Porthkerry Castle and the Legend of Castle Rock

The country park of Porthkerry is the home of numerous legends. One of these legends asserts that Porthkerry was the site where the Norman conquest of Glamorgan began. Robert Fitzhamon and his legendary twelve knights are alleged to have landed at Porthkerry Bay in the late eleventh century and, from there quickly went on to conquer Glamorgan from its native Welsh ruler, Iestyn ap Gwrgant. The story narrates that Fitzhamon fought and defeated Iestyn near Cardiff and promptly stole his lands keeping the most fertile tracts for himself and divided the rest up among his twelve knights. 

This story has been in existence since at least the fifteenth century. The most well known version however was written in the 1560s by Sir Edward Stradling of St Donats in his work, The Winning of the Lordship of Glamorgan out of the Welshman's Hands. Although impossible to verify by contemporary narratives, this story almost certainly represents a popular oral tradition of the conquest of Glamorgan, which has since passed into local legend. 

                                              Early view of Porthkerry before landscaping

Castle Rock 

Another legend based upon a popular oral tradition asserts that there was once a castle in Porthkerry Bay. This legend is perpetuated by a rarely seen outcrop of stone that only becomes visible during very low tides some one kilometre out into the Bristol Channel between the bay of Porthkerry and the Bulwarks Camp. This flat piece of rock is called Castle Rock, and as its name implies, is the supposed site of Porthkerry Castle.

One of the earliest written references to the name Castle Rock can be found on a Victorian OS map dated 1877, in which the name 'Castle Rock' appears next to the words 'The remains of Porthkerry Castle;. The Victorian cartographers who surveyed the Porthkerry area most likely derived their information on Castle Rock from the local inhabitants of Porthkerry. Porthkerry Bay was for centuries home to a small port-the port of Ceri. Castle Rock must have been a well-known shipping hazard to the mariners who once docked at the port of Ceri during the preceding centuries. It is perhaps at this time that the legend of Castle Rock was born.

                                           Porthkerry during the early twentieth century

Porthkerry Castle 

Castle Rock is often cited as being the erstwhile location of Porthkerry Castle, but close inspection has revealed that the rock is a natural formation of blue lias stone, and exhibits no walls, foundations or anything else alluding to a castle like structure. It seems highly unlikely that there ever was a castle on Castle Rock, but if one looks beneath the veneer of legend it does seem that there is evidence to suggest that a castle might once have stood in the Porthkerry area.

Castle Rock at low tide. The rock formation was thoroughly explored by the lads in the photo with no evidence of building foundations detected. Their only find of note was the old anchor which was on the rock. Photo credit – Mark Roberts (left of anchor). This photo was provided by the owner for exclusive use on the Hidden Glamorgan website – please don’t be tempted to post it on social media without our consent.

View of Porthkerry beach where Castle Rock is located

Early maps of Glamorgan, in particular maps drawn by cartographers Christopher Saxton in 1583, and John Speed in 1610, note a 'Porthkerry castle' which suggests that there was a castle in the vicinity of Porthkerry.

However, confusingly, most early antiquarian sources make no mention of a Porthkerry Castle. Leland for example in his Itineraries, makes no mention of any castle or indeed any 'notable buildings' in the Porthkerry area, despite detailing every building of note that he chanced across during his travels throughout Glamorgan, including nearby Barry Castle, which he noted was a ruin at the time of his visit. It seems unlikely that Leland, who was specifically looking for places of interest to record, would omit any castle, ruinous or otherwise, from his Itineraries. Antiquarian William Camden too makes no mention of a Porthkerry Castle. Rhys Meyrick however in his 1578 publication A Booke of Glamorganshire Antiquities, lists a Porthkerry Castle as 'bordering neare the sea-Coast'.

