Welsh Journals

MASONRY CASTLES IN WALES AND THE MARCHES A LIST BY A. H. A. HOGG and D. J. C. KING THIS list forms a successor to that of Early Castles published in 1963,1 which attempted to include all castle-sites known to have existed between 1066 and 1215, or of similar types the great majority were almost certainly of earth and timber. The present list covers all castles and other structures in the same area which are known to have included masonry defences. There is therefore some overlap, and it is likely that excavation will produce more evidence for stone buildings now completely hidden in early castles' which seem to be purely of earthwork. So far as the authors are aware, however, all known castles (except modern mansions) are included in one or other list; there are none which have escaped the previous list because of date and the present list because they are not of masonry. THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MATERIAL Basically, the arrangement is similar to that of the previous list, and comprises (a) a list of sites, arranged in numerical order of grid references, so that any site located on the map can be identified (b) an alphabetical index of names accompanied by bibliographical and other references, so that the character, history and position of any castle known by name can be determined and (c) illustrative maps. The nature of these masonry structures and of the informa- tion available about them, however, make slightly different detailed arrangements desirable. The contents of the List, Index, and Maps are summarized in the following paragraphs, but the symbols and abbreviations used are discussed in detail immediately before the relevant sections. The Range Covered Geographically, the area covered extends as before from the Severn Estuary to the Mersey, with the 60 km E. line in squares SJ, SO, 1 Arch. Camb. (1963), 77-124. Referred to subsequently as E.C.W.M. In this new list, however, bv far the greater part of the information is by K. H's part has been mainly that of arrangement.