Llantrisant Castle

Llantrisant Castle stands on a low hill above the town of Llantrisant in Glamorgan, Wales. Its ruins command wide views over the Vale of Glamorgan and the Bristol Channel. Only part of a tower and some curtain walls remain, showing the castle’s once strong defensive position. The masonry matches other 12th-century fortresses in the region. No one knows exactly when it was built or by whom. Different writers give different names and dates for its founders. Antiquaries once thought Gwrgan ab Ithel or Einion ab Collwyn built or rebuilt the castle. By the 13th century it belonged to Gilbert de Clare, the Red Lord of Glamorgan. In 1297 Walter de Hacklut was ordered to finish the castle gate. After Gilbert’s death in 1314 the castle passed to his heirs and was kept in repair. In 1404 it formed part of the dowry of the Earl of Gloucester’s widow before Henry V seized it. Visitors today walk among grass-grown ruins and crumbling stone. The tower base and sections of wall still rise above the ground. Two former parks once lay around the castle, their names recalled in nearby farmhouses. From the hilltop the view stretches across farmland to the coast. The quiet site shows how a once important fortress faded into the landscape.