Newcastle Emlyn Castle

Newcastle Emlyn Castle (Welsh: Castell Newydd Emlyn) is a ruined castle in the market town of Newcastle Emlyn in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is strategically located on a steep-sided promontory overlooking the River Teifi and was probably built by the Welsh lord Maredudd ap Rhys in about 1240. It changed hands many times over the years in battles between the Welsh and English, and during the English Civil War. The remains of the gatehouse and adjacent towers, and some fragments of wall are all that remain visible now.

The 13th-century castle of Newcastle Emlyn was mentioned in the chronicle Brut y Tywysogion, as having been seized by Llywelyn the Great (Welsh: Llywelyn ap Iorwerth), 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 needing sixty oxen to haul it; the castle managed to hold out for some time but eventually fell and passed into English hands, bringing Rhys ap Maredudd's revolt to an end.

Newcastle Emlyn Castle is one of 26 castles, mostly in Wales, that were owned by Edward, the Black Prince. He became the owner as part of the estates acquired when he was made Prince of Wales in 1343. Under his ownership, the castle passed through a period of stability, and one custodian, Richard de la Bere, was in post for nineteen years.

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