Welsh Journals

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gwtotftfljgfa tfamtrmis. */ FOURTH SERIES.—No. XVII. JANUARY, 1874. THE CASTLE OF BUILTH. The name of Builth, borne at this time by a consider¬ able town, and a Hundred of the county of Brecknock, is very ancient. As, like Brecon, the town is placed in an open valley, accessible without much difficulty to an enemy from the east, it has suffered from invasion from a very early period, and to these and similar attacks are to be attributed the various strongholds both of earth and masonry, of which the remains are so abundant upon the marches of England and Wales, and in such tracts of the latter territory as either Saxon or Norman, having overrun, thought it worth while to retain. The construction of Offa's Dyke in the eighth century must have been preceded by many years of conquest, and the establishment of many English strongholds throughout the annexed district, and probably also be¬ yond it. Nothing short of a present inability to rise, would have kept the Welsh quiet during the construc¬ tion of such a work, or have forced them to accept, even passively, a limit which cut off a large part of their fairest territory. The fortresses of Builth and Brecon, which resemble in general character those of known English origin elsewhere, were probably advanced posts thrown up either during the wars which preceded the dyke, or to aid the aggressions which followed it. Ana¬ logy drawn from the plan of construction leads rather 4TH Slilt.,VOL. V. 1