June 7, 2008
10:00 am	to	4:00 pm

 

Abergavenny Castle

Monmouthshire

June 7th 2008

NP7 5EE

10:00am - 4:00pm

admission £4

Nurseries attending are listed at the foot of the page

Enough remains of this castle to show that it must have been impressive indeed, with very high walls which the 16th-century historian Leland said were “likely not to fall.” Alas, most of them have, the victims of Civil War slighting and for general plunder. From its early beginnings this was an important castle, the headquarters of the Norman lordship of Abergavenny, used for accommodation by kings if they were in the locality. It stands on a spur above the river Usk, in a good position to secure the valley and prevent Welsh incursions into the lowlands.

To the right of the gatehouse is an impressive stretch of curtain wall standing almost to its full height and retaining most of its facing stone. It’s the main remnant of the castle of the second half of the 12th century, built when William de Braose held the lordship. This was a turbulent time, and the castle was the scene of two particularly treacherous incidents. In 1175 William de Braose murdered Seisyllt ap Dyfnwal, lord of Castell Arnallt, a Welsh stronghold a few miles to the south-east, here on Christmas Day. In retaliation the Welsh lord of Caerleon, Hywel ap Iorwerth, burnt the castle in 1182 and went on to destroy Dingestow Castle (now reduced to a grassy mound). William Camden, the 16th-century antiquary, said that Abergavenny Castle “has been oftner stain’d with the infamy of treachery, than any other castle in Wales.” Only fragments of the rest of the curtain wall remain, mainly on the east side where the stub of a rectangular projecting tower is visible. Built into a later cottage, now part of a museum, is the fragment of a tower, and on the north side the curtain wall is much reduced and was landscaped into a rock garden in the late 19th century.

 

NURSERIES ATTENDING:

 

Arren Plants
39 Steps Nursery
Greens leaves
Harptree Nursery
Pennard Plants
Prime Perennials
Springhill Plants
The Gobbett Nursery
Whitehall Farmhouse Plants
Beacons Botanicals
Fairhaven Nursery

 

Click here for Map

 

Email info@rareplantfair.co.uk for more information.

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