Condition Demolished | ||
 | ||
Type Motte-and-bailey castle | ||
Rhayader Castle is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Rhayader, Powys, Wales. The available documentary sources are not clear enough to distinguish between this site and the castle mound across the river and one or the other was probably built by Rhys ap Gruffydd, Prince of Deheubarth, in 1177. It was destroyed in 1290 by the princes of Maelienydd, rebuilt four years later and again destroyed. The Mortimer family acquired the land about 1200 and either rebuilt or started a new building on the site, but it was captured two years later. The castle was destroyed by Llywelyn the Great in 1231 and not rebuilt. The remnants are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The surviving motte is a roughly rectangular flat-topped mound about 40 by 50 metres (130 by 160 ft). Approaches to the castle were protected by steep slopes or crags above the river on the north-west and southern sides. A rock-cut ditch at least 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) deep and up to 10 metres (33 ft) wide defended the other sides. This ditch is the only visible remnant of the fortifications.