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Friends of Nevern Castle held the annual barbecue on the August bank holiday Monday. An interesting mixture of local residents and visitors from distant parts, including several young families, came to sit in the bailey and eat delicious beefburgers, sausages and rather good beanburgers. Food and drinks were served by members of the Friends committee and members of Nevern Community Council, who own the site. Rory Thomas-Stone, who recently repaired the walls of the Square Tower, was on hand to tell us about the special techniques used in the restoration.

There will be a craft market at the village hall on 2nd March, with the church bells as an acoustic backdrop. Information and tours of the castle will be on offer. The village hall is at the end of Nevern nearest the bridge. From the Trewern Arms (SA42 0NB), cross the bridge and look to your right.

Dr Rhiannon Comeau In the area around Nevern Castle, the estates of Robert FitzMartin’s knights very likely originate in the pre-Conquest lands of Nevern church. Dr Rhiannon Comeau investigated Bayvil as part of her PhD research into pre-Norman Cemais. Nevern Castle was built on land that, before the Norman arrival, probably belonged to Nevern church. This church, dedicated to St Brynach, was a ‘clas’ church like many other pre-Norman churches in Wales: It was served not by monks but by a group of ‘claswyr’ (sometimes referred to as ‘canons’ or ‘prebends’). These claswyr, from the evidence elsewhere, were probably married and held hereditary roles. They lived on small estates belonging to their church, supported by the work of bondmen (unfree workers). Few records of Nevern church’s pre-Conquest landholdings have survived, but they were probably similar to the ‘atria’ and supporting ‘villae’ recorded for 11th century Llancarfan (Glamorgan) in the Life of St Cadog. The Welsh clas churches (which are sometimes called ‘mother churches’) were institutions whose families produced some of the bishops of St Davids, as well as the writers of the Lives of St David and of St Cadog. The Normans, however, had little respect for them: with their… Continue reading Nevern before the Normans

A devastating innovation The castle was an important tool of conquest. Initially built quickly in wood, it served as a base for the invading soldiers, a place to protect their equipment and provisions, and a place to defend from counter-attacks. Once a foothold was established, castles were strengthened by rebuilding in stone. They became living quarters for the lord and his family, as well as an administrative and military hub from which to control the surrounding territory and collect taxes from the population. Castles were a Norman innovation. The motte-and-bailey style was introduced in Normandy in the 10th century, and brought across the English Channel in 1066. South of the Preselis, the Normans were secure in the castles they built. But it was a different story further north, where the Welsh were more difficult to subjugate. In Nevern as in Cardigan and Cilgerran, the Welsh fought off the invaders and occupied their castles. And not simply occupied them, but extended and improved them as well. Both Normans and Welsh extended the stone buildings at Nevern at different times; and it was Rhys who reconstructed Cilgerran into stone, in place of the Norman wooden structure. The Welsh lords took up the… Continue reading Castles come to Wales

We had a great time at the barbecue in the castle bailey on bank holiday Monday. Good company in lovely surroundings, and delicious barbie food! £240 was collected in donations towards the work of the Friends of Nevern Castle.

Friends of Nevern Castle had a stand in the craft tent at Nevern Show on 10th August. Gaynor, Mike, Kath and Alan chatted to show goers about the castle. The aim was to raise awareness of the existence of the site and the importance of the castle in the 12th century. We told visitors how the castle’s history, with its alternation between Norman and Welsh control, encapsulated that pivotal period in the history of Wales. A surprising number of people said they’d lived in the area for many years but never visited the castle, or even known it was there. We collected a dozen new members for the Friends mailing list. We handed out this leaflet about our work.

Nevern Trail Guide leaflet was published in 2016 by Nevern Community Council and Pembrokeshire National Park Authority. It’s now due for a reprint, and so there’s an opportunity for updates and improvements. Friends of Nevern Castle recently had a meeting with other residents of Nevern to discuss changes to the leaflet. We’ve also had discussions with representatives of St Brynach’s Church, the Village Hall, and the Trewern Arms. The resulting revision has a number of improvements over the 2016 version: The draft revised leaflet can be seen here. Comments are welcome! Thanks to the Trewern Arms for hosting the meeting. Update 19/3/2023: The new leaflets have been printed and are being distributed to information points and businesses. If you’d like some to give to your guests or customers, please email info@neverncastle.wales.

Apotropaic symbols scratched into the building’s stones, designed to ward off evil spirits, are rare glimpses of images made by the common people of the time.

What do the physical remains of the Great Hall at Nevern Castle tell us about its appearance and use at the time of Archbishop Baldwin’s reputed visit in 1188?

