CARDIFF’S FORGOTTEN CASTLE

Brian Davies the speaker

Hidden away in a corner of the car park of the Travellers’ Rest near Thornhill, is a gate which gives access to an enclosure and the remains of solidly-built walls, the largest being about 8 feet high and 8 feet thick. Cowbridge U3A History Group learned in December 2019 from speaker Brian Davies that these are the remains of ‘Cardiff’s Forgotten Castle’, sited on the edge of a ridge overlooking the city.

Trees are growing on some of the walls, while large arboreal roots are gradually undermining others. The remnants of the keep, some 15 feet higher than the surrounding ground, are now very badly overgrown.

Neglect and the plundering of stones for other building works have sorely-affected Morgraig Castle.

A view of Morgraig Castle 1

A view of Morgraig Castle 2

A view of Morgraig Castle 3

The ruins are open to the public at their own risk, although Mr Davies said that, when he last visited the site, the key to the gate had been lost!

As well as the keep, there were four horseshoe-shaped towers at the corners of the irregularly-shaped fortification. On one side, the castle perimeter wall of the castle is along the ridge top. There are commanding views to the south over the Cardiff plain, but visibility to the north is poor.

Mr Davies noted that he paced out the size of the construction and, crudely, it occupies about twice the area of the well-known Castell Coch at Tongwynlais, so a not insubstantial building.

The Cardiff Naturalists’ Society organised excavations at the castle in the early 20th Century, which led to conclusions that it had been built in the 13th Century, but perhaps never completed. A number of reconstruction drawings were made and Mr Davies now has a large papier-mâché model of the medieval castle in his possession (unfortunately the Town Hall stairs precluded his bringing it along).

The keep of Dolwyddelan castle in Snowdonia is probably similar in shape and size to that of the less well-preserved South Wales fortress, based on the ratio of wall thickness to height.

A view of Morgraig Castle 4

Reconstruction of Morgraig Castle

The Keep of Dolwyddelan Castle

Morgraig Castle was built either by the Anglo-Norman lords of the de Clare family from Glamorgan or the Welsh lords of Senghennydd, but there has been fierce debate about the origins of the ruins.

Mr Davies clearly favoured the Welsh construction theory, citing the lack of evidence in the mass of Norman documentation for construction by the de Clares. The strategic position of the castle overlooking the plain, rather than protecting a route inland, also suggests a defensive fortification to oppose the Normans.

If an Ordnance Survey map is consulted, Morgraig Castle appears to be just inside the border of Caerphilly County Borough Council, so perhaps the title of the talk should be amended to ‘Caerphilly’s Forgotten Castle’!

Morgraig Castle and the county border

The meeting concluded with the traditional History Group’s Christmas buffet.

Steve Monaghan