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Candlestone Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Tregawntlo

In the community of Merthyr Mawr. In the historic county of Glamorgan (Modern authority of Bridgend, preserved county of Mid Glamorgan).

This site has been described as a;
Fortified Manor House.
  Confidence: This site was certainly a medieval fortification or palace.   Major remains.
The name Candleston is probably derived from the de Cantelupe family who built a fortified manor house here in the later C14. The lands of the manor later became covered with dunes and thus valueless, but the building remained occupied until C19 and is consequently much altered. It comprises a D-shaped courtyard about 30m across with a very ruined wall 1.1m thick rising 2m to the wall walk from the inside but rather more above the ground outside, plus a two storey hall block and tower on the east side. The only feature of interest in the hall block is a C15 fireplace backing onto the tower which contains a solar above a dark cellar with a very flat vault. The tower measures 7.9m by 6.4m and has a parapet on a corbel table around a dark topmost room probably for the use of servants. The solar is reached from below by a straight stair in the thick south wall and has a fireplace, large windows, and a latrine.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SS87127725

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Geograph British Isles geography.org.uk logo
occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's National Monument Record (Coflein) number is 93050
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 00258m 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Ancient Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.
*The listed building may no be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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This record last updated on Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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