Carreg Cennen Castle

Today’s the day ........................ to go back to your roots

Today we were in the part of Wales where Will grew up – so lots of memories for him.  He went to primary school in the village of Trap which is situated below the magnificent Carreg Cennen Castle shown here.    

The castle was built by the Lord Rhys, one of the most successful and powerful of the Welsh princes, in the late 12th century.  It changed hands between various members of his family but in 1277 it was captured by the English.  In 1283 Edward I granted the castle to John Giffard, the commander of the English troops at Cilmeri where the last prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was killed.  

It remained in English hands and although in 1403 the great Welsh hero, Owain Glyndwr, together with 800 men, attacked Carreg Cennen, they failed to take it.  Funnily enough, it was defended against Glyndwr's forces, who laid siege to it for several months, with Owain himself present, by a man who was to marry one of Glyndwr's daughters just a few years later, Sir John Scudamore of Herefordshire.

Ownership of the castle eventually passed to the Vaughan and Cawdor families, and from the 18th century it started to attract artists – Turner sketched it in 1798.  In the 1960s, it was acquired by the Morris family of Castell Farm, when Lord Cawdor's legal team inadvertently made a mistake in the wording of the deeds and included the castle as part of the farm! Today, the castle is maintained by Cadw but it remains privately owned by Margaret and Bernard Llewellyn, daughter and son in law of the late Mr Gwilim Morris.

Will was at school with Margaret ..................................