1. The earthworks remain of an important castle established in about 1110 and then destroyed in 1137. It was disputed, besieged and rebuilt through the later twelfth century and is last recorded in 1208. It is possible that earlier notices refer to a castle mound 1.5km to the east (NPRN 300616).

The castle remains consists of a rather angular enclosure, about 100m north-south by 82m, occupying the southern tip of a spur. This has traces of a rampart and ditch on the north where it faces level ground and is otherwise defined by scarps above steep natural slopes. In the northern part of the enclosure are the foundations of a massive rectangular stone tower, 18-20m across. This was apparently part of a building complex at least 30m across. Within the southern tip of the castle enclosure gentle scarps define an inner oval enclosure, about 35m north-south by 30m.

Sources: Renn 'Early Norman Castles' (1968), 242-3
Davies 'A Company of Forts' revised edition (2000) 42-3

John Wiles, RCAHMW, 27 July 2007

2. The castle earthworks were photographed under severe drought conditions on 28th June 2018 (image refs: AP_2018_1247-50) which revealed a range of buried structural evidence, including ditched elements between the main earthwork mounds, evidence for palisade or fence trenches, and a potential tower base.

References: 

Driver, T. 2019. Chasing the cropmarks: Archaeological discoveries in Ceredigion during the 2018 drought. Ceredigion Vol XVIII, Number 3, 1-33

Driver, T. 2021. Aerial Archaeology in Wales during the 2018 drought: Major Discoveries. Archaeology in Wales 59, 96-114.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, March 2024