Hen Gwrt Moated Site

Ruins

Explorer Tom

Hen Gwrt looks like a square moat guarding a manor that forgot to stay for its own appointment. The house is gone, but its neat ditch and raised platform remain in a field near Llantilio Crossenny. Give the shape a slow circuit and the vanished medieval household begins to take up space again. Cadw says the site probably belonged to the bishops of Llandaff in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and later served as a hunting lodge. Excavation found medieval occupation, a moat formed in the fourteenth century and further use in the sixteenth. The enclosure measures roughly seventy metres each way; its centre is about forty metres across. Those tidy dimensions make its square outline unusually easy to recognise. A bridge leads visitors onto the grassy platform. From there, look back across the water-filled ditch and imagine the practical work of reaching, supplying and defending a small manor. The moat was also a show of standing: a bishop's residence ought to make an impression, even if the house itself was not a castle. Nearby farmland gives the place a peaceful setting that the medieval residents may not always have enjoyed. Cadw lists free entry throughout the year during reasonable daylight hours. There is no dedicated parking, so plan a lawful approach from Llantilio Crossenny and leave farm access clear. The ground can be muddy and the ditch has deep water; use the bridge and heed any barriers. This is a modest visit with a very clear plan once you let your eyes trace the square.

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What is recorded here

Map note: The recorded spot for Hen Gwrt Moated Site is near Llantilio Crossenny, Monmouthshire, Wales; it is ruins. The map has the location of the mystery, though not all its answers.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) w846715875