Sentence Castle
Sentence Castle is a substantial medieval earthwork ringwork positioned on rising ground about two miles south of Narberth, close to the village of Templeton. The site consists of a large, circular mound with steep sides, rising roughly 4.5 metres above the surrounding land, and features a characteristic scooped hollow on the summit where the timber tower and internal buildings would once have stood. Although now entirely turf-covered, the size and strength of the defences indicate a significant early medieval centre. A stream runs along the eastern side, which may have been used to feed a defensive wet ditch. Scholars have long speculated that this was the original Narberth Castle mentioned in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, a castle which suffered repeated attacks and burnings at the hands of Welsh rulers in 1116, 1215 and 1220. Its location on the old north-south routeway and the magnitude of its earthworks support the idea that it predates the later stone Narberth Castle, which was built closer to the developing town centre. If correct, Sentence Castle would have been the main defensive and administrative centre for the region before the relocation of the lordship. Local tradition associates the site with the Knights Templar, which links naturally with the nearby village name Templeton. Although documentary proof is limited, the manor was indeed held by the Templars until their suppression, after which it passed to the Knights Hospitaller in the fourteenth century. For this reason Sentence Castle is often regarded as a manorial headquarters where the Templars exercised jurisdiction over their Pembrokeshire estate. No masonry was ever erected on the mound, so the defences were entirely of earth and timber. The site is a legally protected scheduled monument and survives as one of the most impressive ringworks in South Pembrokeshire, preserving the buried foundations of an important early medieval centre whose exact origins remain partly obscure. Alternate names: Sentence Castle, Sentence Mound, Sentence Camp, Castell Sentence
Sentence
Sentence Castle is a substantial medieval earthwork ringwork positioned on rising ground about two miles south of Narberth, close to the village of Templeton. The site consists of a large, circular mound with steep sides, rising roughly 4.5 metres above the surrounding land, and features a characteristic scooped hollow on the summit where the timber tower and internal buildings would once have stood. Although now entirely turf-covered, the size and strength of the defences indicate a significant early medieval centre. A stream runs along the eastern side, which may have been used to feed a defensive wet ditch. Scholars have long speculated that this was the original Narberth Castle mentioned in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, a castle which suffered repeated attacks and burnings at the hands of Welsh rulers in 1116, 1215 and 1220. Its location on the old north-south routeway and the magnitude of its earthworks support the idea that it predates the later stone Narberth Castle, which was built closer to the developing town centre. If correct, Sentence Castle would have been the main defensive and administrative centre for the region before the relocation of the lordship. Local tradition associates the site with the Knights Templar, which links naturally with the nearby village name Templeton. Although documentary proof is limited, the manor was indeed held by the Templars until their suppression, after which it passed to the Knights Hospitaller in the fourteenth century. For this reason Sentence Castle is often regarded as a manorial headquarters where the Templars exercised jurisdiction over their Pembrokeshire estate. No masonry was ever erected on the mound, so the defences were entirely of earth and timber. The site is a legally protected scheduled monument and survives as one of the most impressive ringworks in South Pembrokeshire, preserving the buried foundations of an important early medieval centre whose exact origins remain partly obscure.