Skenfrith Castle - Abergavenny, Gwent, Wales.
N 51° 52.707 W 002° 47.422
30U E 514430 N 5747539
Skenfrith Castle (Welsh: Castell Ynysgynwraidd) a medieval Castle built on the site of a 11th Century wooden fortress. Located in the heart of the tiny village of Skenfrith, in Gwent, South Wales.
Waymark Code: WMME3N
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/07/2014
Views: 2
"The first castle at Skenfrith was built by the Normans to protect transport routes to Hereford. Skenfrith Castle, along with White Castle and Grosmont Castle, provided much needed border defences between England and Wales. That first castle was built of timber, and stood atop a man-made mound, made necessary because the castle site lies on level ground beside the River Monnow. In the 12th century the mound was levelled to make way for a more substantial stone fortress to better counter possible Welsh attacks." Text Source: (
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"located on the banks of the River Monnow, five and a half miles north-west of the town of Monmouth. The first defences were built shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, although the remains of the castle that stand today date from the early thirteenth century. The castle is a Grade II* listed building." Text Source" (
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"Skenfrith Castle is the only low-lying fortress of the three castles of Skenfrith, Grosmont and White Castle, now known as the castles of the Trilateral. Like the other two castles Skenfrith is remarkably well-preserved, standing mostly to wall walk height. Again we have no early reference as to the foundation of the fortress, though a castle certainly existed here by 1160 when it came into the king’s hands with Grosmont and White Castle. In 1187 the engineer Ralph Grosmont was instructed by King Henry II to rebuild the castle in stone. The eastern wall and possibly north-eastern tower of the castle, built in a totally different style to the rest of the fortress, was constructed by Ralph. However this work proved abortive and Henry II cancelled the building work in 1188 as unnecessary. In 1193, Sheriff William Braose pushed the unfinished castle into rapid service by placing a palisade around the other three sides of the ditch. A prison was later built within the stockade." Text Source: (
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Street Addresss:
Skenfrith, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 8UH