Gaynor Bussell, Volunteer at Nevern Dig 2009-2018 After working over 30 years in London, in June 2008 I decided to give it all up. I was not sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life; I was not quite 50!  But I had developed hiraeth for the lands from where my family had come and where many of my relatives still lived. I had already moved to Fishguard for the last year and a bit and had been commuting backwards and forwards to London and partially working from home.  An old friend, Paul Harris, told me that there was to be a dig that summer at Nevern Castle. I first discovered the Castle in my school holidays, when Paul and I used to work in the restaurant of the Trewern Arms. (Although my family lived in Cardiff, we spent every holiday in a caravan in Dinas Cross. My Dad was from farming stock there.) I remember Nigel Reed, the son of the then owners of Trewern, showing me the site of an old castle up the road on a hill. Honestly, you could not tell there had been a castle there, but there was certainly something… Continue reading My Dig Memories

The broken oaths of the Lord Rhys would have put him at risk of eternal damnation, according to the tenets of the 12th century. Dr Robert Anthony In 1191, Gerald of Wales, man of God, was outraged by the behaviour of his kinsman, the Lord Rhys: After besieging [Nevern Castle] with a force of armed men, Rhys ap Gruffudd captured [it] from his own son-in law … William FitzMartin … in direct contravention of a whole series of oaths which he had sworn in person on the most precious of relics to the effect that William should be left in peace and security in his castle. In Gerald’s eyes, the offence was made worse, and another oath broken, by Rhys handing the Castle to his own son Gruffudd, ‘a cunning, artful man’ who, Rhys had sworn, would never be permitted to hold it. Gerald makes it plain that these oaths were sworn by Rhys in person following the accession of Richard I in 1189—Henry II’s death having marked the end of an interlude of peace maintained between Rhys and the old king. The oath-taker was Rhys’s son-in-law, William FitzMartin, and it is likely that the oath was sworn at Nevern… Continue reading The Lord Rhys’ Oath

Were there really 18 burgage plots within the castle? Can we believe the claim by George Owen, 16th/17th century antiquarian and lord of Cemais, that Nevern was once a borough, with special privileges?Dr Rob Anthony explains, and examines the evidence. “The town of Nevern, being some time a borough & having a portreeve & courts belonging to it, is now decayed & become rural and the privileges discontinued. It consists of 18 burgages & takes the name of the river Nevern that passes by the town.” Even although no modern historian to date has been able to identify the manuscript on which he based his claim, George Owen of Henllys, antiquarian and lord of Cemais, in his Second Booke of the Description of Penbrokeshire (1600), seemed to be certain of his facts. In his Description of Wales (1194), Gerald of Wales was unimpressed by the Welsh practice (he claimed) of not living in towns or villages, but only in huts of wattle in the remote countryside. This may be an exaggeration but it is true that, in 12th century Wales, houses of stone were vanishingly rare: the construction, by the Lord Rhys (Rhys ap Gruffudd, Prince of Deheubarth) in the… Continue reading Was Nevern really a borough?

Dr Robert Anthony Monday, 28 March 1188: it is not often in medieval history that an event can be dated with such precision, especially when concerning Wales, and we have Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), scholar, canon of St David’s and Archdeacon of Brecon, to thank for this. The event in question is described in his book: The Journey Through Wales (1191), an account, almost in diary form (although with lavish digressions), of the six week mission to south and north Wales by Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury to preach the Cross in support of the Third Crusade. Baldwin & Gerald Archbishop Baldwin, of humble origins, was a scholarly ex-monk from Exeter. According to Gerald, he was an eloquent preacher but not an effective leader of the Church. Baldwin enjoyed the company of the tall, handsome, extrovert, self-confident Gerald – and recognised the advantage of being accompanied by a man who had been born in Manorbier Castle (1145/6) of Anglo-Norman William de Barri and Angharad, daughter of Nest and granddaughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, Prince of south Wales. In short, Gerald knew, or was related to, everyone – Anglo-Norman or Welsh – who might be of consequence in furthering Baldwin’s efforts… Continue reading Archbishop Baldwin 1188

It is said of the bleeding yew tree in Nevern churchyard, “The Yew will bleed until a Welsh King sits upon the throne in the Castle!” The saying goes back a long way. We don’t have a Welsh king yet, but in 2008, Nevern Community Council took the first step by providing a throne. On the back of the throne, you can see the two coats of arms. One is the red and white bars of the FitzMartins, who were the Norman colonists. The other, carrying a lion, represents the Welsh prince Lord Rhys, who led the local resistance. However, there may be a mistake in the coat of arms identified with Rhys. The three ravens and jagged bar come from the arms of another Rhys ap Gruffydd, who lived two centuries later. The coat of arms of the 12th-century Lord Rhys have a yellow border and no ravens. It seems that the mistake was made during researches around the time the throne was built. Coat of arms of Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd, d1197 Gules, a lion rampant, a bordure indented Or. The panels at the sides of the throne are views of the Castle as it might have been.… Continue reading The Throne