Castell Coch

The roofless ruin of a massive first-floor hall, about 23 m in length by 11 m wide. The masonry of the exterior walls is almost complete, apart from the loss of carved stone from doors and windows. The walls are of hammer dressed limestone informally coursed, with a thickness of about 1.5 m. The building ranges E/W, and its main entrance was in the S wall. It is unequally divided by a late cross-wall near to the E end. Much overgrown.

The S elevation has a corner tower at the left. In the main (hall) storey the sequence is a lancet window at left, a tall window, a late first-floor entrance after the insertion of the cross wall, and another lancet. In the undercroft storey the sequence is a slit window at left, the main doorway to the undercroft, and another slit window.

The N elevation, hall storey, consists of a pair of low pointed-headed windows, a tall window, and a door at the right, the latter opening probably reached by a lost external staircase against the N wall. In the undercroft there is a narrow low window at left, an irregular central breach which may have been a doorway, a narrow low window at the right and finally a small doorway close to the corner.

Only a part of the E gable elevation survives, damaged. In the W gable elevation there is a tall window in the hall storey. The hall was thus lit by three tall windows, one N, one S and one W.

The undercroft and the hall are both of considerable height. There is a staircase in the SW corner turret, leading up from the hall certainly to a high lookout; it is not clear that there was any internal connection to the undercroft. In the N and S walls are the beam-holes of the hall floor, at about 1.4 m centres. In the reveal of the main S doorway to the undercroft there are rebates for the door and bar holes. The late cross-wall blocks some of the window apertures, and it is not bonded to the side walls. It is remarkable that there is no aperture, door or window, or even a hatch, giving communication between the two halves of the house. On the W side of the wall there are two fireplaces serving the hall storey and one central fireplace in the undercroft. There are no fireplaces on the E side, a point which suggests the partitioned-off E side was excluded from domestic use. Four high-level beam-holes indicate the late presence of a gallery at the E end of the larger portion of the hall, post-dating the division. This cross-wall survives to full height and indicates the roof pitch was 45 degrees.

Scheduled Ancient Monument no. Pe 53.