Wales · Partial ruin
Pencoed Castle
Pencoed Castle is a largely 16th-century Tudor manor-house complex in Llanmartin, south Wales, now surviving as a partly ruinous residence and gatehouse range. The site retains a substantial three-storey Tudor gatehouse with square turrets, an earlier medieval tower, ranges around a courtyard, and associated 16th–17th-century outbuildings and a dovecote. The ruins are on private land and are not open to the public.
Its prime
1565
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1565
The shape it held in its prime.
A rectangular three-storey Tudor gatehouse dominates the western front, built of coursed ashlar with a central rounded stone arch and flanking square turrets rising to a battlemented parapet; chamfered mullioned windows puncture the upper storeys. To the south-west stands an older, taller Old Red Sandstone tower. The main residential ranges enclose a courtyard to the east, with continuous stone outbuildings and a separate 16th-century dovecote; ivy and mature trees hug the stone walls.
Its story
The story of Pencoed Castle.
Pencoed was the site of a Norman castle, owned by Sir Richard de la More in 1270, and the manor of Llanmartin belonged to the Kemeys family around 1300. By about 1470 the estate was in the hands of the Morgans of Tredegar; Sir Thomas Morgan (c.1453–1510), thought likely to have fought at Bosworth in 1485, was probably the first of his family to settle there.
Parts of the surviving building were likely raised by the first Sir Thomas before 1510, with the main range and the grand three-storey Tudor gatehouse added by his grandson, another Sir Thomas, between 1542 and 1565 — John Leland, writing about 1545, called Pencoed "a fair maner place". The main range is of ashlar similar to Raglan Castle, built around the same time.
In 1701 Montagu's descendants sold Pencoed to John Jeffreys MP, whose son sold it in 1749 to Admiral Thomas Mathews of Llandaff. Under later owners — Sir Mark Wood, Sir Robert Salusbury, Thomas Perry — it grew increasingly dilapidated and was let to farmers, only the rooms rebuilt for Lord Rhondda escaping the ruin of the interior. Sold again in September 2020 to an undisclosed owner, it remains a ruin, closed to the public.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1565.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Pencoed Castle — including 2 interiors: great hall and central three-storey porch (interior-facing), northern parlour wing and kitchens. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Pencoed Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1565 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Pencoed Castle.
The families that held Pencoed Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Held by the Morgans of Tredegar from about 1470; Sir Thomas Morgan (c.1453–1510) was probably the first of the family to settle at Pencoed.
