Penhow Castle

Penhow Castle stands on a low rise in the Vale of Usk, a few kilometres west of Newport. Built in the early 12th century, it has been lived in without interruption for almost nine hundred years. The oldest part is the west tower, added by the Seymour family soon after the Normans arrived. Later centuries enlarged the hall, refaced the front and turned the fortress into a country house. The interiors from the Restoration period are praised by the architectural historian John Newman. The castle is protected as a Grade II* listed building. The castle’s claim to be the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Wales rests on its unbroken chain of owners and occupants. After the Seymours it passed to the Somersets, then the Lewis family of St Pierre, and in 1914 to Viscount Rhondda. Film director Stephen Weeks restored it in the 1970s and opened it to visitors while living there himself. By the mid-20th century the house had fallen into disrepair before his work began. Today it is once more a private home, its walls still sheltering daily life. Visitors walk past ancillary buildings grouped to the south-west and south. A barn and byre from the 17th century stand close to the castle, while a second barn, another byre and a stable block lie a little further away. The Old red sandstone rubble of the main house shows every century’s hand, from the first tower to the refined interiors of the 18th century. The surrounding farmland stretches towards the hills of Gwent, giving the place a quiet, rural setting.