Castles of Wales by John Davis

Author:John Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ARCHITECTURE / History / General
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Kidwelly

Built on a steep ridge overlooking the River Gwendraeth near its tidal limit, Kidwelly is one of the truly great Norman castles of South Wales. Established as a timber motte and bailey by Roger le Poer, Bishop of Salisbury, early in the reign of Henry I, Kidwelly was one of several strongholds designed to enforce Norman dominance. Today, the castle is well integrated within the modern town.

Visitors to the town will instantly see that the solid outer curtain wall bears the scars of past sieges – some of which proved successful. The castle’s ownership changed hands regularly until Edward I’s subjugation of the country in 1282. Conquest by Rhys ap Gruffudd in 1190 saw the timber castle upgraded. Twenty-five years later, its retaking by Rhys’s son, Rhys Gryg, caused fresh headaches for King John. In 1220, a frustrated Gryg was forced to release the castle on Llywelyn ap Iorwerth’s orders to Hawise de Londres, which lasted three years before William Marshal II, in alliance with two of Rhys’s grandsons, liberated it. Llywelyn retook it in 1231 before it was eventually returned to Hawise.

Following Hawise’s marriage to Patrick de Chaworth, the castle became the property of the de Chaworth family. Much of the timber castle was completed in 1257 and thwarted the Welsh after they razed the town. Six years later, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd captured the castle for the Welsh, after which the Chaworths returned. On returning from crusade with Edward I around 1274, Pain de Chaworth began to rebuild the castle in stone. On the death of Pain and his brother Patrick in 1279 and 1283, Patrick’s infant daughter, Matilda, inherited the castle. In 1297, Edward I granted the fifteen-year-old Matilda in marriage to his nephew, Henry, Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund ‘Crouchback’, Earl of Lancaster. When their son, Henry of Grosmont, died without issue, Kidwelly passed to Grosmont’s successor as Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt.

While the oldest parts of the castle date back to Bishop Roger in the early twelfth century, the latest dates from the second reign of Edward IV, c.1476. Back in 1403, it was the subject of a further siege by Owain Glyndŵr in alliance with soldiers from France and the duchy of Brittany. Despite taking the town and burning a gatehouse, the castle stood firm. Three weeks later, a Norman relief force put paid to any lingering hopes of Welsh success. Further attempts by Owain two years later would also prove fruitless. On Henry VII’s victory at Bosworth, Sir Rhys ap Thomas took over ownership. In keeping with the other family properties, it reverted to the Crown on the execution of Rhys’s grandson, Rhys ap Gruffydd, for treason in 1531.

As fate had it, the siege of 1403 was the last major onslaught the old walls faced. Being in the south of Carmarthenshire, its position was of little strategic importance in the civil war. Thanks to this, Kidwelly survived as one of the best-preserved castles of the age. Strengthened by the construction of a

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