Castles / GB / Wales
Castell Tal-y-Fan
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 | On a knoll with artificially scarped slopes on all sides save the south and a wide ditch running around south, south-west and east, a curtain wall enclosed the site and "would have protected a keep and other associated castle buildings", placed to command the road north from Cowbridge — an enclosing defensive wall and earthworks around a lordly residential keep. |
| 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 | Welsh St. Donats, Vale of Glamorgan, 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 —
GM421· Scheduled Monument — SiteType: Castle · entry
Location
Approximate. © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Notes
fortified_residence upgraded to assessed against Cadw's full report (GM421), which documents a curtain wall, scarped slopes and a wide ditch enclosing a keep and castle buildings in a road-commanding position. No lord is named and no palatial, revival or public-usage evidence appears, so every other band is left OMITTED, not set to no. Single Cadw source, confidence medium.
Sources
- Cof Cymru - National Historic Assets of Wales — Cadw, 2026-07-21
Register entry and full scheduled-monument report; the report was read and the fortified_residence band assessed against it.
Signals
Raw per-source observations behind this record (2):
sig-20260721-cadw-gm421,
sig-20260722-report-gm421
Record file · dataset licensed CC BY 4.0 — see provenance.