Despite the ambivalence of the historical sources, the maps seem to be a reasonable indicator that a castle-or a castle like structure, once existed within the Porthkerry area, but where was it located and why has it vanished-seemingly without trace? It is very unlikely that Porthkerry Castle stood one kilometre out at sea at Castle Rock. Could the cartographers perhaps have been alluding to the nearby Bulwarks Camp as the site of Porthkerry Castle?

The Bulwarks Camp

 

It has been suggested by some historians that the Bulwarks Camp is the site of Porthkerry Castle. This theory seems logical enough considering that the series of ditches that comprise this Iron Age monument might have been interpreted by some in the preceding centuries to have been the site of a castle, or the remains of one. 

There are many such earthwork enclosures within south Wales, many of which have never historically been given the title of castle. The etymology of the word castle in relation to such structures appears to have begun proper during the eighteenth/nineteenth century during the Romantic and Antiquarian movements. An interesting comparison can be made with Hopkin’s Mount in Sully. This Iron Age-Romano British settlement is also situated on a promontory near the coast and exhibits a similar series of earthworks, yet it has never borne the appellation of ‘castle'. Llantwit Major too contains a prominent Iron Age coastal settlement, known locally as ‘Castle Ditches’ (a likely Victorian appellation), however, an examination of the historical maps of Glamorgan does not show a ‘Llantwit Major Castle’.

If the Bulwarks Camp earthworks was seemingly well-known enough to have been included by early  cartographers on their maps, why then did Leland et al not make note of this curiosity?  It seems unlikely that Rhys Meyrick would have regarded this prehistoric enclosure as a castle. If one reads Meyrick's 'castles bordering neare the sea-Coast' they will see that each and every entry is an actual building rather than an pre-historic earthwork. 

The Origin of the Castle Rock Legend

There is one explanation to account for Porthkerry Castle's seemingly improbable aquatic location, disappearance and subsequent legend: The Bristol Channel floods. 

Contemporary image of the Bristol Channel Floods thought to be depicting Nash church near Newport

In the year 1607 a tsunami devastated much of the coastline of the Bristol Channel killing many people and destroying many buildings-notably St Mary's Church in Cardiff. A wave of approximately 16 ft in height hit lowland Glamorgan hard and wreaked havoc along the Welsh coastline. This tsunami is said to have swept away Porthkerry Castle and left us with Castle Rock.

Later maps of Glamorgan dating from the latter part of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century, however, seem to contradict this theory as they clearly indicate that there was a Porthkerry Castle in existence after the tsunami. The Bristol Channel Floods likely lingered on within folk memory for generations after the event occurred, and as time progressed, was ascribed as the cause of the disappearance of Porthkerry Castle. 

Map by Pieter Van Den Keere dating to 1627-32, showing a Porthkerry Castle in existence after the                                                                         Tsunami of 1607

Despite the confusion regarding the conflicting evidence, there is still the possibility that there was a Porthkerry Castle, but perhaps not the type of castle that one might think.

The Village of Porthkerry

A plausible location for Porthkerry Castle, if it ever existed, is that it was located somewhere near its namesake, the village of Porthkerry. The origins of Porthkerry Village are obscure-but it is likely that Porthkerry began its existence during the medieval period as a sub-enfeoffed or demesne manor to nearby Penmark.

Porthkerry's church, which is dedicated to St Curig, was included in the Norwich Taxation of 1254 and the Taxatio of 1291-2. Many medieval settlements throughout lowland Glamorgan contained a small castle or fortified manor house such as existed at Barry. The village of Porthkerry thus provides a realistic antecedent and setting for a castle setting.

The medieval church of St Curig

There is however no building within the village of Porthkerry that resembles a castle-nor is there any tradition of a castle ever existing within Porthkerry Village. This is of course not to say that a castle or a castle-like structure did not exist within the vicinity of Porthkerry Village, as most nucleated settlements throughout Glamorgan during the medieval period would have contained a small castle or fortified manor house where the resident lord would have administered his fief (fee) or where the steward administered his lord's demesne. For example; we know that both Wenvoe and Cogan villages had castles which were by the early sixteenth century in an advanced state of ruin and decay and which have over the subsequent centuries vanished, their locations lost. Could the same thing have happened to Porthkerry Castle? 

