Carreg Cennen

This is my take on some local history, and like most histories not all of it is true, but it should be!

The hill on which Carreg Cennen sits falls vertically a dizzying 325ft to the south, and a little less steeply down to a farm on the north western side and dominates the surrounding countryside. The discovery of the skeletal remains of four Iron Age people and a hoard of Roman coins show it has been a site of some importance for thousands of years.
At some time during the Dark Ages the Lord of Iskennen, one Urien Rheged and his son Owain, built a fort on the hill but, being of wooden construction, no trace of this edifice exist.
In the late 12th century the first stone castle was built, probably by Lord Rhys, Prince of Deheubarth. Rhys Fychan inherited the castle but his mother, Matilda de Braeos, a most unnatural woman and a Norman to boot, so hated her son that she treacherously handed the castle to the English. However, Rhys managed to win it back only to have it snatched away again by his uncle, Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg. Maredudd came by his just deserts when the castle was seized by Edward I, never to be owned by the Welsh again.
In the late 13th century the castle was demolished and rebuilt by one John Giffard. Subsequent owners included John of Gaunt and Henry of Bolingbroke. When Bolingbroke was crowned Henry IV the castle became Crown property. Around the year 1403 it was unsuccessfully besieged, but considerably damaged, by Owain Glendwr.
The owner during the War of the Roses declared for Lancaster and after the Yorkist victory, Carreg Cennen was ordered to be demolished, being judged too much of a threat to the Monarchy to ever again fall into enemy hands. Enough structure remains to show how impregnable it was and how daunting a prospect it must have been to any attackers.
The hill itself is riddled with caves and it is thought that these were inhabited as early as the Stone Age. One could speculate perhaps that the hill could have been the site of religious ceremonies, possibly including human sacrifice, which would explain the skeletons found there. Another legend tells of a sleeping warrior, maybe King Arthur himself, who only waits for the call to come to the aid of the Welsh.
There is speculation too on the naming of the castle. Carreg means ‘stone’ in Welsh, and although the hill is comprised of limestone rocks, it seems a bit weak to think the castle was named for its hill. Nor is it likely to have been named after the building material as the name predates the first stone structure.
One theory, recently proposed, is that when Urien Rheged decided to build his fortress he took his builder to the site to get an estimate. Having surveyed the area and seen how difficult it was going to be to transport the materials up the steep slope, and how dangerous it would be to construct the eastern wall on the edge of the precipice, he turned to his Lord and, scratching his head, said, with pursed lips, “Stone me, Iskennen, you must be joking!” Obviously spoken in Welsh, the phrase has been corrupted through the ages and eventually evolved to its present form of Carreg Cennen.

For more information and pictures of this spectacular castle go to http://www.greatcastlesofwales.co.uk/carreg.htm