Castles / GB / Wales
Castell Pen-yr-Allt
Which definitions does it satisfy?
This dataset does not record whether something “is a castle”. It records a verdict against each named definition, with the reasoning that produced it.
| Definition | Verdict | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Fortified residence | yes | The report describes a motte-and-bailey castle: a 4m-high motte carrying the collapsed remains of a masonry tower (the lord's residential strongpoint) with a bailey defended by a 5–6m rock-cut ditch, a bank standing up to 7m, a counterscarp and geophysically-confirmed complex multivallate defences. That is active defence combined with a lordly residential strongpoint — both halves of the criterion in the classic castle form. |
| Enclosure fortification | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| State fortification | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| Palatial seat | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| Revival and folly | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| Popularly a castle | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
Facts
| Tradition | european medieval |
|---|---|
| Location | Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire, Wales, GB |
| Built | Medieval |
| Confidence | medium |
| First recorded | 2026-07-21 |
| Last updated | 2026-07-22 |
In the registers
Where this structure appears in official inventories. This is what turns an individual record into evidence about a count.
- Cof Cymru — National Historic Assets of Wales —
PE169· Scheduled Monument — SiteType: Castle · entry
Location
Approximate. © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Notes
Assessed against the Cadw full report (PE169). fortified_residence set to yes: the motte-and-bailey form — a motte with a masonry tower and a bailey defended by rock-cut ditch, 7m bank, counterscarp and multivallate defences — meets both halves of the criterion. The report notes the castle overlies an earlier Iron Age promontory fort (with a possible roundhouse), but describes no fabric of that prehistoric phase in its own terms, so enclosure_fortification is left unassessed rather than guessed. No usage evidence for popular_castle and nothing for the other bands, so they are omitted. Confidence medium: one official report plus the register.
Sources
- Scheduled Monument Full Report — Castell Pen-yr-Allt — Cadw, 2026-07-22
Cadw's full scheduled-monument report (PE169); describes a motte-and-bailey castle with masonry tower and multivallate defences.
Signals
Raw per-source observations behind this record (2):
sig-20260721-cadw-pe169,
sig-20260722-report-pe169
Record file · dataset licensed CC BY 4.0 — see provenance.