Cefnllys Castle(s)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Keventleres; Kenflyc; Kenflic; Kevenles; Castell Glyn Ieithon; Castle Bank; Maelienydd

In the community of Penybont. In the historic county of Radnorshire (Modern authority of Powys, preserved county of Powys).

Possible Iron Age hill fort. Stone castle built between 1240-1245 by Roger Mortimer at northern end of narrow triangular hilltop and a further strong keep with rockcut ditch built on southern end of hilltop in 1273. Cause of much dispute between Mortimer and Llewelyn ap Gruffydd. Possibly small town of 25 burgesses which was granted market in 1282 in space between these two buildings. Rebuilt and repaired regularly and had garrison of 12 spearmen and 30 archers at time of Owain Glyndwr rebellion in 1403. Abandoned in 1493 and rapidly fell to ruin. Remfry considers that this site should be regarded as two seperate castles (The dispute between Mortimer and Llewelyn appears to be based on Llewelyn's opinion that Mortimer had built a 'new' castle rather than rebuilding the old castle as allowed by the treaty of Montgomery.)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO08936146

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles 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 96530
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 50040 '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.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/cefnllys.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/cefnllys.html
    http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/cefnllys.html
• Books
  • Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p249 [listed]
    Browne, David M. and Pearson, Alastair, 2006, Cefnllys Castle, Radnorshire (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) [http://www.rcahmw.org.uk/pubs/cefnllys_castle/cefnllys.pdf]
    Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p58-9
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p179
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p57
    Remfry, P., 1996, Castles of Radnorshire (Logaston Press) p95-8 [plans]
    Burnham, H., 1995, A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales: Clwyd and Powys (Cadw, London)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p406-7
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p338
    Howse, W.H., 1949, Radnorshire (Hereford) p266-7
    RCAHMW, 1913, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Radnorshire (HMSO) p29-31
    Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47838#s9
• Journal Articles
  • Breeze, A., 1999, 'Cefnllys and the Hereford Map' Transactions of the Radnorshire Society Vol69 p173-5
    Browne, D.M. and Pearson, A.W.,1985, ‘Castle Bank, Cefnllys’, Archaeology in Wales Vol25 p44
    Brown, A.E., 1972, 'The castle, borough and park of Cefnllys' Transactions of the Radnorshire Society Vol42 p11-22
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Cole, E.J.L., 1964, 'Maelienydd 30-31 Edward III' Transactions of the Radnorshire Society Vol34 p31-8 [accounts for 1356, slight]
    Savory, H.N., 1954. The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies Vol15 p74, 307
    [Davies], 1939, Transactions of the Radnorshire Society Vol9 p23-4 [history only]
    Samdford, 1882, Montgomery Collections Vol15 p76-9
• Guidebooks
  • Browne, David M. and Pearson, Alastair, 2006, Cefnllys Castle, Radnorshire (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) [http://www.rcahmw.org.uk/pubs/cefnllys_castle/cefnllys.pdf]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p398-9
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/hertseng.html#rad3]
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1906, Leland's Itinerary in Wales (Bell and Sons; London) p11 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryinwales00lelauoft