Penmaen Burrows Ringwork

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Castle Tower

In the community of Ilston.
In the historic county of Glamorgan (Modern authority of Swansea, preserved county of West Glamorgan).

Small Norman timber castle located on the Gower peninsula. Excavations at the site have revealed a ringwork castle of C12. Two phases of building at Penmaen cannot be closely dated, but the ringwork with its timber gateway is accepted as being Norman. At some stage the gate was destroyed by fire, although whether this was through Welsh attack or domestic mishap will never be know. However, it was replaced by a drystone-walled gatetower, which could have been Norman or possibly a rebuilding by a Welsh lord, Rhys Gryg ap Rhys, who had destroyed all the castles in the Gower in 1217. Penmaen's "Castle Tower" was also a drystone-walled hall with curved ends. The walls as excavated stood only about .35m high, and were probably built well under 1m originally.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Earthworks remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SS53418803

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Monuments Record number; 305605

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 00300w

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/penmaen.html
• Books
  • Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p111
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p187, 198, 308, 310, 311, 359
    RCAHMW, 1991, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan Vol3 pt1a: The Early Castles (London: HMSO) CR18 p123-7
    Salter, Mike, 1991, The Castles of Gwent, Glamorgan and Gower (Malvern) p68
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p168
    Davis, Paul R., 1983, Castles of Glamorgan (Alun Books) p9
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p373
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Hague, D.B., 1971, in Pugh, T.B. (ed), Glamorgan County History Vol3 The Middle Ages (Cardiff) p419, 445
    Grenfell, Harold E. and Morris, Bernard, 1970 (Revised 1985) The Castles of Gower (Merthyr Tydfil) p2, 8
• Journal Articles
  • King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Chateau Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
    Alcock, L., 1966, 'Castle Tower, Penmaen: A Norman Ringwork in Glamorgan' Antiquaries Journal Vol46(2) p178-210
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol112 p77-124
    1962-3, Medieval Archaeology Vol6-7 p326
    1961, Medieval Archaeology Vol5 p321
    Alcock, 1961, Morgannwg Vol5 p79-81
    Alcock, 1960, Morgannwg Vol4 p67-70
    1920, Archaeologia Cambrensis [ser6] Vol20 p300-1