Castell Gwern-y-cwrt

Castell Gwern-y-cwrt stands in the rolling countryside of Monmouthshire, near the village of Llan-arth. It is a simple earthen mound, built in the 11th or 12th century without the usual surrounding defensive wall called a bailey. The Normans introduced this style of fortification from France, and the Welsh soon adopted it for their own use. The site is recognised by Cadw, the Welsh historic environment service, and carries the SAM number MM099. Such mounds are called motte-and-bailey castles, and Britain’s largest cluster of them lies along the Welsh Marches, including parts of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Powys and Flintshire. Visitors find a grassy mound rising gently above the fields, with no stonework left above ground. The ditch that once surrounded it is still visible as a shallow hollow. The view stretches over farmland and wooded hills, giving a sense of how the site once commanded the landscape. It is a quiet place, best visited on a clear day when the light catches the earthworks.