Cefnllys Town Defences

Has been described as a Possible Urban Defence

There are earthwork remains

NameCefnllys Town Defences
Alternative NamesKeventhlis
Historic CountryRadnorshire
Modern AuthorityPowys
1974 AuthorityPowys
CommunityPenybont

Cefnllys is recorded as a small borough, of about 20 burgesses, in the late C13 and C14. This was most probably in the Iron Age hill fort which functioned as the castle's outer bailey, although the parish church is outside the hill fort on low ground near a bridge over the Ithon.

Surrounding the old church of Cefnllys are a series of hollow ways, field banks with ridge and furrow, and, on the east, well preserved rectangular house platforms ranged around trackways and hollow ways. The earthworks may represent the settlement of the historic borough of Cefnllys, centred on the castle to the east. The earthworks are grass-covered and used for low density stock grazing. (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

Gatehouse Comments

The parish church is a complete late C19 rebuild and its predecessor may represent a post-medieval move of a, by then, village to a more convenient location. However the earthworks by the church reported in the HER (scheduled monument RD150) suggesting this location had some antiquity and it may be a settlement, at this location, predated the castle and the town within the castle bailey was a failed English borough whilst the Welsh village survived somewhat longer.

- Philip Davis

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

Not Listed

The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSO089614
Latitude52.2436599731445
Longitude-3.33540010452271
Eastings308900
Northings261400
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 82, 217, 273
  • Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds), Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  • Soulsby, Ian, 1983, The Towns of Medieval Wales (Phillimore; Chichester) p. 105-6
  • Beresford, M., 1967, New Towns of the Middle Ages (London) p. 570-1

Journals

  • Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  • Brown, A.E., 1972, 'The castle, borough and park of Cefnllys' Transactions of the Radnorshire Society Vol. 42 p. 11-22 online copy