Brecon Castle
:
The Brecon Beacons and the Brecon area have a long history of human
habitation. Early settlements were mainly on the hilltops as the
valleys would have been regularly flooded and covered in dense forest.
Evidence has been found of the manufacture of flint tools on the castle
site, dating back 4000 to 5000 years. North West of the hotel is
the remains of Pen-y-Crug, an Iron Age hill fort. It may well have
been occupied when the Romans arrived - Two miles to the west of Brecon
lays Y-Gaer. A roman fort covering nearly 5 acres - The fort was built
around 5O AD and may have been occupied as late as 300 AD. The
first regiment in occupation probably came from North West Spain. Brecon
was a Roman crossroads and some roman roads remain visible on the Beacons
even today.
In the fifth Century the local ruler is said to have sent his daughter
to Ireland in search of a husband. Many of her retinue of guards
died on the journey. She found her Irish Prince their son, Breeching,
was sent to Wales to grow up at the Court of his grandfather. It
is from the name ‘Brychan' that the old country name of Brysheiniog
and later 'Brecon' was derived. Barbarians killed one of his daughters,
called Tudful. The welsh for martyr is Merthyr, hence the settlement
of Merthyr Tydfil 20 miles to the south got its name.
Brecon castle and town is Norman in origin. The castle came first
and was the creation of Bernard de Neufmarche. He took his surname
from the village of Neufmarche near Rouen, the capital of Normandy. He
was of the second generation of conquerors who extended Norman influence
into the Marches of Wales. By 1093 de Neufmarche and his knights
had defeated the Welsh rulers of south Wales and began to build themselves
the castles from which they intended to control their new lands.
What did he build and why did he choose this site? The second
question is easier to answer - The confluence of the Usk and Honddu and
the existence of fords across the Usk close by were the chief reasons
- Water was useful for defence and for power to drive mills. There
was then no bridge across the Usk so the fords were important points
on the east-west route between the Norman bases in the east and their
further expansion westwards. The upstream ford is still known as
Rhyd Bernard and marked as such on some older Ordnance Survey maps.
The earliest castle was on the type known as a motte and bailey. The
great earth mound, now in the Bishop’s Palace garden, opposite
the hotel, was the motte on top of which there was originally a timber
keep. The bailey or courtyard below the motte extended to cover
the present garden and, presumably part of the site of the hotel; the
embankment on the north side can be clearly seen in the garden. Even
in this early stage the castle must have been a daunting sight. This
is exactly what the Normans intended; a deterrent to subdue the hostile
Welsh.
However not all the buildings associated with this early castle were
military in appearance or function. A charter of c.11OO provides
information about the growth of the civilian settlement, which soon accompanied
the castle. By this charter Bernard de Neufmarche granted lands
and privileges to the monastery, which he established just to the north
of the castle. This Benedictine Priory occupied the site of the
present cathedral. He gave the monks the profits from two corn
mills; one on the Usk, which was near the weir at the end of the promenade,
the other was at the foot of the hill below the castle. A vetenary
surgeon now occupies this. The grant also included burgages within
the castle. A burgage was a unit of land in a medieval town. The
significant point here is that this first reference to a civilian settlement
in Brecon locates the site inside the castle.0.0
The Normans built hundreds of castles in the two centuries after 1066. In
almost all cases they started as motte and baileys with timber buildings. But
the more important were enlarged and strengthened and this occurred at
Brecon. The castle soon became the administrative and military
headquarters of the great Lordship of Brecon. Its important strategic
position also warranted making the castle more powerful. The most
dramatic alteration as the substitution of stone for timber buildings. The
surviving parts of the castle indicate this process. On top of
the motte are the remains of a shell keep, which dates from the middle
of the thirteenth century. The largest surviving structure, next
to the hotel, is part of the thirteenth century Hall. Adjoining
the wall on the Honddu side is a semi-octagonal tower of the early fourteenth
century
What did Brecon castle look like at the height of its importance in
the medieval period? Unfortunately there is no drawing earlier
than Speed's (of 1610) and very little archaeological work has been done
on the site. Consequently what follows is based on documentary
references, the surviving fabric and comparisons with other castles,
which have survived in more complete form.
There were two entrances as well as the postern gate. The main
gate faced west and overlooked the Usk. It was approached across
a drawbridge and probably guarded by two semi-circular towers and the
usual great door and portcullis. From the town a drawbridge on
the site of the present bridge, which crosses the Honddu, also guarded
direction the castle? These gates were joined by the encircling
curtain wail. Which enclosed the whole area of the castle? Within
these outer defences the most imposing building was the great Hall; this
was the social centre of the castle and the Lordship where the Lords
of Brecon held court when in the area. (The surviving medieval halls
at Christ College - across the river from the castle - give a good idea
of what it must have looked like inside. The private apartments
of the Lord were next to the Hall. There are references to other
rooms and buildings in the medieval documents. For example the
Constable and the Receiver (of taxes and dues) had their own chambers. There
was a chapel, exchequer, kitchen, harness tower, stable and porter’s
chamber -The well was described as being 30 feet deep. These buildings
suggest that the castle was more like a bustling town than the romantic,
military fortress of imagination. People from the surrounding Lordship
came to the courts held at the castle, they paid their dues to the exchequer,
and they pleaded for privileges or came with supplies of food, timber
and other necessaries.
