Cefnllys Castle (, ) was a medieval spur castle in Radnorshire (now part of Powys), Wales. Two successive masonry castles were built on a ridge above the River Ithon known as Castle Bank () in the thirteenth century, replacing a wooden motte-and-bailey castle constructed by the Normans nearby. Controlling several communication routes into the highlands of Mid Wales, the castles were strategically important within the Welsh Marches during the High Middle Ages. As the seat of the fiercely contested lordship and cantref of Maelienydd, Cefnllys became a source of friction between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Roger Mortimer in the prelude to Edward I's conquest of Wales (1277–1283). Cefnllys was also the site of a borough and medieval town.
Castle Bank is often considered to be the site of an Iron Age hillfort, but there is no firm evidence to corroborate this. It has also been speculated that the princely court of a native Welsh ruler was situated nearby. The first castle at Cefnllys, north of the ridge, was a motte-and-bailey thrown up during the early stages of the Norman invasion of Wales by the Anglo-Norman baron Ralph Mortimer, beginning a long association between the powerful Mortimer family and Cefnllys. Around 1242, after a century of prolonged conflict in the region, Ralph Mortimer II built a masonry castle on the north-east flank of Castle Bank, which quickly became the principal symbol of Mortimer hegemony in Wales. The castle was captured and slighted in 1262 by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and Gwynedd, during a war with Henry III of England, and Cefnllys featured prominently in the ensuing Treaty of Montgomery. The construction of a new castle on the south-east side of the hill by Roger Mortimer was a contributing factor to Llywelyn's refusal to swear fealty to Edward I in 1275, leading to war in 1277.
The castle may have been sacked during the revolts of Madog ap Llywelyn (1294–1295) and Owain Glyndŵr (1400–1415), but remained occupied until at least the mid-15th century, when it was described in a series of poems by the bard Lewys Glyn Cothi. Both castles on Castle Bank are now entirely ruinous and only traces remain; the sole surviving medieval structure at Cefnllys is St Michael's Church. The town was unsuccessful and disappeared altogether as a result of the Black Death and subsequent bubonic plague outbreaks, economic remoteness and changing frontier military conditions, although Cefnllys retained its borough status until the 19th century.
Etymology Cefnllys derives from the Welsh words , meaning 'ridge', and , meaning 'mansion' or 'court'. is associated with the unfortified courts of medieval Welsh rulers and may refer to the administrative manor () of a local lord. The name is first mentioned in 1246 as Keventhles and the form Kevenlleece, standard in the 19th century, is recorded by 1679. Another name for the settlement and parish, ("church of St Michael at Cefnllys"), appears in records and refers to the medieval church which still stands.
An older name, (also and ), meaning "fort on the River Ieithon" ( being Old Welsh for 'fort', cognate with dun), is also related to fortifications at Cefnllysparticularly the earlier Norman castle, which is sometimes called "Cefnllys Old Castle". Dinieithon or ("shire of Dinieithon") was the name of the commote within the cantref (hundred) of Maelienydd.
Location The isolated ridge of Castle Bank is located east of the modern town of Llandrindod Wells, Powys. It occupies a key position at the junction of several tributary valleys of the River Ithon, granting commanding views over an important communication corridor into central Wales. Cefnllys was (administrative centre) of Maelienydd, part of the Welsh region of Rhwng Gwy a Hafren (). As the English Marcher lords expanded their control westward, Maelienydd formed a core part of the turbulent area known as the middle march, together with Gwrtheyrnion and Elfael. The castle was viewed as a forward defence against Welsh incursions by towns along the English border, particularly Hereford.
Description
Castle Bank is a naturally defensible position, protected on three sides by a loop of the River Ithon. The hill is open access land, and the highest point is above sea level. The mottes of two castles are situated at opposite ends of the hill, the ruins heavily deformed and mostly rubble; only their basic characteristics have been identified. The earlier northern castle consisted of a keep within an elevated triangular inner bailey, with an accompanying outer bailey which may have been entered via a gatehouse at its north-east corner. The main feature of the later southern castle was a circular (or octagonal) tower inside a walled court, separated from the main part of the ridge by a deep rock-cut ditch. There was probably a small bailey to the south-west, and a scarp across the main ridge suggests the southern half of Castle Bank may have formed a large north bailey. The outline of a building in this area is likely to be the oak hall recorded at Cefnllys in the 15th century. A stone curtain wall and rampart extended along most of the hilltop rim.
