guard chambers, with loops commanding the approach. The doorways are
small, with arches nearly half round, or very slightly pointed. One
chamber on the right contains a large domed water-tank below the floor,
two singular recesses in the wall, and a garderobe. A well-stair at the
north-west angle leads to the first floor, which is also reached by an
exterior and state staircase from the court, under which is a porter’s
lodge. The subterranean chambers and those on the ground floor are
vaulted.
The first or principal floor contains a state-room, 40 feet by 17
feet, with two large windows opening upon the court, and a fireplace
between them. The windows appear to have been of two lights, trefoiled,
and they are placed in large, flat, segmental recesses. The roof has
been of timber, flat, and rather low. On the same floor are three
smaller rooms and a portcullis chamber; and on the east side, over
the tank-room, is a vaulted kitchen, with a large fireplace and oven.
From the kitchen a small door leads to the east rampart, and along it
to the south-east drum tower. Two well-staircases lead to the second
floor, which contains also a large chamber, with windows of two lights,
and trefoiled, opening upon the court, and a fireplace. Here also are
several bedrooms, with doorways of carved ashlar. This floor seems
intended for the accommodation of persons of condition. The well-stair
at the north-west angle is continued upwards to the watch tower; and
from near this stair a narrow door leads to the rampart of the curved
curtain, and so to the mural towers of the outer ward.
The watch tower is considerably higher than any other part of the
castle, and commands an extensive view over both sea and land.
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE.
_H. Smyth delᵗ._ _J. H. Le Keux sc._]
The lesser or northern gatehouse is in great part destroyed, and
appears to have been hastily built. It is on a small scale, and
composed only of two half-round towers, the back or gorge walls of
which, and part of the portal, have been destroyed. There appears to
have been an upper story entered by a staircase in the adjacent western
curtain. The portal arch is gone, but there are traces of a drawbridge
which worked between two side walls, looped to rake the ditch. That
on the east remains. The portal was 10 feet wide, and the bridge
dropped with a span of about 18 feet upon a pier still remaining,
and projecting from the counterscarp of the fosse. The bridge walls
are later than the towers, and these probably than the curtain. This
gateway is placed at the north extremity of the outer ward, only a few
yards from the river bank. It appears to be an addition.
The curtain of the outer ward is in three parts: one, 330 feet long,
and curved, encloses the ward on the west or landward side, and
connects the gatehouses with the mural towers. This wall is 6 feet
thick, and 20 feet high, and is defended by the main fosse. Besides
openings from the gatehouses, there is a direct access to this rampart
from the court by a mural staircase built against the wall. The
rampart walk is protected by a parapet and a rere wall, both of which,
to give breadth to the walk, are thrown out upon corbels or false
machicolations.
The second part of the curtain is straight, or nearly so, and extends
50 feet in length along the river cliff, from the great gatehouse to
the south-east drum tower. Its rampart is accessible from each end.
This wall is 30 feet high and 7 feet thick.
The third portion of the curtain also runs along the river cliff, and
extends 90 feet from the north-east drum tower to the north gatehouse,
near which it makes a salient angle. Between this angle and the gate it
is 5 feet thick; elsewhere, only 2 feet. Possibly there was a tower at
the angle.
The mural towers are three in number, all placed in the western
curtain. They are half round, 30 feet high, 22 feet in diameter, with
an external projection of 8 feet, and a slight square projection within
formed by the gorge wall. They have a ground floor, looped, a first
floor with a fireplace, and a chamber on the level of the rampart walk
and forming a part of it. The walls are 5 feet thick. The middle tower
of the three has fallen into the fosse. The masonry of these towers is
rude, and they are ill-bonded into the wall.
The offices in this ward are represented by the walls of a detached
building, 65 feet by 30 feet, with high gables, placed west of the
inner ward; another room, 60 feet by 35 feet, built against the river
curtain, near the northern gatehouse; and some outbuildings, kitchens
probably, and a bakehouse, built against the curved curtain, close west
of the same gatehouse. These buildings were probably intended for the
accommodation of the garrison.
