Penllyn Castle is a Norman architecture castle, located in Cowbridge, 4 miles (6.4 km) south-east of Bridgend, South Wales.
Built by Robert Fitzhamon in 1135, the sheriff Earl of Gloucester, it shares an oblong tower like contemporary Ogmore Castle.[1][2] The high-location was chosen as it gave clear-view over both the River Thaw and Ewenny River valleys.[2]
Reportedly attacked by Owain Glynd?r,[2] today the two surviving main walls of the original castle stand on the edge of a low cliff above the River Thaw. They include near the base six courses of “herringbone” masonry, a feature of early Norman construction. These add to the academic theory that the castle was one of the first Norman structures built during Fitzhamon’s occupation of Glamorgan.[1][2]
In Tudor times, the Turbeville family built a manor house in the residual grounds, for which the former castle keep forms one corner. In the 1790s, a new manor house was built by Miss Gwinnett between 1780?1790, and the old house which now lies derelict converted into a stable block.