Wales · Restored
Upton Castle
Castell Upton
Upton Castle is a small 13th-century fortified manor near Cosheston in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with an associated 12th–13th-century chapel. The medieval north-east range retains three round towers linked by short curtain walls and a plain parapet, while 19th-century alterations added further towers and a new entrance; the gardens and terraces are notable and open to the public though the house is privately owned.
Its prime
1860
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1860
What Upton Castle looked like in its prime.
Compact fortified mansion sited beside a creek of the River Cleddau: a rectangular main range dominated to the north-east by three robust round towers separated by short lengths of curtain wall and topped by a low plain parapet on corbels. The building is of rough stone masonry with narrow slit windows and visible chimney stacks and slate roofs behind the battlements. Later mid-19th-century towers attach to the west end, and a low stone boundary/walled garden runs along the water side.
Its story
The story of Upton Castle.
Upton Castle, near Cosheston in Pembrokeshire, is a 13th-century fortified mansion, too small to be a castle in the strict sense, though its three early towers, linked by short sections of curtain wall beneath a plain corbelled parapet, are unusually strong for the type. Its first known owners were the Norman Malefant family, who held it until the 15th century, when it passed by marriage to a line that assumed the name Bowen.
The associated 12th–13th-century chapel holds effigies of the Malefants, among them William Malefant, who died in 1362, shown wearing chain mail. In December 1789 the castle was bought for £7,000 by John Tasker of the East India Company, Master Attendant of the Port of Bombay, who possibly built the walled garden.
In 1927 Upton was sold, only the second sale in its history, to Stanley Neale, a ship owner from Cardiff, who landscaped the terraces and planted the arboretum. The house remains privately owned, but the gardens, listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, are open to the public.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1860.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Upton Castle, including 4 interiors: spiral staircase (interior), vaulted medieval chamber, hall with medieval fireplaces 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.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Upton Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1860, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Upton Castle.
The families that held Upton Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Malefant
First known owners; the Norman Malefant family held Upton until the 15th century.
Gained Upton by marriage from the Malefants in the 15th century.
