. In 1304,

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

began using material from the castle to erect church tower nearby, which was itself destroyed by the Welsh in 1403.

Features

There is a moat of depth, which is mostly in a ruined state. The masonry remnant in the mound is believed to have been a square tower. It has an inscription dated 1195, recording a grant for its renovation. Also noted near the bailey are remnants of two towers, which were defended by an artificial lake on the western and southern sides.

References

{{Authority control Castles in Powys Castle ruins in Wales