Penllyn Castle

Penllyn Castle is a Victorian country house in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, built on the site of a Norman castle. The original fortress was raised in 1135 by Robert Fitzhamon, sheriff Earl of Gloucester, and once had an oblong tower like Ogmore Castle. Its high position gave views across the River Thaw and Ewenny River valleys. Today only two main walls remain, standing on a low cliff above the River Thaw. Near their base six courses of herringbone masonry show early Norman work, suggesting the castle was among the first built by Fitzhamon in Glamorgan. The site passed to the Turbeville family in Tudor times, who built a manor house using the old keep as one corner. In the 1790s Miss Gwinnett constructed a new manor house and turned the old building into stables. John Homfray bought the estate in 1846 and rebuilt it in Tudorbethan style between 1846 and 1860. He added a new entrance lodge, now Grade I listed, and remodelled the manor in Victorian stucco architecture, now Grade II listed. The Cory family later owned the castle before selling it in 2018 to Terence and Judith Edgell for restoration. Visitors can see the surviving Norman walls rising above the River Thaw. The Tudorbethan manor and Victorian lodge stand close by, forming part of the estate group. The stable block and manor house were used in 2005 as the main location for Doctor Who’s ‘Tooth and Claw’, filmed as a Victorian Scottish castle. The setting still carries traces of these later periods alongside the earlier masonry. The riverside position and cliff edge give long views over the surrounding valleys.