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

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Guanceste

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Gwaunceste; Bryn y Maen

In the community of New Radnor.
In the historic county of Radnorshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO15665686
Latitude 52.20392° Longitude -3.23513°

Guanceste has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

A mound, 24m in diameter and 2.0m high, associated with the stone alignment, 60m to the SW (Coflein)

Flattened mound and platforms. Salter writes "Despite being overlooked by high ground the worn earthworks here commanding a high pass from Elfael into Llythyfnwg seems to have been a small motte with tiny triangular baileys to the north and south of it." The map reference given by Salter is for the Bryn y Maen round barrow below Gwaunceste Hill. The nearby Four Stones is a boundary marker. Although this might be a small 'taxation post' type welsh castle on a drovers route now just a footpath there is not enough evidence to suggest medieval use of what is clearly a prehistoric site.

Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >	Coflein	County HER
Maps >	OS getamap	Streetmap	Old-Maps	Where's the path
Data/Maps >	Magic	Vision of Britain	EarthTools
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	Flashearth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio

Sources of information, references and further reading

The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 306079.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 986.

Books
- Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p. 258 (listed as round barrow)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p. 62
  Remfry, P., 1996, Castles of Radnorshire (Logaston Press) p. 129
  Gregory, D., 1994, Radnorshire: A Historical Guide (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Iard yr Orsaf)
  RCAHMW, 1913, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Radnorshire (HMSO)

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.
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This record last updated on Wednesday, May 1, 2013

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