Newcastle Emlyn Castle

The 13th-century castle of Newcastle Emlyn was mentioned in the chronicle Brut y Tywysogion, as having been seized by Llywelyn the Great (), but this was probably an older structure. The stone building was probably built by Maredudd ap Rhys around 1240, and if this is correct, it is one of the few castles in West Wales to be built by the Welsh out of stone. In 1287, his son Rhys ap Maredudd rebelled against the English and was besieged at Dryslwyn Castle, and when that stronghold eventually fell, fled to Newcastle Emlyn Castle. The English forces hauled their siege engine from Dryslwyn to Cardigan with the help of forty oxen, and then continued up the Teifi Valley to Newcastle Emlyn, now…

The castle is strategically located in a loop of the River Teifi and only approachable by land from the west. The inner ward is triangular and is approached through the twin-towered gatehouse. The towers on either side of the gateway are semi-octagonal on the outside but rectangular inside. There is a well-preserved vaulted cellar under the north tower. The upper floor of the gatehouse was accessed by an external staircase on the east wall next to the north tower, and this may have also provided access to the walkway on the curtain wall which contoured round the site but of which little trace remains today. Latrines on both sides of the gatehouse towers may have been added later, and larger…