Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales; containing a record of all ranks of the gentry ..with many ancient pedigrees and memorials of old and extinct families . destruction of the place ; one writersays that to prevent its being turned again against the peace of the county they dismantledthe walls, threw down the gates, filled up the ditches, and left its towers for a habitationof owls. So important a post, however, while a state of war continued, was not to remain a ruin. 254 CARMARTHENSHIRE. It was again possessed and rebuilt by the Normans : for after the next L
Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales; containing a record of all ranks of the gentry ..with many ancient pedigrees and memorials of old and extinct families . destruction of the place ; one writersays that to prevent its being turned again against the peace of the county they dismantledthe walls, threw down the gates, filled up the ditches, and left its towers for a habitationof owls. So important a post, however, while a state of war continued, was not to remain a ruin. 254 CARMARTHENSHIRE. It was again possessed and rebuilt by the Normans : for after the next Llewelyn (aplorwerth) had obtained a victory over the English at Dinefawr, 1257, he advanced toLlanstephan Castle, besieged, and took it. The Castle of Laiigharne, on a level site at the mouth of the little river Taf, was once apowerful and extensive fortress, though of dimensions far more contracted than those ofCydweli and Llanstephan. This place is mentioned occasionally in the old chronicles asAbc7-cora)i, the name by which it was known in ancient times. It then came to be called,perhaps from the situation of the castle, Tal-Llacharn, the head or front of Llacharn ; at last. Laugharne Castle. this was euphonized into Laugharne. Giraldus, 11S8, has Talachar. Some have con-jectured that the town was called by its modern name from General Laugharne, who tookit for the ParUament in 1644; but to this the answer is sufficient that in Speeds map of1610 its name is Llacharn. Less is known of the history of this massive fortress than of Cydweli and has been said that it was first built in the eleventh century; it was taken by the Lord Rhys, 1189, under the name Abercorran Castle, and destroyed in 1214 or 1215 by Llewelynthe Great. A Norman Lord Marcher of an inferior grade, De Brian by name, afterwardstook it up as his stronghold, and seems to have become an established resident of theplace. Having by some means—probably the usual means of fire and swor
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