Welsh Journals

LLANGIBBY CASTLE By D. J. CATHCART KING, m.c, ll.m., AND J. CLIFFORD PERKS, m.c, M.A. THE castle of Llangibby plays a very small part in history, and it is possibly for this reason that so substantial a monument has received so little notice in print. No adequate description of it has been published and though it is mentioned shortly in Archdeacon Coxe's Tour of Monmouthshire,1 his description is vaguer and more hap- hazard than one expects from that most intelligent and conscientious of antiquarian tourists From the house I ascended to the brow of the hill, on which stood the ruins of Langibby castle, surrounded by an extensive tract of wood. The remains consist only of a square tower, much dilapidated, the walls of some apartments with springing columns, and part of the roof which they supported. The outer walls, which may still be traced, enclosed a large area, of an oblong but irregular shape, which is shewn by the annexed plan it is now an orchard, and produces excellent cyder. I am totally unacquainted with the aera of its construction, but the remains of several pointed arches prove that it was erected after the introduction of gothic architecture, and probably by the Norman chieftains who conquered this part of Gwent.' Now this description is not only inadequate but misleading, and falls so far short of the archdeacon's customary accuracy as to suggest that he may have relied on second-hand information instead of a personal examination he made substantial amends, however, by giving some valuable historical notes, and sending his surveyor, Morrice, to make a plan of the ruins (Fig. 17). We have found no other serious account of the castle, that in Sir James Mackenzie's The Castles of England being a straightforward paraphrase of Coxe, and the few words devoted to the fabric by Sir Joseph Bradney, the county historian,2 being unhelpful. Under these circumstances, no apology is required for publishing a descrip- tion of a structure so large and so singular as Llangibby, even though some problems must clearly be left unsolved pending excavation of those portions of the defences which have left no trace above ground. 1 (London, 1801) Vol. I, 118-9. 2 History of Monmouthshire (London, 1921), III, Pt. i, pp. 100, 103. Here again the historical notes are valuable, and a copy of, the O.S. map is annexed, together with a sketch of part of the ruins.