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This long-term excavation was started in 1981 with the intention of completely excavating the interior of a short-period occupation Welsh castle. It is owned by CADW (Welsh Historic Monuments) who fund the excavation and the full-time stone masons conserving the exposed walls. All the interior of the castle has been examined and the work was completed in July 2000. Post-excavation reports are being prepared.There was a quota of 12-15 students per year at Dolforwyn, together with some graduates. This is a Departmental Training Excavation for 1st and 2nd years, and fulfils the requirements for the undergraduate field course. It may also supply material which can be used for the field project (PORTFOLIO 2B).
HISTORY
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was the last independent Prince of Wales and he controlled large areas of north-west and central Wales until his death in 1282. A major opponent in central Wales was Roger Mortimer of Wigmore (Herefordshire) and it seems likely that his raids into Welsh-held territory forced Llywelyn to build the castle at Dolforwyn. It was under construction in 1272-3 while Edward I was absent on crusade. It is not known how far the building programme had reached when it was beseiged and captured by the English in April 1277; the attacking force was led by Roger Mortimer (later earl of the March) and Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln. Some new work was done to repair the war damage, using grey siltstone and hard white lime mortar. The castle was occupied by the Mortimer family for about a hundred years, but by 1398 it was `ruinous and worth nothing'. After that date it seems to have been left to decay.
Only an antiquarian description and drawing in 1776 and an erroneous Victorian plan of 1877 provide a record of the ruined castle before the decision to excavate the site was made in 1980. By then only a few jagged stumps of masonry poked through the turf and the plan was very uncertain.
THE CASTLE BUILDINGS
A rectangular enclosure 80 m. x 30 m. is surrounded by a curtain wall still surviving in places. This enclosure is protected by deep rock-cut ditches isolating the ridge and by steep slopes along the flank of the ridge. Inside the curtain wall were a number of domestic buildings erected as lean-to structures against this wall; documentary evidence in a survey of 1321 lists a Round Tower (its contents indicating an Armoury), a Square Tower, a Chapel, a Hall, the Lady's Chamber (including among its contents a tub for bathing), a pantry, a buttery, a cellar, the porch of the cellar, a kitchen, a brewery, a bakehouse, a larder, the granary on the south side of the Lady's Chamber, a granary near the Square Tower and a grange outside the castle.
Both the Square Tower, close to the main entrance on the west, and the Round Tower at the east end of the site have been identified and completely excavated. A number of the courtyard buildings along the south range have been cleared but their identifications are not yet certain, apart from the bakehouse and brewhouse. The western half of the north range, parallel to the square tower, has been excavated; the central area of the north range includes an aisled hall and a chamber which was excavated in 1995. East of the north tower lies the north-east room: this has been cleaned down to the latest medieval floor level but it remains to be completed. During 1996-7 the cellar and its `porch' or forecourt were excavated.
Outside the castle to the west stood the town founded by Llywelyn in 1273. This town was replaced in 1279 by Roger Mortimer's Newtown 4 miles (8 km.) to the west on the valley floor of the river Severn. Its site was probably occupied by the grange mentioned in the 1321 survey. A contour plan has been made of this site, as far as the spread of gorse and other undergrowth permits. A geochemical survey was undertaken in 1997 and it is hoped that some geophysical work may be done here, but fuller excavations are not proposed. East of the castle is the main ditch and a further outwork protected by a slight ditch; a contour survey has been made of most of this area. This should be completed in 1998.
WHAT IS THERE TO SEE?
Before the excavation started there were a few isolated stumps of masonry poking through the turf; only the Round Tower at the east end could be made out with any certainty. The different states of decay of the curtain walls made it difficult to perceive the rectangular outline of the castle, though that seemed to be the probable plan. There was no information available about the internal arrangements or buildings.
