Llawhaden Castle

Llawhaden and its hinterland were lands owned by the Bishopric of the Diocese of St David, since at least the later years of the realm of Deheubarth. Following the Norman conquest of Deheubarth, these lands (of which Llawhaden and its hinterland were a detached part) became the Marcher Lordship of Dewisland, ruled by the Bishops; it was the only ecclesiastically-ruled Marcher Lordship. Marcher Lords had such great authority that they were almost sovereign.

The first Norman Bishop, Bernard, constructed a castle on the site in the year that he was appointed - 1115. Only a moat and an earth bank from this period survive, although it is thought to have been a motte-and-bailey castle. Around 1192, the castle was taken by Lord Rhys, along with Swansea Castle and Wiston Castle. The stone-built building came later; the vast majority of the ruins seen today date from the construction commissioned by Bishop Adam de Houghton between 1362 and 1389. This was much grander, with two suites of residences situated on the first floor.

The building fell into decline under the control of Bishop William Barlow, the first Bishop appointed after Henry's Laws in Wales Acts had abolished Marcher Lordships. Barlow was an ardent Church Reformist, whose appointment had been encouraged by Thomas Cranmer, and who was significantly unenamoured with St. Davids and its traditions. Barlow sold the lead from the castle roof, supposedly to pay for the dowry of one of his daughters, resulting in damage to the rest of the building from which it never recovered.