Llantrisant Twice!

Funny how things turn up when you don't expect them. I had a call out this morning to pick up from Llantrisant and transport the item to Newport.

I passed the church on top of the hill overlooking Llantrisant and thought it'd make a nice photo - something I have always thought when passing it. With my consignment I'm not allowed any delays so I thought it'd be left, again, for another day.

On dropping the package in Newport, I then had one to take back to Llantrisant - and knew exactly what I was going to do when I finished. I eventually found the church and grabbed some shots. What I didn't know was right next door is Llantrisant Castle. I took some of that and prefer the one posted to the church. Funny how things turn out.

For those interested, here's the history of Llantrisant Castle -

A dark, ivy-covered ruined tower is all that is left of one of the more important 13th-century castles of Glamorgan. It was built in about 1250 by Richard de Clare, lord of Glamorgan, to hold this hill district of Meisgyn which he had just wrestled from its Welsh overlords. The castle's strategic and commanding position, guarding the important route from the upland to the lowland zone, is very apparent.

The castle stands on a flat-topped blunt spur on the edge of a steep drop to the south. Parts of the spur's stone revetment are still visible, and ditches separate it from the rest of the ridgetop on the east and west sides. The north side of a circular tower, once called the Raven, is the main upstanding stonework of the castle. Details of a doorway half-way up it point to a mid-13th century date, and also give an idea of the height of the curtain wall, the wall-walk of which was originally reached from this doorway. The curtain wall would have skirted the spur, but very little of it survives. On the south-west flank there is a much-overgrown base of a half-round projecting tower.

The open green to the north of the castle is the probable site of the bailey, but no traces of earthwork or masonry defences survive. The church to the west was originally an aisled Norman church before 19th-century rebuilding.