The small C12 (King writes mid to late C13) keep tower, sometimes said to be in a ringwork (although Phillips did not see any such feature), dominates an ensemble which includes C15 hall block and the late C17 domestic section which is visible from the old Chepstow Road. A small and intimate castle that was carefully restored in the 1970's and opened to the public but which has now been sold and is no longer open. A collection of walls and buildings define an irregular polygon, c.28m N-S by 23m, set at the N end of a N-S ridge and ditched about the S. The earliest structure is a much altered C12/C13 tower, whilst a three storey house/hall block is thought to be early C17 structure, remodelled c.1700. An outer enclosure, c.70m E-W and 55m N-S, has been partly traced on the S, apparently enclosing the church. Garden features SW of the castle are thought to be C17-C18 and later.Morgan examined the architecture of the building and saw no reason to call it a castle in the ordinary sense of the word as there are ‘no outworks, no fosse, moat or barbican, no drawbridge, gate house or portcullis nor any attempt at military defences in its construction’ (Quoted in Phillips) It is probably best described as a 'pele tower' although this description is often confined to similar somewhat later towers of the northern marches.

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Name	Penhow Castle
Alternative Names
Historic County	Monmouthshire
Community	Penhow
Type	Masonry Castle Pele Tower Timber Castle
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Major
Listed	Grade 2*
Scheduled Ancient Monument	No
Ordnance Survey Reference	ST423908
Eastings	342360
Northing	190860
Coflein (RCAHMW)	221292
Historic Environment Record	00989g

Multi Map

StreetMaps

Books

• Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p243 [listed]
• Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p110-164
• Phillips, Neil, 2005, Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250 (University of Wales) [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?phillips_phd_2005] p291-2
• Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p135-6
• Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p118
• Salter, Mike, 1991, The Castles of Gwent, Glamorgan and Gower (Malvern) p26-7
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p286
• Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p372
• Bradney, J.A., 1904-33, History of Monmouthshire Vol4 p191-6 [mostly manorial history]
• Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p86
• Morgan, O. and Wakeman, J., 1867, Notes on Penhow Castle (Monmouth and Caerleon Antiquarian Association)
• Coxe, W., 1801, Historical Tour in Monmouthshire (London) Vol1 p30-2

Antiquarian

• William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/hertseng.html#mons5]

Journals

• Wrathmel, S., 1990, 'Penhow Castle, Gwent: Survey and excavation, 1976-9: part 1’ Monmouthshire Antiquarian Vol6 p17-45
• Weeks, S., 1979, 'Penhow Castle' Gwent Local History Vol46 p20-6
• Haslam, R., 1979, ‘Penhow Castle, Gwent’, Countty Life, 166 p1050-3
• Webster, L.E. and Cherry, J., 1979, ‘Medieval Britain in 1978’ Medieval Archaeology Vol23 p263-4 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
• Knight, J.K. and Wrathmell, S., 1978, 'Penhow Castle' 125th Annual Meeting in Gwent and the Forest of Dean, 1978 CAA p39-40
• Wrathmel, S., 1978, 'Penhow Castle' Archaeology in Wales Vol18, 57-8
• Wrathmel, S., 1977, 'Penhow Castle' Archaeology in Wales Vol17, 44
• Knight, J.K.., 1970, 'Penhow Castle' The 107th Annual Meeting in the Vale of Usk, 1970 CAA p8-10
• Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
• Clark, A., 1953, 'Penhow Castle' Programme of the 100th Annual meeting at Chepstow, 1953 CAA p12
• Morgan, O., 1864, 'Penhow' Monmouthshire and Caerleon Antiquarian Association p5-21

Guidebooks

• [S Weeks], 1987, Penhow Castle, Gwent, Wales (Penhow: Penhow Castle)