St Quintins Castle

St Quintins Castle (also known as St Quentins Castle and Llanblethian Castle, Welsh: Castell Llanfleiddan) is a castle located in the village of Llanblethian, Cowbridge, Wales. It is a scheduled monument and a Grade II listed building and is under the care of Cadw. The site was first occupied with a defensive structure in about 1102 and the gatehouse and further building work took place around 1312. It was later used as a prison and was reported as being in a ruinous state by 1741. Virtual Tour

Around 1102 Robert Fitzhamon, the first Norman Lord of Glamorgan bequeathed the lands of Llanblethian as a lordship to Herbert de St Quentin who is thought to have built the first fortification at the site of the castle. This initial construct was believed to have been a simple ringwork defence with timber walls, a bank and ditch. A rectangular stone keep was built in the late 12th century, whose remains can now be found within the later gatehouse. This keep may have replaced a similar wooden structure.

The lordship remained with the St Quentin family until 1233 when the land was seized by Richard Siward, but he then lost it to Earl Richard de Clare in 1245. Richard de Clare seized large areas of this part of Glamorganshire, from Cowbridge to Llantrisant, but it was his grandson, Earl Gilbert de Clare, who began to build the stone structure of St Quintins Castle which stands today. This was thought to have been roughly after 1307, but Gilbert de Clare was killed in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 before the castle was completed. Modern historians believe that the lack of inner courtyard buildings and the weakness of the curtain wall points to the hypothesis that the castle was never fully completed.

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