By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries cartographers had ceased to note Porthkerry Castle on their maps. Could Porthkerry Castle have been in existence until the mid to late eighteenth century? It is possible-but seems unlikely, as any surviving castle remains would likely have attracted the attention of one of Glamorgan's antiquarians or piqued the attention of passing tourists, who would have no doubt recorded it for posterity. It is also possible that later cartographers relied upon earlier maps for information rather than actually visiting the places depicted on their maps.

Glebe Farm, Pothkerry village

Glebe Farm-a possible site?

There is one more scenario to consider, and that is the possibility that the village of Porthkerry contained a building that was erroneously labelled a castle.

If the former scenario was the case, then there is one other building in Porthkerry Village that is of sufficient antiquity to be of interest, and that is the farmhouse belonging to Glebe (Church) Farm. This building dates to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century and is thought to have been originally built to house the village's incumbent priest. Could Glebe Farm be the site of Porthkerry Castle?

Perhaps the reason why Leyland and Camden neglected to make any mention of a castle in Porthkerry Village is because the building they saw simply did not look like a castle but resembled a prosaic looking sixteenth century dwelling, which to most contemporary antiquarians with the exception of Meyrick, who was primarily interested in Glamorgan history, would have been of little interest. A reference to this early Tudor building written in 1636 simply refers to it as a 'dwelling house and barn with an orchard and garden plot'. 

                                        Detail of arched doorways within Glebe farm

There are many buildings throughout Glamorgan however that are of post-medieval construction yet carry the title of 'castle'.  

The reasons for these buildings using the appellation of castle often stems from the fact that architecturally many exhibited pseudo-medieval architectural embellishments. Hensol Castle, for example, is a late seventeenth century building that was constructed to look like a quasi-medieval castle. St Fagans Castle, a sixteenth century mansion, too contains quasi-medieval embellishments such as its medieval style crenelated wall which surrounds its courtyard. There is also the fact that many of these buildings were actually built upon the site of, or in the near vicinity of the site of a castle. 

It is interesting to note that Meyrick also included in his list of 'Castles bordering neare the sea-Coast' such buildings as Cogan Pill, Flemingston Court, which frequently appears in historical documents as 'Flemingston castle', and Dunraven 'Castle'. These buildings at this point in time were not castles but rather were substantial houses belonging to their gentry or yeoman owners. Several of these sixteenth century mansions however were built on the site of a medieval castle which had previously occupied the same ground. The appellation of 'castle' it seems lived on through these later buildings. Could this have been the case with Porthkerry Castle?

The site of Porthkerry Castle?

Given that we have presented several different scenarios, all of which seem plausible, it is difficult to draw any certain conclusions to this historical mystery. Is the Bulwarks camp the location of Porthkerry Castle? Did Porthkerry Castle crumble to dust during the late medieval period? Did Glebe Farm carry the name, at least for a time, of Porthkerry’s erstwhile castle? Or did Porthkerry Castle ever exist at all? Perhaps in the future we will find new clues, but the chances are that we will never know for certain, but there are certainly enough theories to keep us wondering. We will leave it to the reader to decide for themselves. 

Find this article in the Barry and Distric News

https://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/20140489.hidden-glamorgan-history-castle-rock/

Mark and Jonathan Lambert are archaeology graduates of Cardiff University and are published authors. They have been writing about and researching local history for the past 20 years and have a wealth of knowledge. All articles are original compositions - we hope you enjoy our content. Enquiries: hiddenglamorgan@outlook.com

©Jonathan and Mark Lambert 2012

The right of Jonathan and Mark Lambert to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted, reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic means, including social media, or mechanical, or by any other means including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the authors.