Longtown Castle

Longtown Castle
Longtown, Herefordshire, England
The keep and inner gatehouse, 2007
Longtown Castle
Coordinates	51°57′22″N 2°59′28″W / 51.9562°N 2.9910°W / 51.9562; -2.9910Coordinates: 51°57′22″N 2°59′28″W / 51.9562°N 2.9910°W / 51.9562; -2.9910
Grid reference	grid reference SO320291
Site information
Owner	English Heritage
Open to the public	Yes
Site history
Materials	Stone

Longtown Castle, also termed Ewias Lacey Castle in early accounts, is a ruined Norman motte-and-bailey fortification in Longtown, Herefordshire. Built around 1175 by Hugh de Lacy, possibly reusing former Roman earthworks, the castle had an unusual design with three baileys and two large enclosures to protect the neighbouring town. Early in the next century the castle was rebuilt in stone, with a circular keep erected on the motte and a gatehouse constructed between the inner and outer western baileys. By the 14th century, Longtown Castle had fallen into decline. Despite being pressed back into use during the Owain Glyndŵr rising in 1403, it became ruined. In the 21st century the castle is maintained by English Heritage and operated as a tourist attraction.

It is uncertain when the first fortification at Longtown was built. The first defences may have been built during either the Iron Age or Roman, or Anglo-Saxon periods, but this remains uncertain. If Roman defences were constructed at the site, it was probably because of a Roman road that may have run nearby, and the defences may well have then been reused in the building of the current castle, parts of whose earthworks have square, angular corners, similar to those of Roman forts but otherwise unusual in 12th century English castles.

After the Norman invasion of England and Wales in the late 11th century, a small castle was built at Pont Hendre, close to the site of the current castle, by either Roger de Lacy or Pain fitzJohn in order to protect the river crossing there. Longtown was then probably built to replace this older castle, probably around 1175, by Hugh de Lacy, a successful favourite of Henry II and an administrator in newly conquered Ireland. Hugh had acquired the local lands around Ewias Lacey, an important Marcher Lord territory, in the 1160s and early 1170s. The early castle was occasionally also called Ewias Lacey, named after the wider lordship; "Ewias" was a term meaning "sheep district".