Medieval and Middle Ages History Timelines

3D / VR

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Explore Skenfrith Castle

kenfrith Castle is one of the oldest of the Welsh border castles and is one of the 'Three Castles' granted to Hubert de Burgh by King John. The other two castles being White Castle, also known as Lantilio, and Grosmont Castle. In 1201 King John granted the three castles to Hubert de Burgh, one of his chamberlains. Hubert de Burgh had learnt much about castle defence on his trips abroard and soon after taking control of the castles he began rebuilding work at both Skenfrith and Grosmont.

Desktop/Laptop Version

Explore the castle

Explore the approach to the Marches castle from across the River Monnow and the interior courtyard in the shape of a trapezium.

For best results when exploring the reconstruction press 'L' to go full screen. Press 'Shift' to run.

Images from this reconstruction

Mobile/Tablet Version

This is a detailed reconstruction and should work on a high-end Android mobile and tablet devices. It is built using the the Unity 3D game engine.

This may take a while to load and the screen will go blank, so please be patient.

he layout of Skenfrith castle is in the form of trapezium. That means it has four sides where two sides are parallel but the other two are not. At each of the four corners are cylindrical towers, or drum-towers. The west side of the curtain wall that faces the small village has a solid semicircular tower. For extra protection a moat was dug around three sides of the structure that was filled with water from the River Monnow that flows past the east side of the castle. The curtain walls have holes through which beams were inserted that supported wooden hoardings. The hoardings provided protection for the defenders of the castle while they fired arrows or throw missiles at the attackers who approached the base of the walls. At the heart of the castle, standing on a raised mound and taller than teh surrounding curtain walls, is a large circular keep.