The main ditch sweeps round the north, west, and south sides of the
outer ward, opening upon the river cliff at, and rising towards each
end. The opening at the south-east end, near the great gatehouse, is
closed by a _batardeau_, which seems to have been embattled towards the
river, and to have been approached from the barbican. There are some
traces of a similar wall at the other end, next the north gatehouse.
This ditch is high above the river, but is fed by land waters, and part
of it is still wet. It is about 30 feet broad, and of considerable
depth. Westward it gives off a branch which divides the north and south
outworks, and communicates with the ditches of the former.
The barbican appears, from the traces of its foundations, to have been
a small, circular tower. It occupied a rocky knoll on the counterscarp
of the main ditch, opposite the great gateway, and on the edge of
the steep bank of the river. It evidently was intended to cover the
drawbridge, and to force those who arrived by this entrance to pass
exposed to the fire of the adjacent western curtain. This work seems to
have been cut off from the other outworks by a dry ditch, or covered
way, leading from the river, south-west of the barbican towards the
main ditch.
The outworks are divided into north and south platforms by the branch
of the main ditch already mentioned.
The south platform is defended on the east by the mill leat. It was
walled in, and seems to have been about 170 yards long by 130 yards
broad. Part of the wall remains on the west side and on the north,
along the edge of the branch ditch. At the south end, the approach
still lies through the outer gatehouse, part only of which is
destroyed. The portal, a drop arch with portcullis grooves, remains;
above it are three windows with flat, segmental arches. From the sill
of the central window a hole opens upon the outside of the portal,
probably for the passage of missiles. The building has a ground and
upper floor. There are no traces of ditch or drawbridge. The work is
rubble. There does not appear to have been any ashlar. The style is
Perpendicular—possibly of the date of the great gatehouse, probably
later. Grose gives a drawing of this gatehouse in 1786, in which it
appears much in its present condition.
The northern platform covers the north and west quarters of the castle.
It measures about 130 yards long by 90 yards broad, and is enclosed
within a wet ditch, a branch of which nearly cuts off its northern
portion, leaving a narrow neck towards the river, across which lay the
approach to the south entrance. Within the ditches of this work are
high banks, and indications of a slight wall, and perhaps of a tower,
near the entrance passage.
This castle has sustained less injury than might have been expected.
It has been dismantled, and the ironwork and timber removed, but none
of its towers or walls appear to have been blown up. The mural tower
missing from the outer ward has probably slipped into the ditch from
some defect in its foundation.
The castle is easy of access and examination, not being overgrown with
ivy or brushwood.
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE.
MAIN ENTRANCE.
GATEWAY.
_H. Smyth del._ _J. H. Le Keux. sc._]
The details of Kidwelly afford some general indications of the age of
its several portions. There is nothing which can safely be pronounced
to be Norman work, although no doubt the present was preceded by a
structure partaking both of this and the early English style.
The general plan or arrangement of the castle seems, from its style, to
be of one date—probably that of Henry III., or early in the reign of
Edward I. The chapel is of this age. Its west wall, however, appears,
from the peculiarities of its bond, to be of earlier date than the
rest, and of the same date with the south-eastern drum tower, say
1260–80, which would be the date of all the towers and curtains of the
inner ward, for all are in the same style.
The great hall seems a little later than the south-eastern tower, the
face of which has been flattened to suit its gable.
The walls and mural towers of the outer ward may be a little later than
the inner ward. That they are part of the original plan may be inferred
from the want of strength in the inner gatehouses.
The great gatehouse is decided, but early, Perpendicular, perhaps of
the reign of Richard II. or Henry IV., 1388–1400. Pigin tower is a
later addition.
HISTORY.
The name of Kydwelly, or Cydwelhi, is Welsh. Leland, whose
etymologies are not infallible, derives the name from “Cathwelli,” or
“Cattalectus,” because Cattas used to make his bed in an oak there.
Others explain “Cyd” to mean an “Aber,” or junction of waters. The
Catgueli were a Celtic tribe. The town is no doubt of Welsh origin, and
of high antiquity.
This does not apply to the castle, which, in its present form at least,
is of later date, and the site of which, though naturally strong, was
not that which a Celtic engineer would have selected.
