Tinboeth Castle

In the Pipe Roll of 1283-4 the monies spent on the royal garrisons in the Mortimer lands were recorded under Staffordshire. Here it is stated that at his death Roger Mortimer garrisons kept for the king at various Mortimer castles. Tinboeth [Dynbaud], was recorded as having five horse and thirty foot at a cost of £13 16s 9d. On 25th July 1307 an inquisition found that in the cantref of Maelienydd there was a castle at 'Dymbaud', but no town. Soon after William Mortimer the son of Roger Mortimer of Wigmore (d.1282) was mentioned as William of Castell Tinboeth. The castle was still functional in 1316 and in 1322 was amongst those Mortimer possessions that were surrendered to the king with the disgrace of that family. This appears to have been its last mention as a functional castle. Undoubtedly the successful conquest of Wales and the security of the previously volatile Welsh Mortimer lands ended the military purpose of this bleak fortress. As no civilian hamlet appears to have formed around this isolated site, and no political reason for it existence could be found, abandonment and decay seem to have followed rapidly, with the consequence that by Leland's day it was no more than the 'great ruines of a castle called Tynboeth'

Today the ruins of Tinboeth castle consists of a great rock-cut ditch surrounding an enclosure which was once fortified by a curtain wall. To the east stands the last forlorn fragment of the now largely collapsed twin-towered gatehouse. 

For more details on Tinboeth castle please refer to the page on Anglo-Norman Castles