Battle of Powis Castle
Who Fought
History & Significance
Powis Castle (Welsh: Castell Powys) is a medieval castle, fortress and grand country house near Welshpool, in Powys, Wales. The seat of the Herbert family, earls of Powis, the castle is known for its formal gardens and for its interiors, the former having been described as "the most important", and the latter "the most magnificent", in the country. The castle and gardens are under the care of the National Trust. Powis Castle is a Grade I listed building, while its gardens have their own Grade I listing on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
The present castle was built in the 13th century. Unusually for a castle on the Marches, it was constructed by a Welsh prince, Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, rather than by a Norman baron. Gruffydd was prince of the ancient Kingdom of Powys and maintained an alliance with the English king Edward I during the struggles of the later 13th century. He was able to secure the position of his son, Owain, although the kingdom itself was abolished by the Parliament of Shrewsbury in 1283. After his father's death, Owain was raised to the peerage as Owen de la Pole, 1st Lord of Powis. Following his own death c. 1293, and the death of his only son, he was succeeded by his daughter, Hawys Gadarn, "the Lady of Powis". Hawys married Sir John Charlton in 1309.
In the late 16th century the castle was purchased by Sir Edward Herbert, a younger son of William Herbert, 1st earl of Pembroke, beginning a connection between the family and the castle that continues today. The Herberts remained Roman Catholic until the 18th century and, although rising in the peerage to earls, marquesses and Jacobite dukes of Powis, suffered periods of imprisonment and exile. Despite these setbacks, they were able in the late 17th and early 18th centuries to transform Powis from a border fortress into an aristocratic country house, and surround it with one of the very few extant examples of a British Baroque garden.
In 1784 Henrietta Herbert married Edward Clive, eldest son of Clive of India, a match which replenished the much-depleted Herbert family fortune. In the early 20th century, George Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis, redeveloped the castle with the assistance of the architect George Frederick Bodley. Herbert’s wife, Violet, undertook work of equal importance in the garden, seeking to turn it into "one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, in England and Wales". On the 4th Earl's death in 1952, his wife and his sons having predeceased him, the castle passed into the care of the National Trust.
Unlike the castles at Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and nearby Montgomery, which were built by the English to subdue the Welsh, the castles at Welshpool were built by the Welsh princes of Powys Wenwynwyn as their dynastic seat. In addition to the current site, two motte-and-bailey castles and a set of earthworks are located nearby. The names Trallwg/Tallwm and Pola are used interchangeably in early primary sources, and it is unclear which of these sites is being referred to.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Powis Castle lies on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd destroyed Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn's 'first castle' at Welshpool in 1274 as direct punishment for Gruffydd's involvement in a plot to assassinate him, demonstrating the brutal dynastic rivalries that shaped medieval Wales and leaving Gruffydd reliant on his English royal ally, Edward I, for the eventual restoration of his stronghold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Powis Castle
This page covers Battle of Powis Castle. 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 Powis Castle
Battles near Battle of Powis Castle
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.
- Powis Castle · Wikipedia
- Kingdom of Powys · Wikipedia