Abergavenny Castle
The castle was founded circa 1087 by the Norman lord Hamelin de Ballon, and had a wooden keep with a palisaded top and bottom, which was surrounded by a ditch still visible in the castle garden below the lodge. The bailey was also protected by a palisade and ditch.
In 1175 Abergavenny Castle was the scene of an infamous act, the Massacre of Abergavenny. Henry, the third son of Milo Fitzwalter was killed by Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, a Welsh prince, in 1175. As there were no other other male heirs, the castle and Brecknockshire and Upper Gwent passed to his mother Bertha who was a daughter of Milo Fitzwalter.
William de Braose decided to avenge the death of his uncle Henry. He summoned Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, his son Geoffrey and a number of other local Welshmen from Gwent to Abergavenny Castle for a reconciliation meeting, where they were all murdered and their lands taken.
From about 1190 the Normans started to rebuild the castle in stone, first the keep then the curtain walls with five towers, each capable of independent defence. The only remains of the original castle are the motte, on which the museum stands, and a length of Norman bank discovered under the east tower in 1990.
Control of the castle passed back and forth during years of turmoil as the Welsh Marches changed hands in the 12th century between the English and Welsh forces. King John visited the castle in 1215 when it was in royal hands. The castle was at its most splendid in the 13th and 14th centuries, when a huge amount building work was undertaken - the most prominent features that remain from this period are the towers in the western corner of the castle.
As peace returned to this turbulent border area only a constable and a small garrison would have been left in occupation. Since the early 15th century no Lords of Abergavenny have lived at the castle.
In 1645 Charles I ordered the castle to be made uninhabitable as Parliamentary forces approached. It was then used as a quarry for local buildings until appreciation of castles became more fashionable.
