Wales · Partial ruin
St Quintins Castle
Castell Llanfleiddan
St Quintins Castle (Llanblethian Castle) is a medieval stone castle sited above steep slopes by the River Thaw in Llanblethian, Wales. The surviving fabric today is dominated by a large twin-tower gatehouse and fragments of surrounding curtain walls and towers, and the site is a scheduled monument cared for by Cadw.
Its prime
1312
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1312
What St Quintins Castle looked like in its prime.
Rectangular stone-walled enclosure about 64 metres east–west with roughly 120 cm thick grey-brown limestone walls; the east entrance is a substantial twin-tower gatehouse with a deep, pointed arched gateway recessed between two tall towers. Walls show squared ashlar quoins and narrow vertical arrow-slits; many tower tops are broken away to rubble and ivy climbs parts of the gatehouse. A semi-octagonal tower base remains at the southeast corner and a fragmentary tower survives at the southwest corner; the south side drops steeply toward the river.
Its story
The story of St Quintins Castle.
Around 1102 Robert Fitzhamon, the first Norman Lord of Glamorgan, bequeathed the lordship of Llanblethian to Herbert de St Quentin, who is thought to have built the first fortification on the site. The St Quentin family kept the lordship until 1233, when Richard Siward seized the land, only to lose it to Earl Richard de Clare in 1245.
It was Richard's grandson, Earl Gilbert de Clare, who around 1312 began the stone castle that stands today, dominated by a substantial twin-towered gatehouse still showing the slits for its two portcullises and the fittings for its sets of strong doors. The castle was later used as a prison and was reported to be in a ruinous state by 1741.
The base of a semi-octagonal tower survives at the south-east corner and parts of another tower at the south-west; the keep is largely rubble and little remains of the bailey walls. The site is a scheduled monument and a Grade II* listed building, in the care of Cadw.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1312.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at St Quintins Castle, including 3 interiors: gate passage inside the twin-tower gatehouse, remains of the earlier rectangular keep within the gatehouse, inner bailey space and east-side defences. 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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Recreate St Quintins Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held St Quintins Castle.
The families that held St Quintins Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
St Quentin
Herbert de St Quentin built the first fortification about 1102; his family held the lordship until 1233.
de Clare
Held by the de Clare earls from 1245; Earl Gilbert de Clare began the stone castle about 1312.
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