Pen y Cnap Castle

Pen y Cnap Castle stands on a low grassy mound in the parish of Llanegwad, Carmarthenshire. It is one of the many earth-and-stone mounds built across Wales between the late 11th and the second half of the 12th century. These simple fortifications arrived with the Normans and were soon copied by the Welsh. The site has no surrounding defensive wall, only a ditch that once encircled the mound. Cadw, Wales’s historic environment service, keeps the castle on its list under reference CM151. Most of these mounds are found along the historic borderlands known as the Marches, stretching from Shropshire and Cheshire through Herefordshire, Powys and Flintshire. Pen y Cnap is a quiet reminder of the region’s medieval past. Visitors walk up the gentle slope of the mound and see the wide views over the Tywi valley. The ditch is still visible around the base, marking the limits of the old stronghold. There are no buildings left, only the earthworks and the open sky. The place is small and uncluttered, letting the landscape speak for itself.