Penrice Castle

Penrice Castle (Welsh: Castell Pen-rhys) is a 13th-century castle near Penrice, Swansea on the Gower Peninsula, Wales. Nearby is a neo-classical mansion house built in the 1770s. The mansion is a Grade I listed building, and the surrounding gardens and park is also listed at Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Penrice Castle is the 13th-century successor to a strong ringwork to the south east, known as the Mountybank. It was built by the de Penrice family, who were given land there for their part in the Norman Conquest of Gower. The last de Penrice married a Mansel in 1410 and the castle and its lands passed to the Mansel family. The Mansels later bought Margam Abbey and made it their main seat, while retaining their Gower lands. The castle was damaged in the 17th-century English Civil War.

The stone castle is a large, irregular hexagon with a round keep on the west side, to which were attached two other towers and a partial mantlet or chemise wall. At the north-west corner is a twin square-towered gatehouse with another tower inside. The ground falls away steeply to the north, east, south and south west, where there are various other turrets, though not scientifically disposed. The whole structure is now in a dangerous condition, but the south wall can be seen from the footpath that runs past the 18th-century mansion on the estate (51.5742°N 4.1707°W / 51.5742; -4.1707 (Penrice House, Gower, Wales)), immediately to the south.

It entered into the possession of Edward Hancorne following his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Mansel of Penrice Castle, in 1707. His eldest son Thomas inherited the lands upon his father's death.

The mansion built in the 1770s by the neo-classical architect Anthony Keck for Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747–1813) of Margam and Penrice, is itself Grade I listed and among the finest country houses in Wales. While the mansion was being built, the surrounding park, also Grade I listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, was laid out in about 1773–76 by William Emes, a follower of Capability Brown. The mansion was built to house Thomas Mansel Talbot's collection of antiquities and works of art.

Text adapted from “Penrice Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Penrice Castle ranks #3,538 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #67 of the 100 mapped in Wales. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 69% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Swansea, 16 km away. See how Wales compares in the castle statistics.

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