A Cadw-funded project cleared, surveyed and stabilised the ruins, and the results will inform how the castle is looked after
Castell Carndochan: A Little-Known Welsh Prince’s Castle Near Llanuwchllyn Gets Its Stones Counted
A Cadw-funded project cleared, surveyed and stabilised the ruins, and the results will inform how the castle is looked after
By Bethan Morgan, history student and crafter
Thursday, Cafe, Rain on the Glass
Dear diary, the Heneb project page describes Castell Carndochan, which it calls a little-known stone castle of the Welsh princes, thought to date to the time of either Llywelyn ap Iorwerth or Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. It is near Llanuwchllyn in Gwynedd. The page gives no precise construction date.
I read it in a cafe with a cup of tea and a feeling of kinship. A little-known castle is one I can relate to.
What They Found
The page says excavation uncovered a D-shaped tower, a rectangular structure and parts of the curtain wall and keep. The remains survive well despite centuries of collapse. The work, a Cadw-funded project, included survey, clearance and stabilisation to address erosion, and an assessment of how much masonry survives beneath the rubble.
Gwynedd Archaeological Trust carried out the fieldwork, the page says. The page is hosted by Heneb, which lists the project, but the page does not say that Heneb did the work.
The Purpose
The results, the page says, are meant to inform the castle’s conservation and future management and to highlight its status as a high-status medieval site. That is sensible. You cannot look after something until you know what it is, how much of it is left and what is trying to knock it down.
I admire the phrase high-status medieval site. It sounds like a nightclub, but is far older.
Two Llywelyns
The page says the castle dates to the time of one of two Llywelyns, and does not decide. That honest uncertainty is the best part of the page. A historian who can say, we do not know which of two men, is a historian worth trusting.
I will not choose for the castle. I will let the stones decide.
A Dull Truth
Most of history is rubble. A castle on a hillside is a heap of stones with a name. It takes imagination and a survey to see it as a tower, a wall and a keep. The work in the page is the dull, essential kind: clearing, recording and stabilising. It does not make headlines, and it is why there will be anything to see in fifty years.
I salute the people with trowels.
What I Can Do
I can read about it, tell my friends and, if I am in Gwynedd, look for the castle. The page gives no details about access, and the site may be on private land, so I will not tell you how to get there. I will check with Cadw and the local council before I set off.
A little-known castle is best respected from a polite distance until someone tells you otherwise.
A Craft Note
The stonework of a castle and the stitching of a jumper are cousins. Each is a pattern repeated with care, and each can collapse when a thread is cut. I am therefore taking the rubble seriously this week. I have rolled the wool into a ball and I have made a plan.
The jumper will have two sleeves by Christmas. The castle will be conserved by the end of the project.
Night
The cafe is closing. The rain has stopped. The stones are, in their way, patient.
Goodnight, diary. Count the masonry.
Questions From the Cafe
Friend one: can we visit? I do not know about access and will not guess. Friend two: is it as big as Caerphilly? The page does not say, and I suspect not, since Caerphilly is about 30 acres by Time Out’s account. Friend three: who were the Llywelyns? Two Welsh princes, as the page implies, and the rest is for a proper book.
They nodded and returned to their cake.
What I Will Read
I will look for the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust’s report on the work, if there is one, and the Cadw pages on the site. I will read them with a pencil. A heap of stones is a good subject for a student because it asks for patience, and patience is the only skill I have in quantity. That, and a knack for finding the cafe nearest to any ruin.
Haberdashery Reading
In the craft room, somebody always has the paper. Ours had the Cebu condo slump in it: empty showrooms in Manila News, paperwork for British pensioners in the London Prat (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and long showings in Bohiney. More where that came from: prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try The Daily Squib, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/