Nonetheless there were many occasions when the drawbridges were raised
and the castle played its military role as an alien strong point in a
hotly disputed part of the country. It was attacked six times between
1215 and 1273; three of the assaults were successful - in 1215, 1264
and 1265. Much of this warfare was part of the three hundred year
struggle between the Normans and the Welsh, which began with the conquest
and lasted until the Glyndwr revolt. There was another cause of
war in the Marches -the power struggles involving Kings and their barons. The
military events, which affected the castle and the town in the thirteenth
century, must be seen in this wider, national context.
Marcher Lordships differed from the rest of Britain. Lords were
able to set up their own system of law, they were, in effect petty kings. The
King had little right to interfere in internal affairs of the Lordship
unless the Lord was guilty of treason or felony.
For the Lords of Brecon were among the most powerful men in the. Kingdom. Their
possessions in this area were only a part of their vast lands. His
daughter Sybil who married the Earl of Hereford succeeded De Neufmarche. Their
Brecon estates passed to William de Braose. They remained in the
de Braose family for about a hundred years then by marriage the Brecon
and Hereford lands of the original Lordship were united in the possession
of Humphrey de Bohun. The Lordship was in royal hands from the
late fourteenth century to the middle of the fifteenth when it was granted
to the Stafford’s who were to be the last Lords of Brecon. All
these families were ambitious politically and this involved them in wars,
rebellions and conspiracies. For this reason Brecon in the middle
ages was often caught up in important events and was much closer to great
national issues than in later centuries.
The careers of the two last Dukes of Buckingham illustrate this vividly. Henry
Stafford. The second duke had been a supporter of Richard 111 but they
had fallen out and Henry retired to his castle at Brecon. Here
he plotted against the King. His accomplice was a prisoner at the
castle, John Morton, Bishop of Ely. (After whom the Ely Tower and
Ely place are named.) The duke raised an army to oppose the King
but his rebellion failed and he was executed. The bishop fled
abroad and joined the Earl of Richmond who was soon to defeat Richard
111 at Bosworth and to become the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII. The
King employed the bishop as one of his most efficient tax collectors;
he was the Morton of Morton's fork: The new King also rewarded
the Stafford family for their loyalty. Edward, born in Brecon castle
in February 1478, was granted all the honours, titles and lands, which
had belonged to his father. However the second Tudor found it
necessary to execute this the third and last duke. In 1521 Buckingham
very rashly flaunted his royal connections and claim to the throne. At
the time, when Henry VIII had no legitimate heir.
This was tantamount to treason and was punished accordingly
- So perished the last of the Lords of Brecon. By now the Tudors were determined
to eliminate the quasi-independent powers, which such magnates had enjoyed. By
acts of parliament passed in 1536 and 1543 the Marches were finally brought
under royal control. In place of the Lordship of Brecon there
appeared the County of Brecknock
These changes together with a revolution in building styles and standards
meant that the age of the castle was also over The Tudor
peace allowed landowners to put a higher premium on comfort than security. Great
houses began to replace draughty castles. It is ironic that when the
castle entered this period of decline there is more information about
its condition and appearance than when it was a powerful fortress. A
survey of the buildings carried out in 1552 contains many references
to the repairs, which were necessary. The roofs lacked lead and
much of the timber needed replacing. However Speed’s map
shows a mighty castle in 1610. But many of the buildings on his map
are symbols rather than accurate representations of what was there In
1645 a Royalist referred to the castle and town walls as having been
demolished by the inhabitants; presumably to prevent Brecon being strongly
fortified and thus suffering a damaging siege. His remarks are
exaggerated because later writers and artists describe the castle as
an impressive ruin. The drawing by Buck, dated 1741, is the best
example.
Parts of the castle were put to use. For example the chapel
-dedicated to St. Nicholas - was a goal until 1690 when it was demolished. Further
information is provided by estate maps of the town, which were drawn
in the second half of the eighteenth century. A map of 1761 shows the
great Hall with its windows and to the west a building with two chimneys. North
of this is a rectangular enclosure. On a plan drawn twenty years
later this is described as a bowling green - The state of the castle
ruins continued to deteriorate and was the object of disparaging comments
by visitors to Brecon. For example 'The Cambrian Traveller's
Guide & Pocket Companion of 1808' referred to the magnificent Castle.
(Which) is now curtailed to a very insignificant ruin; and that little
is so choked up and disfigured with miserable habitations, as to exhibit
no token of its ancient grandeur.'
However this sad situation was soon to change - The Morgan family
of Tredegar Park had extensive Breconshire connections and their attention
was now turned to the castle and the house adjoining. Work on
repairing the house began in 1809. During the next few years
considerable sums of money were spent turning house into hotel. A
steel engraving of this date gives a detailed view of the building,
which is clearly recognisable as the present hotel -(The engraving
was done by Bourdon one of the numerous French prisoners-of-war held
in Brecon during the Napoleonic wars.). The success of the Morgan’s'
investment can be gauged by the prominence given to the Castle Hotel
in later guides. By 1835 an impressive list of coaches called
at the Castle Hotel; journeys to London on the Royal Mail, to Aberystwyth,
Bristol, Carmarthen, Llandrindod.
Kindly written by Edward Parry, Christ College, and Brecon. 1988
Printed with kind permission of the former owner
of the Brecon Castle and the adjoining Brecon Castle Hotel.
The castle is open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. - 7 days a week and entrance
is free. Guided tours on request. There is also a
hawking and falconry centre at the castle.
www.breconcastle.co.uk
Directions : . Castle Square, Brecon, LD3 9DB.South Wales,
UK