Manorbier Castle
 Castles |
Manorbier Castle occupies the whole of a promontory, rising-up from steep sandstone cliffs reflected in the sparkling bay below. It was founded at the beginning of the 12 th century during the reign of Henry I, 1100-35, by the first Lord de Barri (he gave his name to the Welsh town of Barry). Considering its situation, the castle was most probably built as a baronial residence rather than to control local rebellious Welsh tribes. However, Manorbier is well protected by high walls, battlements, ditches and portcullises, but these defences were never tested in siege warfare; in fact, both castle and occupants lived in peace and were at one with their environment.
As a result of this harmonious co-existence with its surroundings, the castle remains very well preserved, mostly dating from the 13 th century when extensive additions were made by John de Barri, although the hall and small tower beside the gatehouse survive from the earlier century. An intensive building programme covering a 50-year period witnessed the curtain walls with flanking towers, an inner ward, a vast gatehouse and a chapel being added under the watchful eye of John de Barri. The castle was held by the de Barri's until 1399 when they fell from favour and their lands confiscated. For two centuries, Manorbier passed from one favourite to another of Lancaster and York. Queen Elizabeth, 1558-1603, sold it to Sir Thomas Owen, of Trellwyn, but he allowed the fortress to decay. In the 17 th century two additional large barns were built in the castle.
The castle is most famous as the birthplace of Gerald de Barri, in Latin Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerald of Wales, whose works ‘Itinerary through Wales', ‘Topography of Ireland' and ‘Conquest of Ireland', all written in stylised Latin, showed him to be one of the most important of medieval historians. He was a scholar who travelled extensively before becoming an archdeacon, and was renowned as historian, topographer and intellectual. His ‘Itinerary through Wales', written while recruiting for the Third Crusade, provides an invaluable insight to the life of medieval Wales. There is a room in Manorbier Castle furnished in the fashion of the 12 th century, with a life-size effigy of Gerald of Wales working at his desk on one of the books that gave him a place among Welsh scholars.