was very strong, and its remains are tolerably perfect. Grosmont, also of early date, is somewhat larger, and its remains are also considerable. White Castle is an enormous shell of lofty walls and mural towers placed within a most formidable ditch, beyond which are very extensive outworks both of masonry and earth. It stands very high, commands a most extensive view, and its defences are wholly artificial. All these three castles are reported to have been originally Welsh seats; but their earthworks have an English aspect. They were obviously intended for the general defence of the country, and, as usual, were always in the hands of the great Lords or of the Crown; there were besides several smaller castles or fortified houses, the centre of private estates. Of these were the castles bordering the chase of Wentwood: Dinham, long since a ruin; Penhow, the cradle of the House of Seymour; Pencoed, which still retains some early masonry; Llanvair, built by the Pain or Pagan family; and Castroggy, where is seen a part of the hall and some other masonry. Upon the Ebbw, west of Newport, stood the small castles of Greenfield and Rogeston, and at Castleton is a mound, said at one time to have been accompanied by masonry. On the hill above Ruperra is a very large and very perfect moated mound, but without any trace or tradition of masonry. Llangibby is an old Monmouthshire castle.
The occupation by the Normans of the valleys of the Wye and the Usk no doubt served to protect the exposed flank of Monmouthshire, but beyond the Rhymny in Glamorgan this protection ceased, and the hill territory of Glamorgan contained a native population ever ready to assist their countrymen, who frequently invaded that Lordship from the north-west. The Norman settlers all dwelt in the strip of open and more fertile land from six to twelve miles in breadth that intervened, like the Concan of Western India, between the mountains and the sea, where the remains of their castles are placed so near together as to raise a question as to whence the inhabitants derived their means of subsistence. The chief castle of the Lordship was that of Cardiff on the Taff; but the lord also held castles at Dinas Powis, Llantrissant, Kenfig, and by an early acquisition, at Neath, all which may be presumed to have been intended for the general protection. Cardiff, upon the "via maritima" of the Romans, is a very remarkable fortification. It is rectangular, protected on three sides by a very high bank and ditch, and on the fourth, towards the river, by a very strong wall. In one corner at the river end is a large moated mound still bearing the Norman keep, and which stood upon the line of a second wall
