CSG Annual Conference - - April 2016 - Longtown

Longtown Castle - view from the west. © Paul Davis, reproduced with thanks.

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Longtown Castle. View from the (Roman?) earthen rampart circumscribing the bailey (to the east). A powerful thick-walled round dating from around 1220, or a little earlier, characteristic of the Welsh Borders, on a large earthen mound within a stone-walled bailey. Set in the beautiful Olchon valley, with magnificent views of the Black Mountains to the west.

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Longtown Castle plan. From 'Longtown', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Here- fordshire, Volume 1, South west (London, 1931), pp. 179-191 http://www.british history.ac.uk/rchme/heref/vol1/pp179-191.

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Plan from the English Heritage 2003 report: ‘Long- borough as well as to the castle’s setting. A compre- town: A Medieval castle and Borough, an Archaeo- hensive and detailed plan was therefore needed to logical Investigation Report by English Heritage’, Ref determine the extent of the newly recognised fea- AI/26/2003,(Historic England). Nicky Smith et al. Be- tures, to revise the boundary of the Scheduled area tween January and March 2003 an analytical survey and to assist site management and preservation of the archaeological earthwork remains was carried work. The second aim of the survey was to improve out by the Swindon Archaeological Investigation team understanding of the castle and borough. The extent following a request from Dr Paul Stamper, then In- and layout of the castle’s baileys, including the na- spector of Ancient Monuments for the West Midlands ture of controversial earthworks to its north, have Region. The purpose was twofold. Firstly the pace of long been a subject for debate. The layout of the new development in the village posed an immediate medieval borough, its extent and the nature of its threat to the archaeological remains of the medieval defences have also been poorly understood.

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ABOVE: Longtown Castle. The cylindrical keep from the south-west. Drawn by S. Prout; Greig (engraver) for the Antiquarian & Topographical Cabinet, 1809, - 15 x 9 cm (copper). The tower was probably built by Roger de Lacy between 1216-1231. BELOW: Longtown from the east. Lithographed by George Rowe from the drawing by Radclyffe for ‘Picturesque Antiquities of the County of Hereford’. c. 1840. Illustration size 20 x 28cm. The view is looking northwest from the south east corner of the large embankment on the other side of the road to the castle (Castle Green). The east face of the castle can be seen.

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ABOVE: Longtown Castle - wall, solid core masonry ‘D-shaped’ entrance towers with square 4 inch portcullis grooves, and keep - from the south. Gate & walling probably early 13th century. BELOW: Detail of the entrance passage, with its centrally placed portcullis. Superstructure missing for the portcullis chamber. The east tower is slightly larger than the west.

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ABOVE: Left. Plan. The Inner Bailey entrance from the . The portcullis and arch is set deeply within the passage, about 20ft along from the apex of the round-fronted towers. Gates to the rear are an additional 5 ft behind the grooves. BELOW. Left: West portcullis 4 inch wide x 4 inch deep square groove. Right: The springing of the portcullis arch over the entrance. The design of the gate, along with the solid core towers is indicative of the period 1200-1210, before the construction of the round tower. Similar period gateways / gatetowers are , Castle Acre, and Helmsley. At Helmsley the groove width is comparable. Widths of between 5 to 8 inches were standard, so Longtown is on the small side.

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Longtown Castle. Within the area of the castle keep and inner bailey as it may have appeared in the 13th century. View from the south. (Drawing taken from the English Heritage onsite display panel). Ewias Lacy Castle, as it was once known, may nual fair. The borough earthworks enclose have been built on an already well-defended about 1 hectare to the north of the castle em- site. Its prominent location, on a spur of high bankments and a slightly larger area to the ground between two river valleys, the Monnow south. The Lacys lost control around 1241, and the Escley, and the evidence of its outer when the Ewias Lacy lordship was divided earthworks, suggest to some that an Iron Age between his two granddaughters and joined camp may have been established here. The Ro- their husband’s estates. But the town contin- mans also may have occupied the site. ued well into the 14th century, when, like The circular stone keep was built by Walter de many other towns it declined, probably due to Lacy probably from 1216-1231 to defend the the effects of the Black Death. new Norman ‘colony’ town of Ewias Lacy. By 1540 the town was referred to in an official Settlers rented burgage plots at right angles to a document as ‘Longa villa in Ewias Lacy’, a long central street. The ‘burgesses’, or occupiers name that was simplified over time to become of the burgage plots, paid an annual rent to the ‘Longtown’. A similar sized eastern bailey de Lacys, who also gained income from renting enclosure lies on the eastern side of the main out stalls at regular weekly markets and an an- road running through the village.

