Welsh Marches Border Castle
The castle was sited to the north west of the present town of Kington above the Back Brook. Around the end of the 11th century William Rufus granted the estates in and around Kington to Adam Port and it is likely that he built the first castle here. One of his descendents, also called Adam Port, was in dispute with Henry II and as a consequence of this the castle was forfeited to the crown.
In the late 12th century William Braose held the castle for many years in his capacity as High Sheriff of Herefordshire and in 1201 King John granted the castle and barony to him as his favourite Marcher Baron. However another dispute arose and the castle returned to the crown again, later to be granted to King John's supporter Roger Clifford in 1213. In 1215 members of the de Braose family attacked the castle and in an act of vengeance King John destroyed it. No further fortifications have subsequently been made on the same site.
Read more about this topic: Kington Castle
Famous quotes containing the words welsh, border and/or castle:
“Thy tongue
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penned,
Sung by a fair queen in a summer’s bower,
With ravishing division, to her lute.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I have, indeed, even omitted facts, which, on account of their singularity, must in the eyes of some have appeared to border on the marvelous. But in the forests of South America such extraordinary realities are to be found, that there is assuredly no need to have recourse to fiction or the least exaggeration.”
—J.G. (John Gabriel)
“He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.”
—14th-century French proverb, first recorded in English in A. Barclay, Gringore’s Castle of Labour (1506)