Mathrafal Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Madrael; Matafall

In the community of Llangyniew.
In the historic county of Montgomeryshire (Modern authority of Powys, preserved county of Powys).

Original capital of the Princes of Powys. The site may have shifted from an earlier one on a hill top 1km away; the motte was probably built either by Owain Cyfeiliog (c1170) or by Robert de Vieuxpoint (c1210). The seat of Powys was transferred to Welshpool in early C13, and Llywelyn ab Iorwerth destroyed Mathrafal in 1212. A banked and ditched rectilinear enclosure, c.100m square, resting on the river Banwy on the SE, with a rather rectangular mound, 35m by 24m and 4.7m high at its NE angle. Previously suggested to have been an e.med royal site, a program of investigation, culminating in excavation in 1989 (Arnold and Huggett 1995) demonstrated that the mound could be associated with an oval ditched enclosure, disused and filled by c. 1310-1430, superceded by the rectilinear enclosure, itself not constructed until after about 1200. The origins of the 'Royal court' tradition have been traced to the mid. C13. A sequence of buildings, ending as C19 farm, occupied the NW angle of the enclosure.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ13171079

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; 306778

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 50455

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/mathrafl.html
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p43
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p148
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p104
    Davis, Paul R., 1988, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Swansea)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p298
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p271
    RCAHMW, 1911, An Inventory of Ancient Monuments in Montgomeryshire (HMSO) p113 No583
• Journal Articles
  • Arnold, C.J. and Huggett, J.W., 1995. Montgomeryshire Collections Vol83 p59-74
    Arnold, C.J. et al, 1988, ‘Mathrafal, Meifod’ Archaeology in Wales Vol28 p73
    Arnold, C.J. and Huggett, J.W., 1986, ‘Mathrafal, Powys: a reassessment’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies Vol33 p436-51
    Huggett, J.W. and Arnold, C.J., 1985, ‘Mathrafal’ Archaeology in Wales Vol25 p42-3
    Spurgeon, C.J., 1966, ‘The castles of Montgomeryshire’ Montgomeryshire Collections Vol58 p9-10
    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
    Radford, 1962, Programme, Cambrian Archaeological Association, Summer Meeting p32
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp90-121
    Lloyd, J.E., 1936, ‘Mathrafal’ Montgomeryshire Collections Vol44 p44-6 [history]
    Davies, A.S., 1932, Montgomeryshire Collections Vol42 p150-52
    Pryce, F.N., 1931, Montgomeryshire Collections Vol41 p161-2
    Lloyd, J.E. and Gardner, W., 1923, ‘Mathrafal’ Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol78 p453-5
    Sandford, G., 1871, Montgomeryshire Collections Vol4 p40-48 [history only]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/glameng.html#mont4]