Penllyn Castle

Penllyn, United Kingdom

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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Penllyn Castle, located near Cowbridge in South Wales four miles southeast of Bridgend, is a Norman-style country house with roots extending back to 1135, when Robert Fitzhamon, Earl of Gloucester and sheriff, first built it on a high location commanding views of the River Thaw and Ewenny River valleys. The original castle shares an oblong tower design with contemporary Ogmore Castle. Two surviving main walls of the Norman keep, distinguished by herringbone masonry near their base—a hallmark of early Norman construction—suggest it was among the first Norman structures erected during Fitzhamon's occupation of Glamorgan. After reported attack by Owain Glyndŵr, the castle fell into disuse; in Tudor times the Turbeville family built a manor house on the grounds using the keep as one corner. Following Miss Gwinnett's 1780s manor house and its later conversion to a stable block, John Homfray purchased the estate in 1846 and undertook major Victorian-era reconstruction between 1846 and 1860, rebuilding the house in contemporary style with stucco-plaster walls and constructing a Grade I listed entrance lodge. Sold to the Cory family in 1961, it remains a Grade II listed National Monument of Wales, though not publicly accessible.