The castle is supposed to have been founded by a certain William de
Londres, one of the Norman knights who, in 1091, assisted Fitzhamon
in the conquest of Glamorgan, and who is recorded afterwards to have
pushed his arms into Caermarthen, no doubt when, in 1093, the Normans
ravaged Gwyr, Kidwelly, and Ystrad Tywy, and then to have won from
the Welsh the lordships of “Kidwelly and Carnwilthion.”—[Powel, 32.]
In Glamorgan, this William is known as the founder of the castle of
Ogmore, the Norman keep of which, though injured, is still standing. It
is probable that his works at Kidwelly were of a less solid character,
else all traces of them could scarcely have disappeared.
It is possible that the gain of De Londres was confined to the town
and suburb of Kidwelly, for, in 1100, Henry I. wrested from Iorwerth
ap Blethyn his lands, and gave to Howel ap Grono the districts of
Strath-Tywy, Kidwelly, and Gower. Howel, however, was, in 1102,
slain by the Normans, who had already taken from him the castle of
Rydcors.—[Powel, 124.]
In 1113 Griffith ap Rhys, prince of South Wales, took Caermarthen, and
retreated upon his stronghold in Strath-Tywy, whence he marched upon
Gower. William de Londres deserted Kidwelly and fled. The Welsh ravaged
the lands and burned the castle [Powel, 145], which then could hardly
have been a regular Norman fortress. After this followed a period
of tranquillity, and Maurice de Londres had a park at Kidwelly, and
preserved his venison strictly. On one side of the park, next the sea,
were large sheep pastures. His wife, wishing to have some of the deer
destroyed, caused wool to be inserted into the bowels of some of the
stags, and then showed it in proof that they destroyed the sheep; on
which Maurice allowed the deer to be attacked with dogs.—[“Giraldus
Cambrensis,” i. 168.] On the death of Henry I., 1135, while Griffith
ap Rhys was absent in North Wales, Gwenllian his wife led an army into
Kidwelly. She was defeated and put to death by Maurice de Londres, its
lord, and by Geoffrey, constable to the bishop. Her eldest son, Morgan,
was slain, and his brother, Maelgon, was taken.—[“Giraldus Cambrensis,”
i. 168.] “The battle-field,” says the editor of “Giraldus,” “is still
called ‘Maes Gwenlian,’ and a tower in the castle, ‘Twr Gwenlian.’” In
1145, there were already castles at Llanstephan and Dynevor, and, in
1150, at Llwchwr.
From the family of De Londres Kidwelly passed, by an heiress, to that
of De Cadurcis, or Chaworth, whose heiress married Henry of Lancaster,
grandson of Henry III. Henry, his son, and his grandson, held the
castle until their line also ended in a daughter, who married John of
Gaunt and was the mother of Henry IV., since which time the estates of
the Duchy of Lancaster, including Kidwelly, have remained in the Crown.
It is now in the hands of the Earl of Cawdor.
KILPECK CASTLE.
The parish of Kilpeck, in the county of Hereford, occupies a tract
of rolling broken ground which intervenes between the Mynde, Orcop,
and Garway ridge of hills and the river Worm, a stream which receives
the drainage of a considerable valley, and finally falls into the
Monnow, near Kentchurch. The railway from Abergavenny towards Hereford
passes up this valley, which affords an excellent example both of the
fertility and the picturesque beauty of the old red sandstone country
of Herefordshire.
The castle, church, and the site of the long-destroyed priory lie
near together about the village of Kilpeck, two miles north of the
ridge, and a short mile south of the church and railway station of St.
Devereux.
The ground falls rapidly towards the north, and is traversed by deep
dingles, each with its contained streamlet. The hedgerows and steeper
banks are covered with wood, and the grassy knolls and ridges subside
into broad level meadows of unrivalled verdure, amidst which the plough
is but little known.
Kilpeck Castle, as now seen, is composed almost entirely of earthworks.
