CRICKHOWELL CASTLE;ALISBY'S CASTLE
Site Details
- NPRN
- 92110
- Map Reference
- SO21NW
- Grid Reference
- SO21751825
- Unitary (Local) Authority
- Powys
- Old County
- Brecknockshire
- Community
- Crickhowell
- Type of Site
- CASTLE
- Broad Class
- Defence
- Period
- Medieval
Site Description
The original Norman motte and bailey at Crickhowell was re-fortified with stone in the late thirteenth to early fourteenth century. Traces of a shell keep have been noted about the summit of an oval-shaped motte that is approximately 60m x 46m and 8m high. There are remains of a twin-towered gatehouse at its foot that opened onto a scarped forecourt, about 70m east-west and 16m deep, which has the ruins of two conjoined towers on the east. The court was set into a large bailey, about 90m by 64m across, its south and west sides followed by Castle Road. The Buck Brothers' view of 1741 shows that the bailey was originally walled, with at least three semi-circular towers. The castle was disused by the fifteenth century and subsequently pillaged for stone.
The tower in Tower Street, north of the castle (Nprn23000), is generally identified as a late eighteenth-early nineteenth century folly.
RCAHMW, December 2008.
