Coity Castle ( cy, Castell Coety) in Glamorgan,

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

, is a Norman

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 ...

built by Sir Payn "the Demon" de Turberville (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1126), one of the legendary

Twelve Knights of Glamorgan The Twelve Knights of Glamorgan were a "legendary" group of mercenaries who followed Robert Fitzhamon (d.1107), the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan. Although Fitzhamon was an actual historical figure, 16th-century historians, in particular Sir Edwa ...

supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of

Robert FitzHamon Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon (literally, 'Robert, son of Hamon'), Seigneur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was the first Norman feudal baron of Gloucester and the Nor ...

(d. 1107), Lord of Gloucester. Now in ruins, it stands in the community of

Coity Higher Coity Higher is a community in Bridgend County Borough, south Wales. It contains the north western suburbs of Bridgend which includes the villages of Litchard and Coity. The southern boundary of the community adjoins the community of Brackla, wh ...

near the town of

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

, in the

County Borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent t ...

. Very close to the castle is the

battlement 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 inter ...

ed parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, which dates from the

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and na ...

. The castle is a Grade I listed building.

History

Pre Norman Coity

Most Norman castles in Glamorgan (e.g. Caerphilly,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, Loughor) occupy sites which had previously been Roman forts and it is likely that the Norman castle at Coity occupied the site of an existing structure. Potential Roman military activity at the site is supported by the strategic importance of the location. A Roman fort would have controlled a number of early routes and Heol Spencer, which appears on the earliest maps of the area, has been proposed as a

Roman Road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman R ...

because of its age, importance and remarkable straightness (which today, only deviates around the castle grounds itself). Despite this archaeological interest, no excavation has been carried out to identify any Roman remains.

First Norman Castle

The castle began as a late 11th-century ringwork. A rectangular stone

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

and the main curtain wall were added by the Normans in the 12th century, under the de Turberville family. The three-storey keep was primarily a defensive structure. Extensive reworking took place in the 14th century, when a domestic range was attached to the keep by the middle

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

. New stone vaults replaced the earlier timber floors. The central octagonal pier for the vaults is still prominent among the castle ruins. An adjoining chapel wing with a tall east window was added to the first floor at the eastern end of the domestic range in the 15th century.

15th century

Thomas de la Bere died as a minor on 28 October 1414, following which the lordship reverted to Sarah de Turberville, the youngest sister of Richard de Turberville, who had apparently produced male progeny from her marriage to William Gamage. There was in the few years following Sir Lawrence Berkerolles's death much general reshuffling of property interests in Glamorgan, for example with the Stradling family. Sarah's marriage to Sir William Gamage of Roggiett, Gwent, brought the lordship into the Gamage family, where it remained until 1584. The Gamage succession was not, however, easily achieved for in September 1412, that is to say whilst the supposed true heir the minor Thomas de la Bere was still alive, William Gamage assisted by Sir Gilbert Denys (d. 1422) of Siston, Gloucestershire, and formerly of Waterton-by-Ewenny, in Coity lordship, besieged Coity for a month, trying to oust Lady Joan Verney, wife of Sir Richard Verney and daughter of Margaret de Turberville, from the Castle. Joan, it seems, had taken up residence to assert her own claim to Coity in the confusion following Berkerolles's death. As she was a female, a widow, and without a son, clearly her claim was deemed tenuous or rather completely spurious. The entry in the Patent Rolls is:

Westminster Sept. 16, 1412. Commission to William Newport, Chivaler, Rees ap Thomas, John Organ, William Sparenore, Richard Delabere and Robert Wytney on information that Gilbert Denys, Chivaler, and William Gamedge, with no moderate multitude of armed men have gone to the castle of Coytif in Wales and besiege it and purpose to expel Joan, late the wife of Richard Vernon, Chivaler, from her possession of it, to go as quietly as they can to the castle and raise the siege, cause proclamation to be made that no one under pain of forfeiture shall besiege it, but those who pretend right and title in it shall sue according to law and custom. Arrest and imprison all who oppose them and certify thereon to the King in Chancery. By K.

The king had, therefore, given a commission to his local tenants-in-chief to raise the siege and gave another commission a month later to John Grendour for the same purpose. Denys and Gamage ended up in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...

for having taken the law into their own hands, from 19 November 1412 until 3 June 1413, being released after the death of Henry IV. Their action, however, proved successful in enforcing the Gamage claim to Coity. Denys's eldest daughter Joan was the wife of a certain Thomas Gamage, possibly brother of William. Another of Denys's daughters, Matilda, by his 2nd. wife, married another Thomas Gamage, son or grandson of William and Sarah, and thereby became Lady of Coity on her husband's succession, producing a son and heir John Gamage.

Tudor Period

During the 16th century, Coity Castle, by then owned by the Gamage family, underwent a complete remodelling of the living quarters, including the addition of a storey, new windows, and two chimney stacks. The principal chambers lay on the upper floors. The range of domestic apartments comprised a central first-floor hall set above a vaulted

undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open ...

, from which it was reached by a grand spiral stair. To the west were ground-floor service rooms, probably including a kitchen, with ovens. The base of a ruined large

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, ...

ing kiln remains. On the far side of the range, a tower projecting from the curtain wall contained

latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...

s. The second floor housed private apartments. The Gamage family held Coity until the death of John Gamage in 1584.

Later history

The castle was abandoned around the 17th century. The castle was sold in the 18th century to the Edwins of Llanharry. Through the Edwins, the Coity lordship passed to the Earls of Dunraven. The castle ruins are now in the care of

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

Locomotive

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...

Castle Class steam locomotive number 5035 was named Coity Castle.

References

Sources

* ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies,

Nigel Jenkins Nigel Jenkins (20 July 1949 – 28 January 2014) was an Anglo-Welsh poet. He was an editor, journalist, psychogeographer, broadcaster and writer of creative non-fiction, as well as being a lecturer at Swansea University and director of the crea ...

, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg160

External links

*Cadw
Coity Castle
(includes many panoramic photos and other photos) {{Bridgend Castles in Bridgend County Borough Castle ruins in Wales Grade I listed castles in Wales Grade I listed buildings in Bridgend County Borough