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Longtown Castle. The round tower from the east. Of this window two of the chamfered jamb-stones and one in the head remain, perhaps remains of a C14 window insertion, while the external relieving-arch consists of late 12th-century dressed stones enriched with carved rosettes, (or beaded medallions) or roundels, and the soffit of the voussoirs, which is exposed, is similarly carved*.

*Longtown Castle’s round keep had been held to be a late 12th-century structure. This ascrip- tion was partly based on the character of the beaded rosettes or roundels, late Romanesque in style, carved on the dressed stone voussoirs of one of the ground-floor windows in the round tower. By demonstrating that these are ‘re-used pieces’ from elsewhere, Richard Hartley, Direc- tor of fieldwork in the 1970s excavations at Longtown has shown that the building was con- structed sometime ‘after 1200’. The round keep must be the work of Walter de Lacy unless, which is most unlikely, it was built by John fitz Geoffrey after he acquired Ewias Lacy (Long- town) in 1234. Today, the keep is see as dated to c. 1220s. See: Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, Transactions 49:1/1997, and the follow- ing website page: www.ewyaslacy.org.uk. See also Malcolm Thurlby, The School of Romanesque Sculpture, Logaston Press, Almeley 2013, 174-5 (& fig. 271). who suggests a derivation from Hereford Cathedral.

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Longtown Castle. The cut-away reconstruction drawing of the high-status keep on the motte, from Shoesmith, 2009, 171. View from the south-west. Reproduced with thanks.

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LEFT: The broken staircase turret of the Longtown round keep-tower. It is one of three regularly spaced turrets projecting from the circular plan of the keep. One other is adjacent to the corbelled out garderobe, seen on the right. It is clear that the staircase turret uses precision laid cut-slab winders, and is not vaulted as was the case in all Norman with spiral stairs. The cut slab type stairs were only introduced in England and Wales in about the 1220s (e.g. Constable Gate, Dover). Other examples of circular keeps with outer mini-turrets include Chartley, Skenfrith and Caldicot, all built in a similar period.

The Longtown Project knows when these embankments were built or who built them. Various authorities have de- Longtown and District Historical Society recent- clared them to be Iron Age, Roman, Saxon or ly obtained a grant of £78000 from the Heritage early Mediaeval. Lottery Fund (HLF) to carry out a major commu- nity archaeology project in Longtown. They aim to provide some answers to these mysteries with a programme of historical re- They are fortunate to have not one but two castles search and excavation at both locations. The in Longtown. A little more than half a mile south project is supported by Historic England (previ- of the stone keep of Longtown Castle there are ously English Heritage), who kindly provided the earthwork remains of a motte and bailey funding for a geophysical survey at both sites. castle at Ponthendre. The Ponthendre castle site has never been properly investigated. Nothing Max Lieberman, who has written extensively much is known about when it was built, when it on the Welsh Marches, will be looking into was abandoned or how it related to the castle at early manuscripts, while local volunteers are Longtown. Built by the de Lacy family, Long- researching the more recent history of the cas- town Castle has been better researched but still tles. Excavations will take place simultaneously has its own mystery. It lies within a much larger at both sites, over two 3-week seasons during square of massive earth embankments. Nobody July 2016 and July 2017. Tim Hoverd of Her-

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Ponthendre, SO32562812, south of Longtown seen from the west. Right:Plan. efordshire Archaeology will direct the excava- Ponthendre tions, with the support of a team of specialists ● Over what period(s) was the motte and bai- as well as local volunteers. ley occupied? Lidar data shows that Longtown grew up as a ● Was it completed? small, fortified borough around Longtown Cas- ● Was it a single or multiple phase construc- tle, with about 30 burgage plots laid out beyond tion? the town’s defences. Extensive ridge and fur- ● What form did the keep structure take and row around the town speaks of a very different what materials were used? agricultural base to the sheep country we see ● What were the form and materials of the today. There was no equivalent development bailey defences? around the castle at Ponthendre. ● What activities took place within the bailey? They will be arranging a programme of talks, ● Are there any structural remains still in visits, etc. to keep people informed of what is place? happening. The outcomes of the project will be ● Were any structures robbed out or slighted? published in various forms – for schools, aca- ● Is there any evidence for earlier occupation demics, the general public and tourists. of the site? For further information, members can contact Longtown - Castle Green Martin Cook on [email protected] or if you use Facebook, see ‘Longtown Castles Proj- ● When was the embankment constructed? ect’. ● Was it a single phase or multiple phase construction? For Max Lieberman, see: 2010, The Medieval ● What materials were used? March of Wales: The Creation and Perception ● Is there an internal structure? of a Frontier, 1066-1283. Cambridge University ● Was it faced with either timber or stone? Press. (e-book) ● Was it topped by a wall or ? For LDHS see: http://www.lhsarchive.org.uk/ ● Was there an internal ditch as suggested by the geophysics? Formal Archaeological objectives: ● Is there evidence for buildings within the The objectives of the proposed archaeological embankment? investigation are to provide answers to some or ● What activities took place within the em- all of the following questions for each site: bankment? ● Over what period(s) was it occupied?

