Castell y Goetre

Castell y Goetre stands on a low grassy mound in the rolling farmland of Monmouthshire, near the village of The Grysmwnt. It is a simple motte, one of many built across Wales between the late 11th and mid-12th centuries. The Normans brought the idea from France, and Welsh lords soon copied the style. Earth and stone formed the mound, and a ditch usually surrounded it. No stone curtain wall or bailey survives today.

The site is recognised for its place in border history. Cadw keeps the record under SAM number MM138. The borderlands between England and Wales hold the greatest concentration of such mottes anywhere in Britain. Shropshire, Cheshire, Herefordshire, Powys and Flintshire contain most of them.

Visitors walk up the gentle slope of the mound to see the wide view over fields and hedgerows. The ditch that once defended the base is now a shallow hollow. The simplicity of the remains lets the landscape itself tell the story of a century when castles were still made of earth and timber.