Castell Tinboeth, Llananno

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Castelltinboeth; Tynbot; Tinbech; Timbei, Timpath; Timbod; Tynboeth; Tyn y Bwlch; Tyn yn y Bwlch; Ty yn yr Bwlch; Tilloed; Dinbaud; Dunawd; Dyneneboth; Dwybod; Dynelegh; Dymbaud

In the community of Llanbadarn Fynydd.
In the historic county of Radnorshire (Modern authority of Powys, preserved county of Powys).

Castle is set within an Iron Age hillfort which is roughly circular and about 100m in diameter. The rampart, which is built of stone and earth, broadens out on the east side and the entrance lies to the south-east. On the inside of the rampart is a ditch which was used as a quarry to provide material for building the bank. This ditch was deepened during the medieval period to obtain stone for building the castle. The medieval castle was probably built in the late C13 by the Mortimers. It may have been constructed by Maud, wife of Roger Mortimer after his death in 1282, at which time one of the other Mortimer castles, at Cymaron, appears to have gone out of use. The hillfort defences appear to have formed the bailey or outer ward of the castle while the inner ward was protected by a stone curtain wall and was entered at the north-east corner through a gatehouse which was about 8 metres square. The stone walls are now reduced to banks of rubble. Brown lists a Welsh castle at Llananno called Timbei noting that " This castle appears in English, apparently royal, hands in 1195-6" Since this castle reuses a hill fort, a practice common for Welsh castles but rare in English castles it seems probable to me that this is an earlier use of this site and the Mortimer work was a rebuilding, in stone, of an earlier, possibly abandoned, Welsh castle. Pettifer writes that the Mortimer's were granted a licence to crenellate in 1316. This does not seem to be mentioned by any other source. There is a licence, of 1316, for Roger Mortimer to grant the castle of Dynbuad (and numerous other castles and manors in Wales) to John de Hothum and Philip ap Howel (CPR p491). I presume this is what Pettifer is refering to.

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 SO09027548

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; 96533

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 50477, 3463

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/tinboeth.html
    http://www.cpat.org.uk/educate/guides/radcast/radcast.htm
    http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/tinboeth.html
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of Mid Wales (Malvern) p69
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p178-9
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p55-6
    Remfry, P., 1996, Castles of Radnorshire (Logaston Press) p102-3 [plan]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p411-2, 565-6
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p381
    Howse, W.H., 1949, Radnorshire (Hereford) p268-9
    RCAHMW, 1913, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Radnorshire (HMSO) p58
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p293-4
    Davies, Edwin (ed), William, Jonathan, 1905, A General History of the County of Radnor [reprinted from 1858, Archaeologia Cambrensis [ser3] Vol4] p230 [not very important]
• Journal Articles
  • Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    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
    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
    1911, Archaeologia Cambrensis [ser6] Vol11 p96-7
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents. This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Cal. of Close Rolls, Ed. II., iii., 415, 643
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/hertseng.html#rad3]
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p11