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The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
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Brecon Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Aberhonddu; Aberhodeny; Aberhodni; Brecknock; Brecheinoc

In the community of Brecon.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO04342879
Latitude 51.94949° Longitude -3.39389°

Brecon Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

A motte and bailey castle was built in Brecon in the eleventh century. Only the southern wall of the three-storey Great Hall built in the late C13 or early C14 survives. It is pierced by four Early English style, and four lancet windows. Crenellations and arrow loops also survive. The lines of the eastern curtain wall of the castle and the opposite wall of the Great Hall have been uncovered during excavation work. The piers of the hall have been found in the domestic quarters of the hotel which surrounds the courtyard. The castle site comprises a roughly triangular area, about 130m north-south and 100m across the north, tapering to a blunt point in the south above the confluence of the Usk & Honddu rivers. The Honddu divides the castle from the medieval & later borough to the east (NPRN 32994). The castle precincts are generally defined by banks & scarps, with a motte occupying the north-east angle, topped by the remains of a tower complex, the Ely Tower (NPRN 309157). The ruins of the hall - as desribed above - lie within the southern part of the enclosure. The castle is divided in two by Castle Square, the area to the north, including the motte & Ely Tower, having been laid out as a garden (NPRN 86045), the southern portion, with the hall remains, being occupied by the Castle Inn/Hotel & its grounds (NPRN 25234).(Coflein record ref. J.Wiles, RCAHMW, 12 July 2004)
Links to mapping and other online resources

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Sources of information, references and further reading

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of the described site.

This record last updated on Monday, June 17, 2013


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