It consists of a mound and circumscribing ditch, beyond which, on
the north, is a triangular platform, on the south an enclosure of a
horseshoe figure, and beyond this again a southern platform much more
extensive, but also somewhat triangular in outline. On the very edge,
and to the east of these enclosures, stand the ancient Norman church
and a farmhouse, parts of which are of some antiquity; on the west,
about 200 yards distant from the castle, the ground falls rapidly
towards a deep dingle, across the lower part of which has been thrown
a strong bank of earth, while remains of other banks are seen higher
up. By these means it is evident that there was formed a chain of long
and deep lakes, perhaps at two or even three levels, which must have
rendered any approach from the west, or Welsh quarter, exceedingly
difficult and hazardous.
The mound is wholly artificial. It is conical and truncated, and of
oval plan. Its summit measures, north and south, about 25 yards, and
east and west about 40 yards, and its height is from 20 feet to 40
feet, according to the depth of its ditch, which is greatest on the
northern side. The slopes are steep, the red earth having little
disposition to slip.
The summit was crowned by a shell keep placed about 3 feet within the
edge of the slope, and therefore about 23 yards north and south, by 38
yards east and west. It was polygonal in plan, with faces from 14 feet
to 15 feet long. Of this shell there remain but two fragments, one on
the north and the other on the west side, about 20 yards apart. These
show the wall to have been polygonal without, and circular, or nearly
so, within, also within vertical, but on the outside battering from 7
feet thick at the base up to 4 feet at 6 feet high, above which it was
continued at 4 feet. The north fragment is about 40 feet long, with a
sine of about 2 feet, and about 18 feet high; probably it was, with the
parapet, about 25 feet. It contains a round-backed fireplace, 3 feet
broad by 2 feet deep, which gathers in above into a cylindrical shaft
of 12 inches diameter. On each side is a water-drain, as from sinks,
passing through the wall. The other, or western fragment, is 30 feet
long and about 14 feet high. This also has a fireplace, similar to the
last, but 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep; on the north side of it is a
water-drain. From the south end of this there remains a fragment of a
cross wall, 3 feet thick, which belonged to an interior building; it
is of the age of the outer wall. This outer wall seems to have been
blown outward a little by a mine sprung from within. The summit of
the mound is slightly convex, from the accumulation of rubbish, which
the fireplaces show to be about 4 feet deep. It is said that a deep
well was discovered here, but no trace of it is now seen. These walls
are the only remains of masonry visible in the whole castle. From
their general aspect and that of the fireplaces they seem to be Early
English. It is clear that the shell contained buildings against the
wall, which, from the water-drains, may have been kitchens.
The mound is surrounded by a deep ditch, which on the north is
succeeded by the north platform, on the north-east, east, and south, by
the horseshoe platform or outer ward, and on the west by a narrow bank,
from the base of which the natural slope falls rapidly.
The outer ward is a platform of a horseshoe or lunated shape, varying
from 90 yards to 180 yards broad, and covering full half the mound. Its
concave edge forms the counterscarp of the inner ditch. Its convexity
is bounded by a ditch from 10 feet to 30 feet deep, which on the east
borders the churchyard, and on the south is succeeded by the south
platform, the general level of which is 10 feet to 12 feet below the
summit of the mound. The outer edge of this area has been raised by a
bank, which along the south side and at the west end rises 10 feet to
20 feet, having been no doubt thrown up from the exterior ditch. The
surface is scarred as by the removal of foundations, but not a trace of
actual masonry is visible, and even where the bank has been cut through
no stones are seen.
There remains the south platform. This is nearly at the level of
the outer ward, though below that of its elevated edge. The area is
considerable, probably above four acres. It is divided from the outer
ward by the ditch common to both, and about 30 feet broad. To the west
and to the east it has a ditch, but to the south a scarp of about 12
feet, the ground beyond being flat and at a lower level. The present
entrance to this platform, now under tillage, is by a hollow way to the
east side near the north end, which may be old.
The main entrance to the castle, that is, to the outer ward, was by
a gateway at the south point, marked by a deep hollow way cut in the
bank, and flanked by earth heaps, which may conceal the foundation of
small towers. This entrance is approached from the east by a road along
the ditch below the outer ward and the south platform.
