Everything you wanted to know about Montgomery Castle

The story of the castle is entwined with its older neighbour to the north east at Hendomen, an old Roman fort which had been rebuilt by the Norman Earl, Roger de Montgomery, soon after the conquest of 1066.

The motte and bailey castle guarded the Rhyd Chwima, a key ferry crossing of the Severn River, and the Severn River Valley road which connected the Welsh borderlands with the Marches.

The castle and the defences of the township of Montgomery was passed to Baldwin de Boulers during a time of growing unrest along the Welsh border as native forces rose under Llywellyn ap Iorwerth.

Hendomen was seized by Welsh forces in 1214.

The English captured some of the surrounding lands and tasked Hubert de Burgh to oversee the construction of a new castle with work beginning in 1223.

Construction took place under threat of constant attack from Llywellyn’s army who launched an unsuccessful attack in 1228 with the surrounding forest cleared to ensure no further attempts.

The castle survived another attack in 1231 when the township was burned down.

Montgomery Castle is 800 years old this weekend. Picture: Mark Weston.

Hubert de Burgh paid the price and Montgomery Castle was claimed by the English Crown which funded repairs before being granted to Guy de Rocheford as newly appointed constable.

Llywellyn’s son, Dafydd, also ravaged the town in 1245 but the castle once again remained impenetrable.

The castle was defended by a drawbridge and the crossing to the inner ward was further defended by a gatehouse with two round towers.

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The new constable was at the helm as the middle ward was rebuilt in stone by 1253 and included a chapel, bakehouse and courtyard before being handed over to the future King Edward I the following year.

At the same time Welsh independence sentiments were growing.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Gwynedd, emulated his grandfather by invading the Severn Valley in 1257 and banished his rival, Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, Prince of Powys, before burning Montgomery to the ground.

Montgomery Castle is 800 years old this weekend. Picture: Mark Weston.

A decade later the castle which had survived Llywelyn’s attack was the site of an historic proclamation when King Henry III met him at Montgomery Castle and recognised him as Prince of Wales.

The peace did not last long and upon the succession of King Edward I the First War of Welsh Independence broke out in 1276 and ended with the defeat of the prince and fall of east Wales.

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The castle was the sight of a tragic accidental death on New Year's Day 1288 when Maud Vras, a local widow, ventured to the castle to claim a saucepan which had been lent to William of St Albans, the assistant constable, only to be crushed by a falling rock through the portcullis.

The case dragged on for almost a decade until William was cleared of murder.

King Edward I had continued to invest in the castle which was expanded with the construction of a new great hall, kitchen and bakery as well as commanding the town’s defences strengthened with stone walls.

Montgomery Castle is 800 years old this weekend. Picture: Adam Cusack/G17 Photography.

The town and castle became a base for the English armies during the Second War of Welsh Independence in 1282 before the final Welsh defeat in 1295 signalled the end of its importance.

Yet it would briefly belong to the most powerful man in the land.

The English crown had fallen to Edward II following the death of his father in 1308 whose reign was dominated by an unsuccessful war in Scotland, famine, rebellion and political executions.

The Marcher lord, Roger Mortimer, escaped the Tower of London and fled to France after a failed revolt in 1323.

A year later he was joined by Edward II’s wife, Queen Isabella, who had returned to her homeland to plot the downfall of her husband who was forced to flee to Wales where he was captured and later killed.

Mortimer became de facto king of England, made Earl of March and gifted Montgomery Castle by Queen Isabella until his own execution at Tyburn when King Edward III came of age in 1330.

By 1343 much of the castle had fallen into disrepair.

Roger Mortimer, second earl of March, refurbished the castle around 1359 and remained at the helm when Owain Glyndwr attacked and plundered the town in 1402 with the castle unbreached.

The castle remained in Mortimer’s hands until 1425 when it was returned to the crown and Richard, Duke of York while King Henry VIII had also funded its upkeep during the 1530s and 1540s.

In 1534 the castle was further rebuilt as an administrative centre for the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and between 1622 and 1625 the castle was further renovated with Sir Edward Herbert funding the construction of a timber manor in the outer ward.

The English Civil War brought Montgomery Castle back to prominence in 1644.

Lord Edward Herbert of Chirbury surrendered the castle to Sir Thomas Myddleton and Thomas Mytton’s Parliamentarian armies which became the site of a siege and largest battle in Wales during the conflict.

Parliament prevailed at the Battle of Montgomery on September 18th, 1644.

However, loyalties remained divided and Sir John Pryce of Newtown, the Parliamentary appointed castle governor defected back to the side of the Royalists within six months of the battle.

Much of Wales rose again in the 1648 Second English Civil War and the castle walls were demolished by Parliament in June 1649, despite opposition from the 2nd Lord Herbert, who succeeded his father in 1648 who was the last to use the castle as a residence and was buried at Montgomery in 1655.