Wales · Partial ruin
Manorbier Castle
Castell Maenorbŷr
Manorbier Castle is a Norman enclosure castle on a natural coastal promontory in Pembrokeshire, Wales, founded by the de Barry family in the late 11th century. It retains substantial curtain walls, a mixture of round and square towers, and domestic ranges including a Great Hall and a chapel; parts were slighted in the 17th century and partially repaired in the 19th. The site is privately owned and open to the public with gardens, a dovecote and a mill on the grounds.
First raised
1200
Its prime
1260
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1260
What Manorbier Castle looked like in its prime.
An enclosed limestone castle perched on a coastal promontory, with continuous curtain walls linking a mix of round and square towers; pale, locally quarried stone faces and crenellated parapets. A prominent tower gateway with a narrow passage, embrasures and heavy wooden door protects the inner ward, while a smaller postern gate drops to the beach. Domestic ranges with larger glazed windows and steep timber roofs back onto an inner courtyard; a small vaulted chapel adjoins these ranges, its plaster and frescoed surfaces visible inside.
Its story
The story of Manorbier Castle.
Odo de Barri's timber castle and William's limestone, late 11th century to the 1140s
The land at Manorbier was granted to Odo de Barri, a Norman knight, at the end of the 11th century, and the castle he raised was a motte and bailey with a wooden keep defended by a palisade and earthwork embankments. Early in the 12th century his son William de Barri strengthened the fortification in locally quarried limestone. It stands on a natural coastal promontory five miles south-west of Tenby and has no external moat, and a postern gate gave onto the beach and the sea. The domestic ranges — kitchens, apartments and a great hall — were completed in the 1140s. Manorbier was held as part of a mesne lordship under the medieval Earls of Pembroke.
The gateway, the neck ditch and the chapel of c. 1260
The enclosure is walled with curtains and round and square towers, the south-east tower round and the north-east angular. The main entrance to the inner ward is a tower gateway with a portcullis, a roof, embrasures and a heavy door of iron and wood; there was no barbican. Earthworks completed an outer ward, and a bridge across a neck ditch linked it to the inner. A chapel with elaborate vaulting and plaster-work was built in about 1260, and some of the original medieval frescoes survive. In the domestic range, windows replaced the arrowslits.
Gerald of Wales, born at the castle in 1146
Gerald of Wales — Giraldus Cambrensis, the great scholar of the 12th century — was born at Manorbier in 1146, the fourth and youngest son of William de Barri, who was related on his mother's side to the Welsh princess Nest ferch Rhys. He wrote of his birthplace: 'In all the broad lands of Wales, Manorbier is the most pleasant place by far.'
Two attacks: Richard de Barri in 1327, Parliament in 1645
In its whole history the castle was attacked only twice, and both were minor skirmishes. In 1327 Richard de Barri assaulted Manorbier in a dispute over the family succession. Three hundred years later, during the English Civil War, Parliamentarian forces seized the castle in 1645 and then slighted it to prevent further military use by the Royalists.
Decay, J. R. Cobb's repairs of 1880, and private ownership today
Through the 17th and 18th centuries Manorbier fell into decay. In 1880 the castle was partially restored by J. R. Cobb, a tenant who carried out repairs to the buildings and the walls. It is a Grade I listed building, a scheduled monument and a National Monument of Wales. Still privately owned, it is open to the public together with the gardens, the dovecote and the mill, serves as a wedding venue, and part of it has been converted into a holiday cottage.
Step inside
12 places to explore in 1260.
The record describes 12 distinct spots at Manorbier Castle, including 4 interiors: inner ward tower gateway (portcullis), great hall, kitchens and service rooms and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Manorbier Castle.
The families that held Manorbier Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
de Barry
Held by the de Barry family from the late 11th century, when Odo de Barri was granted the land.
