Castle Quest - Reply to Topic

Forum:	Individual Castles
Topic:	CARNDOCHAN CASTLE

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T O P I C R E V I E W
JAS13 Carndochan Castell is the splendid ruin of a native Welsh castle overlooking the western shore of Lake Bala in North Wales, but I'm finding its history elusive to the say the least. Literature on the castle is limited and basic, but Philip Davis' excellent site mentions an article by A.H.A. Hogg called "Castell Carndochan" that appeared in the Journal of the Merioneth Historical and Record Society Volume 2 in the mid 1950s. Has anyone read this article and can give me a summary, or does anyone have a detailed description of the castle and its history? Thanks, John.
AJR The only information I have is from Mike Salter's "The Castles of North Wales".
Quote
There are no historical records of this enigmatic and very ruined castle site high up in the mountains. It was presumably a native Welsh castle mostly of the period c1260-80. It comprised a D-shaped court encloed by a wall about 1.8m thick, now mostly reduced to debris, with a U-shaped tower 10m wide and 17m long at one end, a D-shaped tower built against a huge boulder at the other end, and another D-shaped tower on the south side with probably the entrance between it and the U-shaped tower. The building about 7m square in the middle of the court is likely to have been an older keep of c1200-40 or possibly even earlier.
Unquote
This is all I have, but if you come across the article by the Merioneth Historical and Record Scoiety, do let us know.
Andrew
Peter There is almost the same mention in the 1983 booklet .. Castles of the Princes of Gwynedd. Though with the exact date of the journal, 1953-56, pp 178-80. This gives a site plan as well. Though I think you can see from the page count of the article, it is not a great mention.
Peter
[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 09-10-2005).]
A Knight John, Peter and Andrew.
I have a copy of the 1955 article, to be honest it is relatively brief but does provide an accurate plan and reasonable description.
The 1921 Royal Commission Inventory has a less accuate plan dating from 1871, but includes a more detailed description, pictures and a detailed summary of the few references in history.
I can scan in copies if you can confirm your e-mail addresses or provide a suitable location to post the information.
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Andy Knight
JAS13 Peter, Andrew & Andy, Many thanks for your replies. Andy if you could e-mail me a scan of the article that would be great, my e-mail address is in my profile. Hopefully CADW can at some point achieve an excavation and restoration of this site, it is certainly of comparison to Dolforwyn and is well worth the steep climb for a close inspection. Thanks again, John.