Coity Castle

 Visit Date: September 2020

Coity castle was erected by the knight Payn de Turberville at the end of the 11th century during the penetration of south-eastern Wales by the Norman conquerors.

Payn de Turberville was one of twelve Knights (known as the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan) who had accompanied Robert Fitzhamon on his conquest of Glamorgan.

The Welsh ruler, Morgan ap Meurig (Morgan Son of Meurig), not being well enough to fight, offered to marry the Norman’s daughter. Payn accepted the offer and became Lord of Coity.

The castle was built in the form of an earth and timber ringwork fortification.

In around 1180, the castle was rebuilt from timber to stone by another heir of Coity, Gilbert de Turberville

In 1384 the lordship and the castle passed to Sir Lawrence Berkerolles.

He made substantial reinforcements to the castle which resisted the sieges during the Welsh rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr in 1404 and 1405 but in doing so took much damage.

From 1584 to the early 18th Century when it was still partly inhabited, it was owned by the Sydney family, however when Barbara Gamage married Sir Robert Sydney, Earl of Leicester they took up residence in England and the castle had fallen into ruin by the mid 18th Century

Footer:

Visit Information:-

Google Reference
51.52204438045472, -3.5529992499369496

Google Search reference: Coity Castle

What Three Words reference : ///scars.share.spice

Additional information
This is a great ruin with plenty of room for visitors with a small carpark and also a playground outside.

Inside there is plenty of grounds for family picnics.

I have made a short "Photo Tour" on YouTube that can be found here:-

Images of Coity Castle - YouTube

Read More

A early morning visit to the seashore.

Last weekend I again decided to get up early and go to the coast to see if I could take a couple of shots at sunrise.
I had a good idea of what I wanted the composition to look like but as I got to the location it was soon becoming clear that the sun was not going to rise in the place that I expected.
I still set up and waited and actually got a seascape shot that I liked despite it not being as I planned.
I expected the walk back to the car to be in the good morning sunshine and with some good subjects along the way it all looked fair but after a half an hour after sunrise the clouds covered the morning sun and that put an end to those plans.
On the way back to the car I saw some rocks in the sea and decided to try a long exposure of the rock and that produced some of the best shots of the day for me so I thought I would share it here.

 

 

Read More

Cae'r-hen-Eglwys

Quite close to where I live are these two strange standing stones.

They are in a field close to many pathways and a crossroad.

These two Menhirs are approximately 9 feet apart and 5 foot high.

They look ancient but are somewhat lost in a field.

However, this is not such a random place as it would first seem it has some history and this area has been inhabited for a long time. The stones are on a medieval trackway known as Ffordd Y Gyfraith.

This trackway becam part of a pilgrimage route to the shrine of the Holy Rood of Llangynwyd.

Some time ago there were the remains of two Celtic Crosses found nearby which have been removed and now reside in the National Museum of Wales.

There is not much known about these stones and it is thought that they once formed a gateway to the church of Cae'r Heneglwys that was thought to be on this site. Although I have read that there is supposed to be some slightly raised ground here where the church resided, it is long gone and I could find no evidence of this.

I have also read two reports from visitors to the site that the stones are reminiscent of another bronze age site that is 400 miles away in Northumberland.

Sadly I could find no myths relating to these stones perhaps as they are so poorly documented.

Additional Note: I have seen reference to this site named as Meini Dirion (Gentle Stones) but I can not find any old reference to this name, it is also listed on google maps under this name although the old OS maps clearly state it is the site of Cae'rheneglwys church.

Footer:

Visit Information:-

Google Reference

Footer:

Visit Information:-

Google Reference

51.51575293793025, -3.622003925055698

What Three Words reference : ///ears.metals.belts

Visiting is easy but parking not so good. You will need to park alongside the field in this quiet lane.

Read More