Carew Castle

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The magnificent Carew Castle has a history spanning 2000 years. Set in a stunning location, overlooking a 23 acre millpond, the castle displays the development from a Norman fortification to an Elizabethan country house. The site incorporates an impressive 11th century Celtic Cross, the only restored Tidal Mill in Wales, a medieval bridge and a picnic area all linked by a delightful mile roundwalk.

http://www.carewcastle.com/

Carew Castle is justly celebrated as one of the most magnificent castles of south Wales. Its position is low-lying, but still prominent in the flat land around the tidal reaches of the Carew river. The castle stands at the end of a ridge at a strategically excellent site commanding a crossing point of the then-still navigable river.

King and Perks 1962; Official Guidebook

http://www.castlewales.com/carew.html

Carew Castle is an interesting blend of the strong defences of a medieval fortress and the grandeur of a Tudor mansion house, attractively located next to the Carew River, dammed in the 16th century to form a mill pond.

Gerald de Windsor, sheriff of Pembroke Castle during royal ownership in the early 1100's, gained the land at Carew as part of a dowry on his marriage to Helen Nest, the daughter of the late Welsh king, Rhys ap Tewdwr. All that remains from the castle that he built at Carew is a wall from a tower that is now incorporated into part of the East Range. Gerald's descendants adopted 'de Carew' as their family name.

http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/wales/carew/carew.php

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picture by sarahfelicity at flickr

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