Battle of Maesyfed
Who Fought
Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth
Roger Mortimer and Hugh de Say
History & Significance
New Radnor (Welsh: Maesyfed) is a village and community in Powys, Wales. It is south of Radnor Forest, and was historically the county town of Radnorshire.
In the 2001 census, the community's population of 410 was split evenly between male and female, in 192 households. The population at the 2011 census was 409. The community includes the village of Llanfihangel Nant Melan.
The village lies by the Radnor Forest and has been said to have been built to replace Old Radnor. It was a planned medieval walled town with streets laid out in a grid pattern. It was linked to other settlements nearby and regionally such as Builth, Presteigne and Kington Castle and later Huntington Castle near Gladestry.
Attractions in the village include a significant castle mound of a Norman motte .
New Radnor castle was originally called Trefaesyfed and was once a considerable fortress and a significant border castle in the Welsh Marches and played its part in the turmoil, violence and barbarity of the early medieval period typical of such a site.
The first castle at New Radnor may have been built by William Fitz Osbern earl of Hereford. Certainly he held the land by the time of his death in 1071 and the layout of the powerful castle suggests that it was built by a man of great influence. Soon after 1086 New Radnor was granted to Philip de Braose. It may have been at this time that ten minor castles were built nearby to strengthen the Norman hold on the district.
In the aftermath of the battle of Dingestow New Radnor Castle was seized by the sons of Einion Clud of Elfael. Einion o'r Porth and Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth entertained Baldwin of Exeter, Archbishop of Canterbury and Giraldus Cambrensis here in 1188 during their famous tour of Wales recruiting for The Crusades. Einion was killed by his brother in 1191 and in 1195 Matilda de St Valery was probably responsible for retaking the castle for her husband William de Braose. As a result, the previous overlord Rhys ap Gruffydd returned and sacked the castle before winning the battle of Radnor against Roger Mortimer and Hugh de Say.
Rhys died in 1197 and by 1200 William de Braose was back at Radnor Castle. In 1208 King John took the castle from the rebellious de Braose, only to lose it in 1215 to Giles de Braose, Bishop of Hereford. In August 1216 King John and Gwallter Clud the brother of Einion o'r Porth burned the castle in revenge.
After the death of the last Braose of Radnor the castle was taken into royal or crown custody but was destroyed by Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in 1231. In 1233 it was illegally rebuilt by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and then passed to the young Roger Mortimer of Wigmore Castle. In 1264 Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd allied with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester took and again destroyed the castle. In all the castle had changed hands twelve times in only eighty years. On four of these occasions the castle was said to have been 'destroyed'.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Maesyfed lies on Ludlow Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ludlow. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
Following the seizure of New Radnor Castle by Matilda de St Valery for her husband William de Braose in 1195, the dispossessed Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth returned in force, sacked the castle, and then defeated Roger Mortimer and Hugh de Say at the ensuing battle of Radnor, reasserting Welsh dominance over this contested border stronghold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Maesyfed
This page covers Battle of Maesyfed. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Maesyfed
Battles near Battle of Maesyfed
Explore the landscape around this battlefield
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the UK — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
- New Radnor · Wikipedia