Montgomery Castle

Montgomery Castle is a substantial ruined stone castle situated on a projecting ridge of high ground overlooking an important fording point of the River Severn, and to the west of the town of the same name. It is maintained by Cadw as a tourist attraction, and is free for the public to enter.

The castle was founded in 1223 at the orders of Hubert de Burgh, the chief justiciar of England. At the time King Henry III was under age, but the ongoing threat posed by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth of Gwynedd in the area meant that the old castle of Hen Domen, a motte and bailey castle closer to the river, and destroyed in 1214, was no longer appropriate. The castle was built of two wards protected by a substantial rock-cut ditch, the innermost walled in stone. This stone courtyard had a twin-towered gatehouse facing the outer ward, a D-shaped tower facing north over the valley, a larger D-shaped tower facing west, and domestic buildings arranged around the wall. It was attacked by the Welsh in 1231, and the following year King Henry sacked Burgh and took over Montgomery. The outer ward was provided with a stone courtyard wall in the early 1250s together with a second twin towered gatehouse, and was strong enough to repel the Welsh attack of 1257, although the town was burned. Following the first Welsh war of Edward I (1276-77), the west tower was largely rebuilt, and the interior buildings were replaced. A D-shaped outer ward likely served as a barbican of sorts, defended the approach to the outer gatehouse – and was probably only ever defended with timber.

After 1295 the castle ceased to have a military function and mostly served as a royal prison, only occasionally seeing action such as the failed attack during the Glyndwr rebellion. It was in ruins by the 16th century, and a manorial centre had to be built from scratch in 1534. In 1644 Lord Herbert declined to defend the castle for King Charles, but when he died in 1648 his royalist heir was considered a threat, leading Parliament to order the demolition of the castle.

Official Cadw page for Montgomery Castle