Newcastle Emlyn Castle

Newcastle Emlyn Castle stands in ruins above a sharp bend of the River Teifi in Carmarthenshire. Built by the Welsh lord Maredudd ap Rhys around 1240, it was later fought over by Welsh and English forces and saw action in the English Civil War. Today only parts of the gatehouse, two towers and scraps of curtain wall remain visible on the steep promontory. The castle’s inner ward is triangular and entered through a twin-towered gatehouse whose semi-octagonal outer faces conceal rectangular rooms inside. A well-preserved vaulted cellar lies beneath the north tower, and an external stair once led to the gatehouse’s upper floor and a walkway on the curtain wall. Sir Rhys ap Thomas enlarged the windows about 1500 and added latrines to both towers. Visitors walk past the gatehouse’s twin towers and can look into the vaulted cellar below the north tower. Fragments of the square tower south of the gatehouse still rise above the grass, while the sites of the great hall, chapel, kitchen and eastern building are marked by low mounds. The river loops close by, and the remains sit high on the promontory with views along the Teifi Valley.