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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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Pencastell, Llangeler

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castell Mair; Capel Mair

In the community of Llangeler.
In the historic county of Carmarthenshire.
Modern authority of Carmarthenshire.
Preserved county of Dyfed.

OS Map Grid Reference: SN40243794
Latitude 52.01688° Longitude -4.32945°

Pencastell, Llangeler has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Thought to be a medieval castle motte, set on a relatively level shelf on north-west facing hillslopes: a steep-sided moated mound, about 36m in diameter & rising 6.1m to a summit area some 24m in diameter, dished up to 1.0m deep: an excavation made in the centre of the summit, 'some years' before 1931, reportedly cut through alternating charcoal & soil layers, one of the upper charcoal layers containing pot sherds &'thin bones'. (Coflein–ref. Jones)

Pencastell Motte is still in a very good state of preservation. Standing up to a height of 6.1 metres, with a partly water filled ditch 1.5m - 2 metres deep.
The motte is densely covered by trees + brambles and has a modern path cut into its south-eastern side, running down to a field immediately SE of the Motte. (Dyfed Archaeological Trust HER)

The monument comprises the remains of a motte and ditch, dating to the medieval period (c. 1066 -1540 AD). A motte is a large conical or pyramidal mound of soil and/or stone, usually surrounded by either a wet or dry ditch, and surmounted by a tower constructed of timber or stone. The motte measures 18ft high and is surrounded by a moat, two-thirds of which is wet. The top of the outer bank of the moat is 6ft above the bottom of the moat. The diameter of the mound at the top is 60ft, and there is an inner bank around the top of the mound 3ft high above the interior. There is an entrance on south side. (Scheduling Report)
Comments

Motte with partly water filled ditch, bailey entirely ploughed out but seems to been to the west of the motte.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
Coflein   County HER   Scheduling        
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
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Sources of information, references and further reading
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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. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. 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.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely 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.
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This record last updated 06/07/2016 11:09:33


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