Llansteffan is a ruined thirteenth century castle, free to visit in Carmarthenshire, in a superbly scenic setting. It is administered by CADW and has fantastic views over Carmarthen Bay.
Visiting Llansteffan Castle
There are no facilities on site and the only parking is at the beach car park, so best to get here early if it’s a summer visit. Luckily, the beach car park has both a cafe, a chip shop and benches to sit and watch the world go by.
My Experience
Our visit to Llansteffan Castle was with our dog and it was a great trip as we got to do a beach walk with her too. The castle occupies a surprisingly large footprint although the defences are not especially sophisticated, especially when compared with nearby Kidwelly.
Llansteffan Castle Photo Gallery
History
The Normans arrived in south-west Wales in the late eleventh century when Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury had seized Pembrokeshire and Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Warwick had conquered the Gower peninsula. Over the subsequent decades the Normans expanded their territory in the region and secured their new acquisitions by constructing castles at key nodal points. Llansteffan Castle was one of these new outposts and was built circa-1112 to secure the mouth of the River Towy, a key artery for communication and movement in pre-industrial Wales. It occupied the eastern end of a steeply sided hillock which had previously been the site of a bivallate Iron Age promontory fort. The castle took the form of an earth and timber ringwork fortification and was constructed wholly within the earlier defences.
Precisely who raised the first castle at Llansteffan is unknown but in 1136 the site was owned by the Camville family. The first surviving record mentioning the castle by name dates from 1146 when it was seized by Maredudd ap Gruffydd. An attempt to retake it the same year failed with a contemporary chronicler recording how the Welsh threw down ladders as the Normans attempted to scale the palisade. Nevertheless, Llansteffan was successfully retaken by the Normans in 1158 and returned to the Camvilles. They then held it until 1189 when it was captured by Rhys ap Gruffydd, Lord Rhys but it was back in the hands of the Camville family by 1192. Soon after, they started rebuilding portions of the castle in stone commencing with the Inner Ward curtain wall. However, the defences proved inadequate as in 1215 Llansteffan was taken by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (the Great). It remained in Welsh hands until 1223 when it was recovered the Camvilles who then made further upgrades to the site including adding the Round Tower and the square Inner Ward gatehouse.
Llansteffan Castle was seized by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last) in 1257. It remained under his control until the 1260s when, once again, it was returned to the Camvilles. They commenced an extensive building programme to enhance the castle’s defences. The Outer Ward curtain wall was rebuilt in stone and strengthened and two D-plan towers on the north and west sides. However, the most significant new feature was a massive Gatehouse Keep which was constructed to serve as the entrance into the Outer Ward.
In 1338 the male line of the de Camville family failed and Llansteffan passed through marriage to Robert Penrees, a powerful magnate with extensive lands in Gower centred on Penrice Castle. His family still owned the site in 1405 when it was attacked and briefly captured during the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion. It was back in English hands by 1406 and later in the fifteenth century the castle was taken into Crown control. Henry VII granted it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, in 1495. He made some modifications to the Outer Gatehouse, predominantly to enhance the accommodation facilities, but the castle’s defences were neglected and allowed to drift into ruin.
References
The CADW site with full opening information (such as it is) is here.
The history above is copied from the excellent castlesfortsbattles site.