Battlefields›Welsh Revolt 1136: Ceredigion Reconquest
Medieval

Welsh Revolt 1136: Ceredigion Reconquest

1136
Wales
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Campaign
Location
Wales
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Norman and Flemish forces under Robert FitzMartin and Robert FitzStephen
VS
Victor
Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd (Gwynedd), joined by Gruffydd ap Rhys, Hywel ap Maredudd and Madog ab Idnerth
Forces involved

Welsh forces at Crug Mawr estimated at roughly 6,000 (about 4,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry) per some secondary accounts; Norman/Flemish force size not precisely recorded in contemporary sources.

Outcome
Welsh forces reconquered Ceredigion, capturing Llanfihangel, Aberystwyth, Llanbadarn and five castles in northern Ceredigion; a second invasion in autumn 1136 culminated in a decisive Welsh victory at Crug Mawr near Cardigan, where the retreating Norman army suffered heavy losses crossing a collapsing bridge over the River Teifi; Cardigan town was captured and burned, though the castle held out.
The Battle

History & Significance

Welsh Revolt 1136: Ceredigion Reconquest was a medieval campaign, fought in Wales in 1136. Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd (Gwynedd), joined by Gruffydd ap Rhys, Hywel ap Maredudd and Madog ab Idnerth prevailed over Norman and Flemish forces under Robert FitzMartin and Robert FitzStephen. Welsh forces reconquered Ceredigion, capturing Llanfihangel, Aberystwyth, Llanbadarn and five castles in northern Ceredigion; a second invasion in autumn 1136 culminated in a decisive Welsh victory at Crug Mawr near Cardigan, where the retreating Norman army suffered heavy losses crossing a collapsing bridge over the River Teifi; Cardigan town was captured and burned, though the castle held out.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Welsh Revolt 1136: Ceredigion Reconquest lies on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

Casualties & Losses
  • Contemporary chronicle accounts describe very heavy Norman losses at Crug Mawr, with claims that besides male prisoners taken, 10,000 women were widowed; many Norman troops reportedly drowned in the River Teifi when a bridge collapsed during the rout. Figures are chronicle-derived and likely exaggerated; no precise modern casualty count is recorded.
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Roman Britain
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Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
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Historical Maps
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Welsh Revolt 1136: Ceredigion Reconquest

Cardigan Town Walls
Cardigan Town Walls
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~0.5 mi

Cardigan Town Walls is a medieval town wall situated in Cardigan, Wales, and is protected as a scheduled ancient monument by Cadw under reference CD141. The walls were constructed to defend the walled town and its market during the medieval period, forming part of the defensive infrastructure tha…

Dylan Moore / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Cardigan Castle
Cardigan Castle
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~0.6 mi

Cardigan Castle is a Norman stronghold founded in the early twelfth century, likely established shortly after 1110 by the de Braose family as part of their territorial consolidation in South Wales. The castle occupies a strategically commanding position overlooking the River Teifi, with its most…

Llywelyn2000 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Cardigan Bridge
Cardigan Bridge
Scheduled monument · Post Medieval/Modern · ~0.6 mi

Cardigan Bridge is a post-medieval bridge crossing the River Teifi in Cardigan, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The structure spans limestone bedrock of Ordovician age, formed over 450 million years ago when this region lay beneath a tropical sea. The river has cut its channel through these ancient strata,…

Llywelyn2000 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Old Castle Mound
Old Castle Mound
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~0.9 mi

Old Castle Mound is a medieval ringwork situated on bedrock of Caradoc Rocks, a formation of Caradocian mudstone, siltstone and sandstone that would have offered substantial natural foundations for defensive earthworks. The ringwork comprises a circular or oval enclosure defended by a bank and di…

Eirian Evans / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
St Dogmaels Abbey
St Dogmaels Abbey
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~1.1 mi

St Dogmaels Abbey is a Benedictine foundation established in the early twelfth century on the banks of the River Teifi in Cardigan, Pembrokeshire. The abbey was founded around 1115 by the Norman lord Robert fitz Martin, though the surviving stone structures date predominantly from the thirteenth…

Jeremy Bolwell / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Foxhill Round Barrow
Foxhill Round Barrow
Scheduled monument · Prehistoric · ~1.9 mi

Foxhill Round Barrow is a prehistoric round barrow situated in Wales and protected by Cadw under reference PE326. The monument sits upon bedrock comprising Caradoc Rocks, a formation of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone laid down during the Caradocian period of the Ordovician. This geological fou…

Alan Hughes / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Crug-Bychan Round Barrow
Scheduled monument · Prehistoric · ~2.6 miles
Penralltddu Defended Enclosure
Scheduled monument · Prehistoric · ~2.7 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Welsh Revolt 1136: Ceredigion Reconquest

Llywelyn the Great's Capture of Cardigan Castle
1215
~0.4 miles away
Gilbert de Clare's Conquest of Ceredigion, 1110
1110
~0.7 miles away
Siege of Cardigan (Civil War)
1645
~0.8 miles away
Llywelyn the Great, Siege of Cardigan 1215
1215
~0.8 miles away
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