Woolly says – The human was late! Alfie the dog and I had been sat at the front door ready to go at 7.30am and there were no signs of life, forty minutes later and all that could be heard was an odd snore from the main bedroom, this really wasn’t acceptable for a day out. With no other option I unleased the beast and told the mutt to do his worst, five minutes of him scratching at the door followed by thirty seconds of him barking seemed to do the trick and the bleary eyed women appeared.
Having been woken from a deep sleep by the noise of the two of them, realising that I had indeed slept very late for me I raced to get ready before the noise level increased even more.
Woolly says – Finally in the car with the sat nav programmed I rubbed my paws in glee, today wasn’t about going to one castle, not even two castles but a whole THREE castles, my cup runneth over with joy. The Three Castles comprised of the fortifications of Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle in Monmouthshire, Wales. The castles were established by the Normans in the wake of their conquest of England in 1066, to protect the route from Wales to Hereford. In 1135, a major Welsh revolt took place and in response King Stephen brought the castles together to form a lordship, which continued to play a role in defending the region for several centuries. In 1201 King John gave all three of the castles to a powerful royal official called Hubert de Burgh who used them to live in and provide homes for his family and friends. They were eventually acquired by the lawyer Harold Sands, who carried out some conservation of the sites; he went on to give the two of the castles to the National Trust, whilst Skenfrith was placed into the care of the state in 1936, and extensive repair work was carried out is now managed by Cadw.
First castle of the day was to be Skenfrith, set in the small village of the same name on the banks of the river Monnow. It was a tiny place with no shops or any other facilities except for the castle a church and a few houses. Climbing out of the car we entered the castle grounds taking in the impressive layout with its curtain walls and rounded towers at each corner with a large tower taking centre stage.
A number of excavations had taken place resulting in being able to see the size of some of the rooms which would have formed the kitchens and lower areas of the castle.
Sadly, Skenfrith didn’t perform well as a castle as the river rose every winter and engulfed parts of it under water. We headed onto the riverbank through a small archway finding it only a few metres away from us. The former dock area lay scattered around.
It was a small castle but one I would have loved, well except for getting my paws wet! Jo pointed towards the church a few feet away with its rather lovely wooden dovecote tower, needing no encouragement I was through the church gates and taking a closer look within moments.
The Church of St Bridget (or St Bride) is medieval in origin, with the earliest parts believed to date from the reign of King John (1166 to1216), it was extended in the fourteenth and again in the sixteenth century, sympathetically restored in 1896 and again in 1909–10.
The interior was lovely with its arched walls and wooden ceiling.
A list of vicars took us back through the centuries as did the chest tomb of John Morgan who died 1557 and was Member of Parliament for the Monmouth Boroughs, Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster and last Governor of the Three Castles. Eager to head onwards we walked back to the car and set out for castle number two.
Grosmont is a village and community near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, with a population of 920, the villagers have a small post office and a pub for their entertainment, they didn’t however have any parking for the castle, and I had to sit very patiently in the passenger seat as the human tried to fit the car into a hedge. A lane took us towards the castle itself and it was very impressive.
Still not the biggest, although bigger than Skenfrith, it was set at the top of a hill with glorious views across the valley.
I trotted across the bridge and found myself in a courtyard area with the main hall to the right,
Barking Boy led the way into the main hall where great gatherings would have once taken place, it was wonderful.
On the opposite side of the courtyard was an impressive looking ruined tower with its empty windows looking at views in all directions.
A smaller tower with far less windows stood in one corner.
But even more interesting was what appeared to be an incredibly high chimney stack with a topper which had been added in the 14th century. It was a lovely place and all the better as we had it all to ourselves.
A ten minute drive along single track lanes took us to the last of the three and the biggest. White Castle also known historically as Llantilio Castle, is near the village of Llantilio Crossenny in Monmouthshire. As we approached it the walls surrounding the outer bailey were extensive.
We wandered to each of the places where towers had once stood but other holes and a few empty windows there wasn’t a vast amount to see.
The inner bailey was protected by its moat, filled with reeds and plant life it looked very pretty, certainly prettier than it would have looked when the sewage had fed into it during the castle’s main years.
Crossing the bridge, we entered through a large archway where the remains could be seen of the workings for the drawbridge.
Small passageways led into what had once been the access to the higher floors of the towers, Alfie the Dog ignoring the DO Not Climb signs proceeded to start making his way upwards until Jo brought him back down again.
The inner ward showed some of the foundations that still remained including the well.
The towers that had been dotted along the curtain wall were much bigger than the previous two castles and seemed to rise much higher into the sky.
It was lovely as were its sister castles, Mr De Burgh had been a lucky man to have owned them all, I climbed back into the car considering how I would use the three castles and who I would invite to live in them with me.