Montgomery Castle

The first castle here was an earthwork, the motte and bailey now known as Hen Domen, raised at the order of Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, sometime between 1071 and 1074. Prince Cadwgan ap Bleddyn and his brothers captured it in 1093. After the rebellion of Roger's son Robert of Bellême in 1102 the castle was given to Baldwin de Boulers, whose name survives in the Welsh name for the place, Trefaldwyn — Baldwin's town. The de Boulers, later known as Bowdler, held it until 1214, when Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth of the Royal House of Aberffraw destroyed it.

Rebuilding in stone began in the late summer of 1223, on the sixteenth birthday of Henry III, a mile to the south-east of the original site. The architect was Hubert de Burgh, who also rebuilt Skenfrith, Grosmont and White Castle in the Welsh Marches. From 1223 until 1228 masons worked solidly on the entire inner ward — the donjon, as it was then known — on a great rock above the later town: a gatehouse, two D-shaped towers, and apartments crowded around the curtain wall. Llywelyn ab Iorwerth attacked without success in 1228, after which the middle and outer wards were added; a further attack in 1233 damaged the well tower, which had to be repaired and re-roofed.

Montgomery was granted a royal charter in 1227, making it the oldest borough in Wales. In 1267 it hosted the negotiations for the Treaty of Montgomery, at which Henry III granted Llywelyn ap Gruffudd the title Prince of Wales. In December 1282 the castle garrison formed part of the army that defeated and killed Llywelyn at the Battle of Orewin Bridge.

The walled town was attacked by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr in 1402 and sacked and burned. The local forces successfully defended the castle, but the town remained a ruin until the early 17th century.

When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, Mid Wales was largely Royalist and the elderly Lord Herbert of Cherbury held the castle for Charles I. In September 1644 he surrendered to Parliamentarian troops commanded by Sir Thomas Myddelton and Thomas Mytton, and on 18 September a Royalist attempt to retake the castle was repulsed — the biggest battle of the war in Wales and a major victory for Parliament. The new Parliamentarian governor, Sir John Pryce, a Royalist defector, switched sides again in May 1645.

Much of Wales rose again in the Second English Civil War of 1648, and in June 1649 Parliament demolished the castle walls, despite the opposition of the 2nd Lord Herbert, who had succeeded his father the year before. The same policy was followed throughout England and Wales to prevent castles being used again, reducing the number and cost of garrisons required. Herbert was the last to use Montgomery as a residence, and was buried in the town in 1655.

The ruined masonry above Montgomery is owned and operated by Cadw. It is a scheduled monument and a National Monument of Wales, and has been listed Grade I since July 1950. The Old Bell Museum in the town keeps permanent exhibitions on Hen Domen and the Norman stone castle and their archaeological excavations, with scale models of both.