Nevern Castle

Nevern Castle stands as a ruined earthwork fortress in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It sits on a spur above a gorge where the Gamman stream meets the Afon Nyfer. The site was first a residence for the Welsh ruler Cuhelyn in the 11th century. After the Normans took Pembrokeshire around 1108, Robert FitzMartin built a motte-and-bailey castle here. William FitzMartin later expanded it into a stone stronghold in the late 12th century. The castle played a key role in Welsh–Norman conflicts. Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth captured it in 1171 and again in 1189. His son Hywel Sais demolished the fortress in 1195 to keep it from English hands. Archaeologists uncovered its layout between 2008 and 2010. They found traces of two mottes, stone towers, and timber buildings from the 12th century. Visitors walk grassy banks and ditches that once held wooden halls and stone towers. The main motte rises at the west end, with a smaller motte to the east cut off by an 8-metre-deep rock-cut ditch. The site overlooks the wooded gorge of the Gamman stream. A short path leads from Nevern village church to the ruins. Only low stone fragments remain, but the earthworks show how the castle once defended the valley.