Cresswell Castle

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Cresswell Castle Cresswell Castle in Pembrokeshire.jpg
Cresswell Castle

Cresswell Castle is a castle half a mile north of the village of Cresswell Quay, Pembrokeshire, south Wales. It is situated on the banks of the River Cresswell in what is currently private land. The buildings were originally a 13th-century stone fortified manorial complex, founded by the Augustinian Priory of Haverfordwest.

Pembrokeshire County in Wales

Pembrokeshire is a county in the southwest of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the sea everywhere else.

Wales Country in northwest Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.

Haverfordwest county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales

Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 13,367 in 2001, though its community boundaries made it the second-most populous settlement in the county, with 10,812 people. The 2011 census quoted a population of only 12,042 living within the confines of the parish. This agreed with the total population of all five wards involved: Castle, Prendergast, Portfield, Priory and Garth. Merlin's Bridge is a contiguous village and community situated to the south.

Contents

History

Cresswell Castle is thought to date back to the thirteenth century but has seen many alterations since, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It originally had some defensive adaptations but in its later guise had a more domestic function. It seems to have been abandoned in the latter part of the seventeenth century. [1]

The site

Cresswell Castle consists of a range of three buildings set along the perimeter of a courtyard. It was originally a fortified manorial complex and has undergone substantial alterations over the years. The castle overlooks the River Cresswell at its highest navigable point. The courtyard is rectangular in shape, about 30 by 20 m (100 by 70 ft), and is surrounded by a curtain wall with a small circular tower at each corner. The largest of these towers was built as a dovecote. During the sixteenth century, the Barlows of Slebech converted the castle into a manor house with stables, gardens and fishponds.

Curtain wall (architecture) outer non-structural walls of a building

A curtain wall system is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, utilized only to keep the weather out and the occupants in. Since the curtain wall is non-structural, it can be made of lightweight materials, thereby reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, an advantage is that natural light can penetrate deeper within the building. The curtain wall façade does not carry any structural load from the building other than its own dead load weight. The wall transfers lateral wind loads that are incident upon it to the main building structure through connections at floors or columns of the building. A curtain wall is designed to resist air and water infiltration, absorb sway induced by wind and seismic forces acting on the building, withstand wind loads, and support its own dead load weight forces.

Dovecote structure intended to house pigeons or doves

A dovecote or dovecot or doocot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in the Middle East and Europe and were kept for their eggs and dung.

Slebech

Slebech was a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is now part of the combined community of Uzmaston and Boulston and Slebech, a sparsely populated community on the northern shore of the Eastern River Cleddau. The community shares boundaries with the communities of Wiston and Llawhaden and mainly consists of farmland and woodland. Much of the community is within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and Picton Castle's stable block loft is an important breeding roost for the rare Greater Horseshoe Bat.

Visitor information

The castle is located inside the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, three miles north of Carew Castle and eight miles south of Llawhaden Castle. It can be approached by Millway Lane, a turning off the A4075, the Canaston Bridge to Pembroke road. The property is close to the minor road on private land beside the River Cresswell, but is visible from the road where there is room for a few cars to park.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales.

Carew Castle castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Carew Castle is a castle in the civil parish of Carew in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The famous Carew family, who take their name from this site, still own the castle and lease it to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for administration.

Llawhaden Castle Grade I listed castle in Llawhaden, United Kingdom

Llawhaden Castle is a castle in the Pembrokeshire village of Llawhaden and 10 miles east of Haverfordwest in southwest Wales, at grid reference SN 073175. A motte-and-bailey castle is thought to have previously occupied the site and the present structure was built by the bishops of the Diocese of St David in the 13th century. The castle was abandoned in the 16th century and some of the stone was removed for local building projects. The site is owned and managed by Cadw.

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References

  1. "Cresswell Castle". Gatehouse. Retrieved 9 April 2016.

Coordinates: 51°43′41″N4°49′34″W / 51.728°N 4.826°W / 51.728; -4.826

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.