Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

THE WELL-TOWER AT MONTGOMERY CASTLE In the King George III Library in the British Museum is (Shelf Mark XL VII.76.6) what is described in the catalogue as a "coloured view of Montgomery Castle, Glamorgan". My attention was drawn to this entry by my friend Mr. C. F. H. Evans, F.S.A., and, as it was not clear whether the drawing was of Montgomery Castle, or of a castle in Glamorgan, not Montgomery, I obtained a copy from the Museum. It was clear from a cursory glance that the drawing is of the Well Tower at Montgomery, taken from the south-west. The drawing, apparently in sepia-wash and dated by the Museum c.1800, is of considerable interest, as it shows a good deal more than is extant today. In this connection it may be mentioned that, when the Association visited Montgomery in August 1856, it was stated that "About forty years ago a large portion of the ruins fell". This, evidently included the upper part of the walls as seen in the drawing (the artist of which is unknown). An interesting survey of the castle in 1592/3, printed in Mont. Coll. LIX, and reprinted in the official Guide as an appendix, describes the Well Tower "wherein is one grett or dyninge Chamber and one other haule underneath the same, wth a drawing well in the mydest thereof". What can be seen today is the well-head in the centre of the floor of the "haule underneath" and the remains of the north wall, showing the putlog holes for the upper storey, with not much of the masonry above them. The Museum drawing clearly shows the window-frame in the north wall of the "grett or dyninge Chamber", and there seem also to be slight indications of some sort of arcading in the east wall. The tower is dated on the plan in the D.o.E. Guide to the castle as between 1280 and 1350 and, in the text (p. 24) it is said that "the present rebuilding probably belongs to the mid-fourteenth century, and the window opening shown in the drawing (which would probably have contained some sort of tracery) would fit the suggested dates. J. D. K. LLOYD.