Said to have been conjured by a sorcerer or even the fairy folk themselves, the history of Pennard Castles is both mysterious and haunted by the sound of a howling witch left in the sandy ruins of an abandoned castle in Wales.
Rising above the windswept coast of the Gower Peninsula, the crumbling remains of Pennard Castle stand watchful on a cliff, surrounded by shifting sands and centuries of eerie legends where only ghosts remain.
What stands today is little more than weathered stone and quiet arches, and yet the castle has inspired some of the most disturbing stories in Welsh folklore. Its desolation is not just the work of time. Locals whisper that Pennard's downfall began with curses, fairy revenge, and the shadowy remarks of a supernatural witch.
A castle built in one night
There are few mentions of the castle, and over the centuries, more myths and legends than facts have become embedded in the minds of the inhabitants.
Folklore states that Pennard Castle was slowly built with mortar and sweat, just like its neighbors. Instead, he appeared on one moonlit night. Its construction is sometimes attributed to lovely peoples who are said to haunt the nearby forests and hollows. It is sometimes said that he was a sorcerer who conjured the castle one night to protect himself from death at the hands of the Normans.
The ruins of Pennard Castle are superimposed on an earlier Norman earthwork ring fortification. The cliffs on the north and west sides provided strategic defense, and a stone castle was built in the 13th century. The castle passed from the Broase clan to the Mowbray, Despenser and Beauchamp families.
Extremely stormy weather in the 13th and 14th centuries dumped enormous amounts of sand in and around it. Sandstorms damaged the castle's structure so much that the inhabitants abandoned it. Already in the 1650s, historical sources mention abandoned castle ruins covered with sand.
The curse of the fair folk over Pennard Castle
So who were these lovely people who are said to be building a castle? Along the Parkmill route in the area you will also find plenty of sea buckthorn, favored by Welsh fairies, or lunantisidhe from Irish folklore. Some also say that it is a sign of their Welsh version and presence in the castle.
One of Pennard's most enduring legends tells of a wedding feast organized by the lord of the castle. As he and his guests celebrated, music flowed from the courtyard into the hall. There the lovely people, the Verry folk, the “verry-folk”, the Gower fairies, danced under the moon.
Instead of welcoming them or offering hospitality, the lord reacted with anger and drove them away. Offended and furious, the fairies cursed the fortress and its master. That same night, the wind howled on the coast and the tide of sand rose like a living force. At dawn the castle was half buried. In a few miniature years, so much sand had accumulated against the walls that Pennard was uninhabitable. Some stories claim that while Pennard suffocated on the sand, Irish beaches were stripped bare and the grains were carried across the sea as part of a curse.
The witch of Pennard Castle
The legends of Pennard don't end with lovely people. The castle is also associated with a terrifying spirit known as Gwrach y Rhibyn, a witch or death hag whose shrieks and screams echo across the cliffs. Like the banshee of Irish folklore, it appears before death in some aged families, often in the form of a crow-like creature spherical in the shadows.
Some say that it was the sorcerer who conjured the castle who summoned her to protect it from the Normans and that she would not allow any mortal to spend the night in the castle.
If that wasn't terrifying enough, it is said to physically attack anyone foolish enough to sleep among the ruins. Some versions of the story say that he attacks every living soul that sleeps within the castle walls. Others say she only attacks those from archaic local lineages she has traced for generations. The result is rarely good. It is said that those who dare to sleep in Pennard Castle wake up mad, die before dawn, or, in stranger cases, rise as poets, cursed with visions they could never fully express.
Legend has it that a resident of Carmarthen, who dared to spend the night in the ruined castle, was attacked by the Gwrachs. The ghostly figure lunged at him, leaving him bruised and bloody. Although he survived, he was cursed and lived the rest of his life as a madman.
Crying woman in the ruins
Visitors sometimes report the sound of a woman crying among the broken walls when the wind dies and the dunes stand still. Some believe she is a tragic bride, forever mourning her lost love. The girl reportedly threw herself from nearby Penrice Hill after avenging her lover's death.
Others insist that the weeping maiden is none other than the gwrach herself, changing form to suit her purposes. Whether a spirit of sadness or a harbinger of death, its presence lingers in the night air, carried across the sands like a lament for the castle and the lives it has claimed.
A place where time doesn't stand still
Pennard Castle has long since fallen into ruin, its halls open to the sky and its gates covered with sand. a sporadic County Glamorgan flower widely distributed throughout the castle grounds.
Yet the stories remained. The curses of the righteous people, the deadly witch, the hidden bride and the blood-curdling fate of those who sleep within its walls cling to this place as stubbornly as the dunes that choked it.
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The Haunted Legends of Pennard Castle
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Myths of Pennard Castle, Gower – Historic Points
Pennard's Castle | Information for guests
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