Llanvair Discoed Castle - ST44579241

In the grounds of a house above the church are the overgrown fragments of a castle probably built by Sir Ralph Monthermer in the second half of the 13th century, on the site perhaps used in the 12th century by Marcher Baron Payn Fitz John.

Both the first earls of Hereford and Payn Fitz John had a great deal of wealth and ruled Gwent at a time when the stable rule of the Normans in Wales seemed inevitable.

In the late 14th century the castle passed to the Montacutes. It went to the crown after the execution of Margaret, wife of Sir Richard Pole, in 1541, and was sold to Edward Woodward in 1610. He in turn sold it to Rhys Kemeys.

The ancient castle, which appears to have been erected in the earlier part of the 13th century by the noble family of Fitz-Pain, possibly on the site of an older building : the castle was subsequently held by the De Monthermers, and passed from them by marriage to the Montacutes, and afterwards descended to the noble families of Nevile and Pole.

Having reverted to the Crown in the time of James I, the castle was granted in 1610 to Thomas Woodward, who conveyed it to Rhys Kemeys, ancestor of the present owner, Capt. Kemeys-Tynte. Two large round towers, some part of the keep and a small portion of the curtain walls remain.

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This page was last updated - 11/07/2008

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