St Michael's Church sits at the foot of the hill next to the Ithon, to the west. Earthworks surrounding the church are commonly supposed to be the remains of the medieval town. Alternatively, several historians infer that the primary settlement may have been sited within the enclosure of Castle Bank, adjacent to the castles. During the borough's later history, the population may have been dispersed along the valley, instead of being focused in a nucleated settlement. The Norman motte-and-bailey castle was located on the bank of the Ithon further upstream, north of Castle Bank.
History No archaeological excavation has been undertaken at Cefnllysmodern understanding of the site's history rests on contemporary texts. Prior to the 14th century, sources are limited to accounts of military campaigns and the castles are referenced in the Welsh chronicles Brut y Tywysogion and Annales Cambriae. Greater stability following Edward I's conquest of Wales resulted in a growth of documentary evidence in the Welsh Marches, though at Cefnllys this is largely restricted to rudimentary public records as the majority of the Mortimer estate archives have been lost. An extensive topographical survey combined with photogrammetry was carried out at Castle Bank in 1985 by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), with a follow-up appraisal in 2006.
Hillfort origins A number of scholars have suggested that the medieval castles utilised the remains of an Iron Age hillfort. Indications of a pre-Roman provenance include the ridge's large, elongated enclosure of , interpretation of visible earthworks and the extensive use of scarping and ditching to artificially steepen the gradient of slopes surrounding the hilltop. The archaeologist A. E. Brown tentatively linked the entrance hollow-way with this period, and the banks encircling the hilltop could also have an Iron Age origin. Other features previously posited as pre-Roman were determined to be medieval by the 2006 RCAHMW report, although it did not rule out the possibility of a hillfort. The complexity of earthworks on Castle Bank is compounded by alterations caused by later agricultural use and quarrying, making confident assessment difficult. Among recent archaeological studies, Chris Martin & Robert Silvester(2011) state that the large bailey's Iron Age origins have been "convincingly argued", while Robert Scourfield & Richard Haslam(2013) surmise, on the basis of the RCAHMW report, that "the hill is no longer considered as having been first fortified in the Iron Age".
Initial medieval activity Cefnllys is connected in tradition with Elystan Glodrydd, a 10th-century prince of Buellt and founder of the regional Welsh dynasty. The court of a Welsh ruler is assumed to have been sited nearby, but the time period, duration and precise location of such a are unresolved. In a Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust report for Cadw, Robert Silvester observed that the motte-and-bailey north of Castle Bank is considered a probable site, granting that a in this setting is more likely to have superseded the Norman castle than predated it, and no physical traces have been found. A silver thumb-ring recovered on Castle Bank may date from an early medieval period of Welsh occupation, and the circular graveyard ringed by yew trees could denote a pre-Norman origin of St Michael's Church. However, there is no substantive archaeological or written evidence to support any of these
The timber motte-and-bailey north of Castle Bank is assumed to be the work of Ralph Mortimer of Wigmore. One of a group of Norman barons who overran the region in 1093, Ralph is credited with the construction of a castle in Maelienydd named "Dynyetha", probably between 1093 and 1095. After his death , the area was retaken by the Welsh and remained a disputed territory throughout the 12th century. Dinieithon was last documented in 1179, but was not described as a castle, suggesting that it had been destroyed, abandoned or possibly reused as a . English control was still far from secure when Llywelyn the Great, ruler of the ascendant Welsh state of Gwynedd, established his authority over southern Powys between 1208 and 1216, acting as protector and suzerain of the local Welsh dynasty. The historian Paul Remfry has speculated that the northern castle at Castle Bank may have been started in the period 1216–1234 under Llywelyn's direction, although it is generally considered to be a Mortimer creation.
First masonry castle The death of Llywelyn in April 1240 led to an internal power struggle within Gwynedd, presenting Ralph Mortimer II with an opportunity to strengthen his position in Maelienydd. By the end of Henry III's Welsh campaign of August 1241, Ralph was in full control of the cantref and had secured submissions from the local nobility. To consolidate these gains, Ralph ordered the "strengthening" of a "castle in Maelienydd" in 1242, which in his absence was undertaken in the name of his young son Roger Mortimer. This work is identified with the north-eastern castle at Castle Bank; "strengthening" () may imply the reconstruction of an existing castle in stone, particularly as the establishment of a castle at Cefnllys is not explicitly recorded. Subsequent primary source references to Cefnllys describe it as the "new castle". Upon Ralph's death in 1246, Cefnllys Castle is listed in a patent roll as passing into the custodianship of the crown until Roger's coming of age.