Welcome to my page completely devoted to Pencoed Castle located near Magor, Gwent, in South Wales
Welcome to my page completely devoted to Pencoed Castle located near Magor, Gwent, in South Wales. I created this site in 1998 because of an astonishing lack of information on this abandoned castle that was once closely tied with Morgan family of southeast Wales. Due to its current state, it has remained hidden in myth from many people attempting to research it. Also, the page gives a number of good photographs of the castle which are very hard to come by. I hope that the site may assist you in research on this castle.
The Castle itself is a fortified Tudor manor house thought to have been built by Sir Thomas Morgan during the first quarter of the 16th Century on the site of a moated Norman castle held in 1270 by Sir Richard de la More and in 1306 by Maurice and Walter de Kemeys. The castle was most likely erected soon after King Henry VII came to the throne. The remains of the outer walls are still intact and can be seen in many of the pictures below. When the castle was built, it is quite possible and likely that the foundations of the aforementioned Norman castle were used in it's construction. The tower still existing at the southwest corner of the courtyard would seem to be of older construction than the other buildings, and is probably one of the towers of the original castle, and the ruined walls and loose stone cluttering the area would seem to add to this theory. The inner portion of the castle is a stone manor house with battlements at the top of the walls. The interior of the castle currently lies in a state of disrepair and is ruined. Nevertheless, the stonework of the castle is beautiful and represents a peaceful period of Welsh affairs.
In 1485 the Battle of Bosworth had ended the Wars of the Roses and in general the Welsh had backed the winning side. It then became possible to construct a large family home without the need for feudal architecture such as loopholes and gun ports. The Morgans, a powerful Monmouthshire family settled at Pencoed for some time. These were the Morgans that had descended from Morgan ap Llywelyn in 1330, the man responsible for the creation of the surname "Morgan". On the map, the location of the nearby Penhow Castle may also be seen, showing that the Morgans did indeed interact and intermarry with residents of Penhow. It is no wonder that they did, because of the close proximity between the two castles. Many of the historical names of that area and period are found within a work of poetry from 1661 entitled "Prosopopoeia Tredegar". It may be described as "A personification of a Morgan patriarch of the acclaimed oldest branch of the Morgan family, that of Tredegar in Monmouthshire, South Wales". This site is currently the only location on the internet where this can be viewed.
Nearby Llanmartin Church once boasted a carefully wrought chapel with carved effigies of an ancient Morgan knight and his wife but a later owner of the manor stripped the lead from the chapel roof and time and decay laid low this memorial. In more recent times, Pencoed was bought by a British admiral who sought seclusion there after a court martial. In 1914 Lord Rhondda purchased the castle and carried out some restoration. After his death in 1918 the work ceased. Recently, a group attempted to buy the castle and it's land to build a large theme park, but the fortunately the plan dissolved and Pencoed was saved from destruction.
Ruins