gallery

Patricia Yates 20th Century
Farm Near Carreg Cennen Carmarthenshire, Wales

" P Yates"

pencil and watercolour
29 x 38.50 cm.

Unframed

Notes

Margaret's parents were tenant farmers of the Cawdor estate and mostly 'just' farmed sheep, cattle and some Welsh Mountain ponies on a basic small welsh hill farm - however in "1963" they bought the farm when the estate was sold off and due to a legal discrepancy on the part of the sellors they bought the castle as part of the transaction without really realising they were doing so - the Cawdor estate made an offer to buy it back for £400 but they refused and kept it.

Bernard and Margaret are now in charge and the business has been developed by them to the visitor attraction that it now is: Historic Monument, Neolithic cave dwelling, (link to The Castle) 'The Barn' built rustically with Green oak in 1996 with seating for 100 people, a gift Shop housed in the old stables and cart house (link to tea rooms and gift shop), 'The Wood Shed' was built with Green Oak in 2011 and is now our centre for Wedding Ceremonies, Naming Ceremonies, conferences, Events and Afternoon tea parties. The 11th Century Longhouse is nestled in the centre of the old farm yard and houses an extensive display of agricultural artefacts sources from all over the UK. This is all ran alongside a working farm with 50 Longhorn Cattle, 300 Welsh mountain, Cheviot, Glamorgan, Balwen, Exmoor Horn and Soay Sheep and a few Thoroghbred racehorses are usually around depending on who's in or out of training at the time. Needless to say Bernard and Margaret don't have much time for holidays!

The Farm at Carreg Cennen is very much a working hill farm and depending on the time of year that you visit there may be animals around for you to see but we do not guarantee this. The main Stock on the Farm are the Herd of prize winning Longhorn Cattle. Being a Hill Farm of some 100 acres at 1000ft above sea level means that Sheep are also essential in keeping the grazing pastures neat - from mid March to mid April annually Lambing takes over at the farm . Horses have always been a big part of the farm from Welsh Mountain Section A's in the 1960's to Winning Thoroughbred races we breed today.

Carreg Cennen Castle (Welsh: Castell Carreg Cennen meaning Cennen Rock Castle) is a castle sited on a high rocky outcrop overlooking the River Cennen, close to the village of Trap, four miles south east of Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The castle is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its location has been described as spectacular, due to its position above a limestone precipice.It has been in a ruinous state since 1462 and is now in the care of Cadw, the Welsh Government historic environment service.

Carreg Cennen Castle consists of a strongly-walled and towered square court. There are six towers, all of different shapes, including a great twin-towered gatehouse on the north side. A range of apartments on the east side of the inner court, or ward, includes a hall, kitchens, chapel, and the so-called 'King's Chamber'. This chamber has a well-carved stone fireplace, and traceried windows, one facing into the courtyard, the other outwards commanding impressive views to the south. These date from the late 13th or early 14th century.

The castle is protected by limestone cliffs to the south and rock-cut ditches to the west. To the north and east there is an outer ward, and within that a barbican, gatehouse. Three drawbridges over deep pits protected the access to the inner ward. In the south-east corner of the inner ward steps lead to a vaulted passage and a natural cave beneath the castle, which leads deep into the hillside. A freshwater spring rises in the cave, which would have been a useful supplement during dry weather when the castle would have had difficulty harvesting rainwater in filling the rainwater cisterns. The castle is under the care of Cadw, who have stabilised and, to a limited extent, restored some of the remains. The castle is accessed via a steep climb up the hill from Castell Farm, which is near the car park. A large threshing barn has been converted to tearooms and a shop, whilst the majority of the farm buildings, around a traditional farmyard, retain their agricultural purposes. Since 1982 these have been part of a farm park with rare and unusual breeds of cows and sheep. This castle did not have a keep as such; the gatehouse acted as the castle's keep because this was the tallest part of the Castell Carreg.

The Carreg Cennen Disturbance, a zone of ancient geological faults and folds stretching from Pembrokeshire to Shropshire, gains its name from this location where it is most impressively revealed. The rocky outcrop on which the castle is perched is an isolated block of Carboniferous Limestone trapped within two faults which form a part of the disturbance. In contrast, the immediately surrounding countryside is underlain by Old Red Sandstone.This disturbance is probably also responsible for the alignment of the Afon Cennen to the west of this location where the river follows the line of the fault for over 2.5 mi / 4 km because firstly glaciers during the Ice Age then more recently the river have found it easier to erode these deformed rocks.

Human remains found at the site date human activity here back to prehistoric times. The site may well have also been an Iron Age hillfort.

Roman coins from the 1st and 2nd century have also been found, although it is unlikely the Romans occupied this site on a permanent basis.

The first masonry castle was probably built by the Lord Rhys, who died in 1197, and it remained a possession of the Deheubarth dynasty for the next 50 years. In 1248 Rhys Fychan ap Rhys Mechyll's mother Matilda de Braose, to spite her son, granted the castle to the Norman English, but before the English took possession of it Rhys captured the castle.

For the next 30 years it changed hands frequently between Rhys and his uncle Maredudd who were fighting for control of the Kingdom of Deheubarth. In 1277 it was captured by the English, recaptured by the Welsh in 1282 and in English hands again the following year.

In 1283 Edward I granted the castle to John Giffard, the commander of the English troops at Cilmeri where Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (The Last) was killed. Giffard was probably responsible for the remodelled castle we see today.

In early July 1403 Owain Glyndŵr, together with 800 men, attacked Carreg Cennen, but, although inflicting severe damage to the walls, failed to take the castle. It was defended against Glyndwr's forces, who laid siege to it for several months, with Owain himself present, by a man who was to marry one of Glyndwr's daughters just a few years later, Sir John Scudamore of Herefordshire. The damage was repaired in 1409. However, in 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, Carreg Cennen became a Lancastrian stronghold. A Yorkist force subsequently captured the castle and set about demolishing it with a team of 500 men.

Ownership of the castle passed to the Vaughan and Cawdor families, and from the 18th century it started to attract artists (Turner sketched the castle in 1798). The second Earl Cawdor began an extensive renovation in the 19th century, and in 1932 Carreg Cennen was given to the guardianship of the Office of Works. In the 1960s Carreg Cennen Castle was acquired by the Morris family of Castell Farm, when Lord Cawdor's legal team made a mistake in the wording of the deeds and included the castle as part of the farm. Today, the castle remains privately owned by Margaret and Bernard Llewellyn, daughter and son in law of the late Mr. Gwilim Morris. The castle is now maintained by Cadw.