Dolforwyn Castle, recently excavated ruins in Powys, Montgomeryshire. Mid Wales SCO 8713
Dolforwyn Castle was archaeologically excavated between 1981 and 2002 as a joint project between the University of York Department of Archaeology and CADW. Each summer for 3 or 4 weeks students and CADW employees excavated the entire site under the directorship of Dr Lawrence Butler while the site was rendered by a team of local masons employed by CADW. Finds from these excavations included part of a leather book cover, a small die, a silver coin from the reign of Edward II and a large array of stone catapult balls from the English siege of 1277. The excavation produced many unexpected features as the excavators removed over 15 metres of debris/infill. These included a small stone lined hall, English repairs to Welsh masonry (shown by different types of mortar), a suspected wheat drying oven and the cistern/cellar well excavated to a depth of approx 6 metres with signs of it still continuing. Some features remain to be explained, such as the true use of the cistern/cellar and why certain rooms (such as the D-shaped North tower) were altered with no apparent reason. Following the death of Roger Mortimer in 1282, the castle passed to his son Edmund Mortimer, then to his son Roger who lost the family estates in 1322 after an act of treason. Dolforwyn appears to have been occupied until the reign of Richard II (1377-99), but by 1381 it was already described as being in poor repair, and in 1398 it was described as being "ruinous and worth nothing." It appears that after this date the castle was almost lost from memory and attracted little interest. The ownership of the castle passed to the Earls of Powis and was subsequently bought by the grandfather of the antiquarian John Davies Knatchbull Lloyd who gave the site to the Welsh Ancient Monuments Board Cadw in 1955. Cadw arranged for excavation of the site between 1981 and 2002 and the monument is now open to the public.
Size: 6063px × 4035px
Location: Dolforwyn Castle, Abermule. Welshpool. Powys. Montgomeryshire. Mid Wales.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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