Kenfig Castle

An early reference to a castle at Kenfig can be found in 1080, when Iestyn ap Gwrgan was said to have refortified it, but probably this was a different structure to that raised alongside the town that developed there in the mid-12th century.

In its day, it was an important Norman stronghold and was built by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, in the early 12th century.

It was a tall, elegant structure with buttresses of dressed stone at each corner and the centre of each side, as well as a hall and offices.

The ramparts were removed to make the court more level and a curtain wall was erected, with a large gatehouse leading to the borough.

John Leland wrote in about 1539, "There is a little village on the e[a]st side of Kenfig, and a castle, booth in ruine and almost shokid (choked) and devourid with the sandes that the Severn Se ther castiith up".

Ruins of Kenfig Castle
Kenfig Castle. The top of the keep is all that emerges from the dunes of Kenfig Burrows.