Pencoed Castle, a substantial sixteenth-century courtyard castle, now derelict and abandoned (nprn 543), is located about 8km north-east of Newport, near the village of Llanmartin. Associated with it are the earthwork remains of a Tudor garden terrace, walled garden enclosures of various dates, and a dovecote of c.1600 Pencoed has historical associations with the prominent Morgan family who resided there until the end of the seventeenth-century.

The garden remains lie to the east and south of the castle. The oldest part is a turf covered raised terrace walk along the south side of the castle, retained by a low revetment wall, and dated stylistically to the sixteenth century. A raised path leads from the terrace to a door in the courtyard wall. This path is shown on the tithe plan and on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map (1901). At its western end, the terrace continues past the end of the courtyard into the garden of the adjacent bungalow, where it is grassed over and less well preserved. At its eastern end it is crossed by the later garden wall, here much ruined, and peters out.

The terrace lies along the north side of a large dry-stone walled enclosure, now pasture. This garden area is shown on a plan of 1751, divided into six square sections, each surrounded by paths, with orchards to the east and west. A late eighteenth-century plan shows the garden area reduced, with the western half used as an orchard. On the 1881 Ordnance Survey map the rest of the garden is portrayed as orchard. The large walled enclosure to the south of the castle is roughly level, but there are faint traces of shallow terracing within it.
To the east of the castle there is a garden area surrounded by a low wall, with four rectangular compartments and a central east-west path, divided by low walls. In the northeast corner is a small ruined dovecot, and in the southeast corner is a small building, presumed to have been an outside lavatory. The 1881 OS map shows this garden area in use.

A substantial, square plan, stone dovecote stands in pasture to the northeast of the house (43331). It is dated stylistically to the sixteenth century and is more or less complete but roofless. Inside, evenly-spaced nesting boxes cover all walls, some with a stone ledge beneath. A pond is situated to the southeast of the dovecote and both are shown on the eighteenth-century plan of the estate, where the area is recorded as ‘The Green’. This area is shown as planted with trees and includes the dovecote, a fan-shaped pool and a small hedged enclosure. The area of the hedged enclosure is recorded on the tithe map as a garden, and the whole of the north-west corner is shown as garden on the six-inch first-edition Ordnance Survey map (1886).

Air photos appear to show the north-west angle of a rectilinear feature (?forecourt - see long text) in the field west of castle. It extends at least 64m north by south and is set about 30m before the entrance facade.

About 250m south-west of the castle is a moated site, the site of a possible precursor (220789).

Sources:
Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, p.117 (ref: PGW(Gt)3).
Additional notes: John Wiles.
RCAHMW air photos: 94-CS 0424; 945059/56; 945060/58-9.

RCAHMW, 26 July 2022

Site Record

Pencoed Castle Garden, Llanmartin