Monmouth Castle | |
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Castell Trefynwy | |
Monmouth, Wales | |
Ruins of the castle
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Coordinates | 51°48′45″N 2°43′00″W / 51.8125°N 2.7167°W |
Site information | |
Condition | Ruin |
Site history | |
Built | 1067 |
Built by | William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford |
Monmouth Castle (Welsh: Castell Trefynwy) is a castle in the town of Monmouth, county town of Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument.
Monmouth Castle is located close to the centre of Monmouth on a hill towering over the River Monnow, behind shops and the main square and streets. Once an important border castle, and birthplace of Henry V of England, it stood until the English Civil War when it was damaged and changed hands three times before being slighted to prevent it being fortified again. After partial collapse in 1647, the site was reused and built over by Great Castle House, which became the headquarters and regimental museum of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.
Immediately after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror installed three of his most trusted confidants, Hugh d'Avranches, Roger de Montgomerie, and William FitzOsbern, as the Earls of Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford respectively. The earldoms served to guard the frontier and provided bases for the Norman invasion of Wales. Over the next four centuries, Norman lords established mostly small Marcher Lordships between the Dee and Severn, and further west. Military adventurers came to Wales from Normandy and elsewhere, raided an area of Wales, and then fortified it and granted land to some of their supporters.