Mathrafal

Mathrafal lies in the gentle hills of Powys, Mid Wales, beside the River Banwy where it meets the Vyrnwy. The village stands about six miles north-west of Welshpool on the A495, close to Llanfair Caereinion. A low ridge overlooks the rivers, and on it stands the remains of Mathrafal Castle. The castle site covers roughly ninety metres by eighty metres, protected by an earthen bank and ditch on three sides. The fourth side drops straight to the river, making the slope a natural defence. The place was the royal seat of Powys from at least the ninth century until Prince Llywelyn the Great destroyed it in 1213. After Powys was divided in 1160, Mathrafal became the capital of the southern half, later called Powys Wenwynwyn. A large mound, thirty-five metres across and five metres high, was raised at the end of the twelfth century. It may have been built by Owain Cyfeiliog or for King John by Robert de Vieuxpont. In 1212 Prince Gwenwynwyn moved his court to Welshpool, and the castle was besieged and ruined soon after. Visitors walk over grassy mounds that mark the old walls and ditches. The central motte still rises clearly above the flat ground, its slopes worn by centuries of wind and rain. Excavations in 1991 found a small bronze figure of St Gwynllyw inside a window base. The riverside setting gives wide views across farmland to distant hills. A quiet lane leads to the field where the castle once stood, and only a few stones remain to show where halls and towers once rose.