Monmouth Castle / Castell Trefynwy

History

Monmouth Castle stands on a bluff in the town of Monmouth, in Monmouthshire, Wales, where the River Monnow runs into the River Wye, and the two rivers protect the castle and town on three sides. The original earth and timber ringwork castle was built between 1067 and 1069 by William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford, who invaded south Wales and created a Marcher lordship for himself. FitzOsbern fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and served as one of his most trusted barons. He built many castles, including Chepstow, Berkeley, Carisbrooke, and Wigmore Castles, and Monmouth Castle was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086.

FitzOsbern was dead only four years after the Normans took over, and in 1075, his son, Roger de Breteuil, lost everything by plotting against the king. William the Conqueror gave Monmouth to Wihenoc, a cleric from Brittany, and his family held the lordship for the next 180 years. They received a castle of wood and left it in stone. According to the Cadw display boards at the castle, the Normans may have given land in the Welsh Marches to Bretons partly because the Breton language was closely related to Welsh. Wihenoc's grandson, Baderon of Monmouth, built the Great Tower in the 12th century, which was the first substantial stone building at Monmouth and would remain the heart of the castle for centuries.

The Great Tower and its arched doorway.

The Great Tower is rectangular, with two stories, and similar to the one at Chepstow Castle. The west wall of the tower, comprised of sandstone rubble and ashlar dressings, is more than 10 feet thick. Baderon's grandson, John of Monmouth, was both wealthy and powerful, and a close friend and adviser to King John, who visited the castle in 1213, and later to Henry III. He probably built the huge Round Tower, which dominated the castle for centuries as his private accommodation and a symbol of his power. In 1233, John, a loyal supporter of the king, briefly lost the castle to the rival Marcher lord, Richard Marshal, after the Battle of Monmouth. John's son, another John, gave up the lordship in a deal to settle his debts, and the castle returned to the king in 1256.

The walls of the Great Hall.

Henry III struggled with both his own barons and increasingly powerful Welsh princes, and in 1264, he came to Monmouth in person to negotiate peace with Simon de Montfort, but he failed to prevent the Second Barons' War. After the war, in 1267, Henry gave Monmouth to his younger son Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, which began the castle's long association with the Lancastrians. The Great Hall dates to Edmund's time. Edmund's son, Henry of Lancaster, was Lord of Monmouth from 1297, and in 1326, after he captured Edward II in South Wales, the king was held briefly at Monmouth Castle before he was taken on to Kenilworth and, later, Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, where he would meet his demise.

The tall window in the east wall of the Great Tower.

It was probably Henry's son, Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, who converted the Great Tower's upper floors into luxury apartments in the mid-14th century, with large windows and a new roof. He died without a son, and the Dukedom of Lancaster returned to the crown, until Edward III gave it to his son, John of Gaunt. In 1386, Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, was visiting Monmouth Castle with his wife, Mary de Bohun, when she gave birth to their first son, Henry of Monmouth. The Cadw display boards say the Great Tower's apartments are probably the birthplace of a king, although tradition places the birth in the castle gatehouse. Bolingbroke seized the throne in 1399 as Henry IV, and his son became Prince of Wales and, later, Henry V, famous for winning the Battle of Agincourt in France. Monmouth Castle came into the possession of the crown as part of the Duchy of Lancaster, which has remained a royal title ever since.

The Great Tower, with Great Castle House beyond.

As the castle's defensive role faded, the outer bailey became a market place, now Agincourt Square, and when Monmouth became the county town in the 16th century, the county's Assize courts met in the Great Hall. The castle changed hands three times during the English Civil War, and it fell to Parliament in 1645. Oliver Cromwell visited in 1646, and tradition credits him with ordering the castle to be slighted. On March 1st, 1647, the House of Commons resolved that the castle should be disgarrisoned and its works slighted, and the demolition of the Round Tower began on March 30th. According to the diary of More Pye, the tower collapsed on December 22nd, 1647. In 1673, Henry Somerset, Marquess of Worcester and later Duke of Beaufort, built Great Castle House on the site of the Round Tower. In 1875, the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers made the castle their headquarters, and it remains one of the few castles in Britain in continuous military occupation.

Castle Highlights

Monmouth Castle is tucked away in a lane off the town's main shopping street and mostly goes unnoticed. It provides a tranquil setting to relax among gardens and ruined stone walls. Entry to the grounds is free and open all year, but the Great Tower itself has been closed on every visit I have made. The Great Tower still stands, with the outlines of its large windows in the east wall, along with the walls of the 13th-century Great Hall, a portion of the outer walls, and a few stone foundations, which reveal where other walls and rooms once existed. In the late 18th century, the decline of the castle was described by William Gilpin, who wrote:

"The transmutations of time are often ludicrous… formerly the palace of a king, and the birthplace of a mighty prince: It is now converted into a yard for fatting ducks."

Great Castle House stands beside the ruins, and the castle and regimental museum in its old stable wing tells the story of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers, and is open on afternoons from April to October, but check before you go. Monmouth Castle is worth a quick visit and can be explored in about an hour, even when allowing time to sit in the garden and relax. The nearest car park, on Glendower Street, is still a couple of blocks from the castle, and I usually park on the side of the B4293, just past the town, beside the river overlook. However, a visit to Monmouth should be scheduled along with a nearby castle to complete the day, such as Raglan, White Castle, or Chepstow Castle in Wales, or Goodrich Castle in England.