48 
their rocky den, taken and executed. After this it was ordered by Parliament 
that the Sessions should be removed to Presteign, where the County Court was 
henceforth to be held, alternately with New Radnor. The men of Rhayader were 
among the royal supporters of Charles I., and were denounced by the Parliament- 
arians as “‘malignant.” A court of inquisition was held here by commission for 
investigating and confiscating the royal inheritance of Charles Stuart. 
We will now shortly glance at what betokens the site of the ancient Castle of 
Rhayader. The position was one of great importance. The original foundation 
of the castle still may be traced. 
The only entrance at present which preserves a communication with it is a 
narrow space on the north-east, between two deep trenches cut out of an exceed- 
ingly solid Schistose rock; the one trench leads to the river towards the north, 
the other is more inclined to the east. I believe we shall have a guide at Rhaya- 
der, and therefore I merely draw your attention to these features to aid your 
research. There were several tumuli around Rhayader, one of which stands at 
the brow of the hill to the west, which overlooks the town. It served as a vigil- 
atory post to communicate to the garrison intelligence of the approach of an 
enemy. The particular situation of this outwork, and indeed of the fortifications 
of the town, which extended from the north bank of the Wye to its southern side 
(having the castle and other tumuli now destroyed in the centre of the line west- 
ward), and leaving its eastern side totally undefended, explains the reasons for 
this construction, and the description of the enemy against whom they had to guard. 
The Normans and Flemings who had settled upon the sea coasts of Pembroke 
and Cardigan were depredators of the cruelest kind. These fellows murdered 
Eincon Clyd and Morgan at Meredudd, on the hills of Cwmdauddwr, as they were 
quietly returning from Aberteifi. Rhys, Prince of South Wales, accordingly 
coustructed this castle in repelling such sanguinary invasions. It was here he re- 
pulsed the attack of the sons of Conan (the illegitimate off-spring of Owen 
Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales), in 1178, who returned to their own country 
stung with disappointment. Some seven years after, Rhys, Prince of Wales, 
being imprisoned by his sons, burnt this castle to the ground. But the old man, 
the father, recovering his liberty, and knowing that this position of Rhayader 
commanded the pass from North to South Wales, re-built and re-garrisoned the 
castle in 1194. It was consigned to the keeping of Cadwaller ap Madoc, who 
manfully opposed the inroads of the house of Mortimer until 1230, when he died. 
The estate of Cadwaller passed to his children, and upon their becoming dis- 
united, it fell into the hands of Roger Mortimer, Earl of Wigmore and Marche. 
Shortly after this event, Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, Prince of North Wales, 
having defeated Hubert de Bourgh, the general of Henry IV., and compelled him 
to retire from Wales, destroyed most of the Norman castles constructed in the 
Marches, and, leading his victorious army into this district in 1410, laid siege to 
the castle of Rhayader, burnt it to the ground, and put the whole garrison to the 
sword. The site on which the castle stood merged to the Crown at the accession 
of Edward IV., and is now vested in the Earl of Oxford or those who claim under 
him, 
