MONMOUTH CASTLE

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire was in the peculiar predicament of being jointly administered as part of England and part of Wales.  Inevitably in this area there are a number of large Castles, of which Monmouth was once one of the most important.

It started life as a motte and bailey built around 1067-71 by William FitzOsbern, constructed above the meeting of the Rivers Wye and Monnow.  A circular keep was constructed on the motte, of which nothing now remains, and over the ensuing 100 years or so a large Castle was built on the site.  The main chunk remaining today is a length of a curtain wall with one end of the great hall (pictured above).

In 1399 Henry Bolingbroke became Henry IV and the Castle passed into Royal hands. Henry of Monmouth, later Henry V, was born in the Castle's gatehouse.  Although there is no particular record of a siege the Castle was slighted after the Civil War at which time the round keep was demolished.

What little survives is owned by the local authority and partially accessible, standing as it does next to a car park.  Monmouth also has its famous fortified bridge, which is far more impressive than what little remains of its Castle.

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2001