The way from the outer ward into the keep is not opposite the outer
entrance, but more to the east; a slender causeway crosses the ditch,
and a path ascends the mound. Probably this is all modern, and here was
a sloping bridge, rendering the ascent of the mound less steep. At the
south-west corner the ditch of the mound runs out at one point on the
hill side, so that from hence a way may have lain along the ditch as
far as the mound bridge.
The inference suggested by the present earthworks is something to the
following effect:—Originally advantage was taken of a natural knoll, of
an irregular figure, but about 300 yards north and south by 125 yards
east and west, which was surrounded by a single ditch, or, where the
ground allowed, by a scarp only. It may be that here, as partially at
Malvern, and in other examples, this long enclosure was subdivided
by two cross cuts into three parts, of which the central formed the
citadel. This would probably be the work of the British.
Then it would seem that a later people, the English, took possession,
and threw up a mound at one corner of the citadel, isolating it by
its proper circular ditch, the principal dwelling being on the mound,
and the horseshoe remainder below containing the base court for the
dependents, while the north and southern portions would serve for
protected enclosures for cattle.
When the Normans took possession they seem to have built a shell keep
upon the mound, and to have employed the base court below as an outer
ward, probably surrounding the whole with a stone wall, now removed,
and replacing the English stockade. This would constitute the castle
proper, to which the north and south platforms would be appendages, no
doubt stockaded for cattle.
The history of Kilpeck commences with Domesday, which records, “Hæ
villæ vel terræ subscriptæ sitæ sunt in fine Arcenefelde. Will’us
filius Normanni tenet Chipcete. Cadiand tenuit tempore Regis Edwardi.”
The church is decidedly older than the masonry of the keep, and it may
therefore be that the early Norman lords contented themselves with a
residence and defences of timber, and did not build for a century or
so after their occupation, when the shell keep was constructed. It is
not probable that this was preceded by any earlier work in masonry, as
Norman buildings were substantial and durable.
The church has been the subject of a “monograph.” The priory, of which
not a trace remains, stood in a field south-east of the castle and
village.
Chipcete in Irchenfield is the present Kilpeck, where William Fitz
Norman sat in the seat of Cadiand, the dispossessed Englishman. The
lands paid no geld or military service, which in that border district
is remarkable. William was a large Herefordshire landowner. In 1134,
25 Henry I., Hugh, son of William Fitz Norman, gave to St. Peter’s,
Gloucester, the church of St. David at Kilpeck, and the chapel of our
Lady of or within the castle. Of the chapel no more is said, but the
church is included in the confirmation charter by Stephen to Gloucester
in 1138, and in many later confirmations and charters of Inspeximus.
According to Dugdale, a priory was founded at Kilpeck in 1134, and
dedicated to St. David, by Henry de Kilpec. The founder more probably
was Hugh Fitz Norman, who certainly endowed it. It was a cell of the
Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester, and subsisted until its
suppression in 1422–48, during the Episcopate of Thomas Spofford of
Hereford. The priors were summoned to take part in the elections of the
Gloucester abbots.
Hugh was succeeded by Henry, called “De Kilpec,” who had to pay a fine
of 100 marks to King Stephen for a trespass on the royal forest of the
Haywood. Henry is also mentioned in the Pipe roll of Richard I. as in
arrear 13 marks in 1189 for dues to the king from the forest of Trivel.
John de Kilpec, son of Henry, purchased the barony of Purbeck or
Pulverbach, Salop, of the Crown, in 1193 for £100. At the commencement
of John’s reign he seems to have held in his bailiwick the forests
of Herefordshire, probably as sheriff of that county, for which he
rendered his accounts in the third of John. He also paid two marks
scutage for his lands in Salop. He died 1204, and Julian, his widow,
paid 60 marks to King John to marry whom she pleased. In the following
year she had dower of Rokeslegh and La Teme, according to Madox.
By Julian John left Hugh de Kilpeck, who was a ward to William de
Cantelupe, a great border baron. At this time the king visited Kilpeck
occasionally, being there 1211, 11th March, in his way from Hereford
to Abergavenny, no doubt at both places as Cantelupe’s guest. Also in
1213, 27th and 28th November, he was here between Hereford and St.
Briavels, and finally 18th and 19th December, 1214, while going from
Monmouth to Hereford.