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Further Reading Ellis, P., 1997, ‘Longtown Castle: A report on exca- vations by J. Nicholls, 1978’ Transactions of the Thurlby, Malcolm, 2013, The Herefordshire School Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 49.1 p. 64-84 of Romanesque Sculpture, with a history of the Anar- chy in Herefordshire by Bruce Coplestone-Crow, 1995, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 64 Logaston Press, Almeley. pp . 174-5 p. 43, 44-6 (plan) Brooks, Alan, 2012, Herefordshire (Pevsner Archi- Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by coun- tectural Guides: Buildings of England).Yale Univer- ties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 100. sity Press. Whitehead, D. A. and Shoesmith, R., 1994, James Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 Wathen's Herefordshire, 1770-1820 (Logaston Press). (Yale University Press.) p. 181 Morriss, Richard, and Williams, Robert, 1991, Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (rev. edn.), Castles and Moated Longtown, Herefordshire – Notes on the History of Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) pp. 207-17. Longtown or Lacy, and the structural devel- opment of its castle (City of Hereford Archaeology Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: Unit, Hereford Archaeology Series 104) The Norman Art of War (Tempus) pp. 110-164. Stirling-Brown, R., 1989, Herefordshire Castles Phillips, Neil, 2005, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and (privately published). Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (University of Wales) p. 246-8 King, D. J. C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum 2004-5,‘English Heritage’s Landscape Investigation: (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 pp. 208, 213. Longtown Castle’ Castle Studies Group Bulletin , Vol. 18, pp. 89-90 (news report) Renn, D. F., 1973 (2nd edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 231. Smith, Nicky, 2003, Longtown: A Medieval castle and Borough, an Archaeological Investigation Re- Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain port by English Heritage, Ref AI/26/2003, English (Heinemann) pp. 107-8. Heritage (now Historic England). The whole report Toy, Sidney, 1939, Castles: A short History of Forti- can be accessed at: fications from 1600 BC to AD 1600 (London) pp. 97-8. http://www.ewyaslacy.org.uk/Longtown/Longtown-A- RCHME, 1931, An inventory of the historical mon- Medieval-castle-and-Borough-an-Archaeological- Investigation-Report-by-English uments in Herefordshire Vol. 1: South-West pp. Heritage/2003/rs_lon_0245 182-4 No. 3 (plan), p. 242 (photo) McNeill, T., 2003, ‘Squaring circles: flooring round Oman, Charles W. C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn towers in Wales and Ireland' in Kenyon, J. R. and Beetham House: New York) p. 149. O’Conor, K. (eds), The medieval castle in Ireland and Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of Wales: essays in honour of Jeremy Knight (Dublin: England (London: Methuen and Co). Four Courts Press) pp. 96-106. Gould, I, Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shoesmith, R., 2002, ‘Archaeology 2002, Report of Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 242 (plan). Sectional Recorder’ Transactions of the Woolhope Mackenzie, J. D., 1896, Castles of England; their Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 50.3 p. 400 story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of pp. 111-2. England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central Eng- Robinson, C. J., 1869, The Castles of Herefordshire land and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University and Their Lords (London: Longman) pp. 97-100 Press) p. 476. Webb, T. N., 1840, Picturesque Antiquities of the Salter, M., 2000, Castles of Herefordshire & Worces- county of Hereford. Engravings by C. Radclyffe. tershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) pp. 48-9. Storer, James, 1809, Antiquarian Topographical Remfry, Paul M., 1997, Longtown Castle, 1048 to Cabinet Series: Elegant Views Objects of Curiosity 1241 (SCS Publishing: Worcestershire). Great Britain Vol. 6 (10 vols, 1807-1811). Remfry, Paul M, 1997, The Castles of Ewias Lacy, Ewyas Lacy Study Group: 1048 to 1403 (Malvern) (Later Longtown history) http://www.ewyaslacy.org.uk/ especially: 1998-99, ‘Pre-Conquest Castles in Herefordshire’ www.ewyaslacy.org.uk/Longtown/Video-Archive- Castle Studies Group Newsletter No. 12 pp. 33-4 Longtown-Castle/2009/video_lon_0004

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