Tenby Castle

Tenby Castle, Castell Dinbych-y-pysgod in Welsh, was founded by the Normans during their invasion of West Wales in the 12th century, on a rocky promontory separated from the town by an isthmus. A stone tower was built on the headland's highest point, protected by a curtain wall; the walls carried a gateway and several small towers on the landward side, while a lesser sea wall enclosed the remainder of the site and the beach area to the west.

The earliest mentions of the castle date from 1153, the year it was captured and destroyed by Maredudd ap Gruffydd and Rhys ap Gruffydd, sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys, one of whom would go on to rule the south-western kingdom of Deheubarth. The Welsh besieged the castle again in 1187.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Gwynedd, sacked the town in 1260 during his campaigns to retake South Wales, but the castle was not taken by the Welsh.

By the late 13th century the castle and town had become part of the Marcher Lordship of Pembroke, ruled by then by William de Valence, who instigated the building of the Tenby town walls. Defending the whole town rather than just the castle diminished Tenby Castle's defensive importance, particularly after the walls were mostly completed by the start of the 14th century. By the 1400s the earldom had reverted to the crown, and the castle was abandoned and in disrepair.

In 1452 King Henry VI gave the Marcher Lordship, and the earldom that went with it, to his half-brother Jasper Tudor, who agreed to refurbish and improve Tenby's defences by dividing the cost between himself and the town's merchants. The dry ditch outside the town walls was widened to 30 feet, the walls were raised to carry a second tier of higher arrow slits behind a new parapet walk, and additional turret towers were added at the ends of the walls where they abutted the cliff edges.

In 1648, during the Second English Civil War, a unit of Royalists under the command of Rice Powell held a refortified Tenby for ten weeks, until they were starved into surrendering by besieging Parliamentarians.

A few features of the medieval castle remain, the surviving stone structure dating from the 13th century. A circular walk laid out in the 19th century follows the line of the original curtain walls, and Tenby Museum & Art Gallery is built on the remains of the castle's domestic building, probably the great hall. The north gate has been demolished to widen the road, though the town walls on the north side are largely complete and the eastern walls and towers remain intact. The castle is a Grade II* listed building and a scheduled monument.