Carreg Cennin Castle

Family feuds, Roman relics, mysterious caverns, Carreg Cennin has more to offer than dramatic ruins.

Perched atop a 300ft limestone crag, among the foothills of the Black Mountains, the evocative ruins of Carreg Cennin Castle rear against the sky like a row of jagged teeth. Wandering among the crumbling walls, it is not hard to imagine this ancient site as an Iron Age hillfort, nor later as a shelter used by the Romans.

The present building has stood since the 12th Century, and in 1248 it played a central role in medieval family drama when a mother granted the castle to the English instead of leaving it to her son, Rhys Fychan. For the next 30 years Carreg Cennin was the site and occasion for numerous battles between Rhys and his uncle Mareddud, and then later between the English and the Welsh. Finally, in 1399 the castle was granted to the Crown and in 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, Carreg Cennin became a Lancastrian stronghold.

This proved to be the undoing of the castle which had succesfully withstood 200 years of fighting. In 1462 a team of 500 Yorkist men captured Carreg Cennin and set about its demolition with crowbars and pick-axes. The impenetrable fortress was no more. The crumbling ruins, however, are an enduring romantic vision which draws tourists year round. Daring visitors may wish to descend the steep steps in the south east corner of the courtyard, to venture down the vaulted passageway and find the mysterious cave whose purpose remains unknown.

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