Castles at the Latte7' Part of the T^welfth Century, 117 Castle, a square keep perched upon a rugged rock, and built by Adam de Rupe, founder of the De la Roche family ; Cil- gerran, on the Teivi, a very considerable castle, of which much remains : it was held by the chief lords ; Nevern, the chief castle of the old barony of Cemaes, afterwards replaced by Newport, of which the remains are considerable. Mention is also made of Benton Castle ; of Castle Coning, near St. Dogmell's ; Castleton, built by the family of Castle ; and Punch or Poyntz Castle, a grange of the bishops of St. David's, where there is a large moated mound. Probably there are many other castellets and fortified houses in the northern and more exposed half of Pembrokeshire, the sites of which are confounded with the earlier Raths and circular earthworks of a period preceding the Norman Conquest. The term Rath, and the pattern of the fortification also, are probably imported from Ireland, where a circular bank and ditch surrounded the dwelling-place of almost every landed proprietor, differing from that in use in England and Nor- mandy by the absence of the miound. The Irish enclosure was little if at all raised above the exterior ground, and there- fore, though perhaps more convenient, certainly less strong than the moated mound. Of these Raths there are several in Pembrokeshire. Here also is another rather peculiar feature. Many of the church towers, as in Gower, are evidently constructed for defence, intended no doubt as a ready refuge against a sudden and temporary incursion of the Welsh, or a descent upon the coast by the Scandinavian pirates. Such a post, like the Irish round towers, could be held safely for a few hours until the alarm brought relief. The castles of the Welsh border have not been critically examined, and it is, therefore, difficult to give a list of them that shall at all approach accuracy ; it may, however, be stated roughly that there were in Wales at the close of the reign of Henry II. 251 castles and castellets, of which 21 had rectangular keeps, and 20 shell keeps. Of castles of which little is accurately known, or which do not admit of classifica- tion, there were about 220. According to the preceding enumeration, there were at the close of the reign of Henry II. in England and upon the Marches of Wales about 657 castles, of which 55 had rectan- gular and 96 shell keeps, while of 506 little is known, or else they do not come under one or the other of the regular Norman types. Considering the difficulties which stand in the way of accuracy in obtaining these figures, the above total does not differ very widely from Moore, the only authority on the subject, who gives a list of about 568 of the