As a result of the current programme of excavations it is possible to provide a plan of 100% of the interior and a credible reconstruction drawing. At the west end stands the Square Tower or Keep, standing up to 4 metres high, with a secondary doorway on the west, a window opening on the east and its interior divided into two rooms of unequal size; the inner room may be a treasury or prison. A flight of external steps on the west led to a presumed upper floor doorway. Two rooms adjoined its south-west corner: one was perhaps a granary, the other evidently a guardroom which stood alongside the main gateway.
The curtain wall on the west has mostly been destroyed or fallen into the west ditch. The North curtain wall stands in a few places up to 5 m. high, but mostly up to 1 m. Against its western end there was a lean-to building which had one internal drain and up to 3 windows in the curtain wall. Beyond it was a straight flight of steps leading to the upper floor of a building to the east, and probably to the wall walk on the north curtain. The remainder of this range is now being examined.
The curtain wall on the south is largely intact though only standing one metre or less in height. Two major ranges stood as lean-to structures against this wall; the wall nearest the courtyard appeared to be of half- timbered construction. To the east was a storage shed (?wine cellar), to the west was the brewhouse and bakehouse with its ovens. A staircase set against the wall of the keep led up to the wall walk of the south curtain. This staircase is of two phases of construction, the latter phase being contemporary with the three ovens.
At the east end stood the Round Tower surviving up to 3 m. in height and with a curving external stair leading to the wallwork on the east curtain wall and possibly also leading to the upper room of the tower. This Round Tower had been the subject of an unrecorded Victorian excavation (probably by the local Powysland Club in 1870s). It had not been backfilled and this neglect had hastened its decay. The upper floors of this tower were approached by a curving external staircase with a drawbridge at the head of the stairs.
One unexpected feature was a ditch running north-south across the courtyard midway between the Round Tower and the Square Tower. This may separate the storage and industrial functions of the east end from the more domestic purposes of the west end buildings. A bridge of corbelled dry-stone walling spanned the ditch (and was later doubled in width). The full details of this ditch have yet to be determined, but its exit on the south was through a pair of buttresses which certainly flanked an archway over an impressive entrance. The entrance was blocked early in its life by a wall (with a drain through it) at the level of the sloping plinth; then it was again blocked by a wall (with a central gully through it) still standing 2 metres high. The ditch ends at the north quarry pit near the base of a semi-circular tower, whose south wall and west face is now excavated.
Another feature now mainly explored is the stone vaulted cellar (for sheltering a water-storage cistern) at the rear of the semi-circular tower. Excavation has completed the examination of the north range and the north tower (see Interim Reports 1999 and 2000).
EXCAVATION STRATEGY
The main aim of the excavation has been the entire clearance of the castle interior and a selective examination of the space outside the walls. Although the medieval castle of Llywelyn (and its later modifications under the Mortimers) is the principal target, there is an equal determination to understand the after-life of the castle and the processes of decay. Also it is hoped to identify any pre-Llywelyn buildings or occupation, within the present castle or to the east.
The excavation has to observe two constraints: the first is that the field is still used for grazing and therefore the castle interior should not be fenced off or rapidly deturfed; the second is that CADW have a parallel programme of masonry consolidation - and therefore the exposure of medieval walls should not be greater than the masons can cope with in a normal year's repair work. At any rate this second aspect should not get too far out of balance. Now the works team has been increased to 6 men it is likely that the back-log of stone repairs will soon be overcome.
In sequence of work the excavation has steadily moved from west to east, and usually from south to north. The current work is along the north-east range and the adjacent courtyard. Similarly the stratigraphic sequence has been removed in reverse order of deposition wherever possible. Sometimes the need to use the various skills of the volunteer labour force has skewed the process of excavation; occasionally very complicated areas (like the ovens) have proceeded more slowly than the nearby courtyards. Another complication has been the location of areas designated for the dumping of spoil and the accessibility of some areas to site machinery such as dumper trucks.
It is envisaged that the work within the castle will be completed in 2000, with the north tower as the final task. Masonry conservation will take another two or three more years at the present speed. No decision has been made about sectioning the ditches to the east or west or examining any part of the town. Also the final museum destination of the finds and archive has to be determined, but it is probably Welshpool.
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