Welsh Journals

EARLY CASTLES IN WALES AND THE MARCHES A preliminary list BY A. H. A. HOGG, F.S.A., AND D. J. C. KING, F.S.A. THE Norman invasions of Wales are well documented, and have been discussed by Sir John Lloyd1 and illustrated cartographically by Professor William Rees,2 but no map or list has been published which shows the complete distribution of castles built at that time.3 This one of the major gaps in the documentation of field antiquities in Wales, and the present study is designed to fill it at least sufficiently to provide a background to detailed local studies. With this purpose in view, one of the co-authors (Hogg) compiled a list from published sources, mainly the O.S. maps and the Inventories of the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments for Wales and Monmouthshire. At the same time the other co-author (King), working independently, had prepared a similar list of all castles for England and Wales, not for immediate publication but as a pre- liminary to more detailed study of the remains he had visited many of the sites and had published a paper on the castles of Cardiganshire4 and had completed ready for publication a similar study for Brecknockshire. When each became aware of the other's work, it was at once agreed that collaboration was desirable, and the accompanying map and list are the result. It is perhaps worth noting, as an indication either of remarkable harmony between the collaborators or of the certainty with which these sites can be recognized, that there was disagreement over only two earthworks (SN630746, Llanilar, and SN965001, Castell Nos) out of some 600. THE CONTENTS OF THE LIST AND INDEX The material presented here falls into three parts (a) the list of sites (b) the index to documentary references and (c) the map 1 W.C.N. and H.W. (See p. 85 for bibliography.) 2 An Historical Atlas of Wales (Cardiff, 1951). Pis. 29-39. 3 For a general map of England and Wales, however, see the important paper Mottes A Classification by D. F. Renn, Antiquity, XXXIII (June, 1959), p. 106. 4 Ceredigion, III (1956), pp. 50-68. 5 It has since appeared Brycheiniog, VII (1961), pp. 71-94.