Welsh Journals

BWLCHYDDINAS CASTLE, BRECONSHIRE, AND THE SURVEY OF 1337 The road south from Talgarth towards the Usk valley ascends a long, steep and twisting hill up to the pass at Pen-y-Genffordd. From here, high up to the east, can be seen a hill crowned by the remains of fortifications. Within a multi-vallate Iron Age hill fort are the remains of a medieval masonry castle, Bwlchyddinas (Grid reference SO 1789 3008). At 1476 ft. (454 m.) above sea level the castle site is the highest in Wales and must have been an unpopular place to garrison in winter. Bwlchyddinas was one of the demesne castles of the marcher lordship of Blaenllyfni, second only in importance to Blaenllyfni itself, the caput of the lordship. There has been some uncertainty as to when Blaenllyfni became a lordship, separate from that of Brecon. William Rees thought that when King John visited his wrath upon William de Braose he cut off a third part of the lordship of Brecon and gave it to a reliable servant, Peter fitz Herbert.' Peter remained loyal to John until the king's death in 1216 but then dallied briefly with the baronial party.2 When he returned to the allegiance of Henry III Reynold de Braose was ordered on 24 July 1217 to restore Blaenllyfni to him,3 and Rees regarded this as the final establishment of Blaenllyfni's independence.4 Rees seems to have been following J. E. Lloyd," and may have been influenced by the fact that by 1212 King John had given Peter fitz Herbert the custody of part of the De Braose lands in England, notably fifteen fees of the honor of Barnstable.6 Blaenllyfni was later described as one-third of a barony, which suggests that it may have originated in a partition between coheiresses. Miles of Gloucester, earl of Hereford, was succeeded by his eldest son, earl Roger, in 1143, but by 1175 not only Roger but his three brothers had all died childless,8 leaving their three sisters as coheiresses. The former possessions of Miles of Gloucester were then partitioned. The eldest sister, Margaret, was married to Humphrey de Bohun, who received extensive lands in Herefordshire. He did not receive the earldom of Hereford, but this was revived in favour of his grandson, Henry de Bohun, in 1200.9 Another sister, Bertha, brought to her husband William de Braose, lord of Radnor and Builth, the lordship of Abergavenny and the major portion of Brecon. The third sister, Lucy, was married to Herbert fitz Herbert (d. 1204). Rees thought that Lucy's portion lay in England,10 but it almost certainly included one-third of the lordship of Brecon, Blaenllyfni. It may be noted that sometime between 1204 and 1212 the earl of Hereford was recorded as holding seventeen fees, of which Peter fitz Herbert held one-third," while in 1220 Peter claimed one-third of the lordship of Abergavenny against Reynold de Braose, though without success.12 It is probable, therefore, that the separate lordship of Blaenllyfni originated in a partition and not from an arbitrary act of King John. The editor of the Complete Peerage evidently agreed, for he assigned Blaenllyfni to Lucy of Hereford.15