Carndochan Castle

Carndochan occupies a ridge overlooking the Lliw Valley and survives as the ruined stone remains of a compact medieval stronghold. The overall plan included a D-shaped, or apsidal, tower at the western end, a small enclosed ward surrounded by smaller round or semi-round towers, and a square tower at the centre of the enclosure. The castle was constructed in stone using both coursed mortar and dry stone techniques.

The apsidal western tower dates to the castle’s main building phase in the early thirteenth century and survives to a height of about 8 feet (2.4 metres). The mortar in the coursed stonework of this tower contains lime from a different source than the mortar used elsewhere in the fabric of the castle, a detail recorded as indicating separate building phases or repairs.

Two of the smaller towers are built as dry stone structures and are described as resembling towers at Cam Fadryn and at Pen y Castell. Excavation work in 2015 exposed the original entrance, a small half-round tower beside that access, and a length of curtain wall linking the towers. Nineteenth-century reports of substantial ash below the ruins are recorded alongside these structural remains and have been associated with either sacking or intentional demolition in the site’s past. Overall the castle survives only in fragmentary form, with heights and traces of walls and towers visible in situ.