Twmpath Motte, Brynteg

Twmpath Motte in Brynteg, Cardiff, United Kingdom was first established by the native Welsh.

Before the Norman arrival the place was known locally as Caer Cynwrig, a Welsh camp whose name combines a word for a fortification and an element meaning a high hill. The alternative place name Twmpath comes from the Welsh word for a small rounded mound. After 1066 the earthwork was captured and occupied by Norman forces, who reused the site as part of their defensive network around the newly controlled town of Cardiff. The fortification was in use as a motte-and-bailey type castle from about 1066 until roughly 1540.

Following the Norman takeover of the area, Twmpath became one of the larger mottes within the Lordship of Glamorgan, recorded as the third largest in that lordship. Robert Fitzhamon is recorded as the founder of Cardiff Castle, and that castle served as the administrative centre of the Lordship of Glamorgan; Twmpath stood among a ring of smaller earth-and-timber fortifications placed to protect the town. Related defensive sites in this ring included Caerau Hillfort, Morganstown Castle Mound, Castell Coch and Whitchurch (Treoda), Cae’r Castell near St Mellons, and Rumney Castle.

Local tradition preserves two stories about the mound. One claims it was raised as a burial cairn around 1089 for Iestyn ap Gwrgan, who once held lordship in Glamorgan. Another popular tale says the Devil himself piled the earth to form the hummock. In the twentieth century the site received legal protection; it was scheduled on 23 July 1930 and has been described by the Welsh heritage body as of national importance, well preserved, and holding significant potential for archaeological information.