Oxwich Castle, Oxwich (Swansea)

Remains of a sumptuous, mock-fortified manor.

Summary 16th century buildings Information provided Free car parking (on site)

Introduction

Remains of a sumptuous, mock-fortified manor built by the Mansel family during the sixteenth century.  

History to the present day

The Mansel family had been small landowners in west Gower since the fourteenth century. They had a castle or a fortified manor house at Oxwich, of which almost nothing survives. It was Sir Rice Mansel (1487-1559) who transformed the family fortunes. He seized the opportunities to gain power and status given to the Welsh gentry with the accession of the Tudor king Henry VII (1485 – 1509), and the Act of Union between England and Wales in 1536.

Rice’s guardian was Sir Mathew Cradock, a Swansea merchant ship owner and naval commander. From this beginning, Rice became famous as a soldier in Flanders and later in Ireland. He was knighted in 1526 and from 1536 was given a number of official positions in Wales and the Marches. He married three times, which extended his estates, and through his third wife Cecily, a lady-in-waiting to Princess (later Queen) Mary, made close links at court. He prospered by acquiring much of the estates of Margam Abbey, following the dissolution of the monasteries. By the time Mary came to the throne in 1553, Rice was the most important man in south Wales.

Recent tree-ring dating of the roof shows that Sir Rice built the south range in 1557. In the same year, there had been a fight at Oxwich and his sister was killed. Rice was given permission to maintain a household of fifty servants who could fight if necessary. So the new building provided a main chamber for Rice, lodgings for his household and a defendable gate to keep out his Glamorganshire enemies.

His son, Edward, inherited Oxwich. However, he did not get full control of his father’s estate until the 1570s. This was when he replaced the old medieval hall with the enormously tall east range. It contains a huge, first-floor great hall at its centre, an integrated suite of service rooms to the left and a complex of chambers and lodgings in the tower to the right. Across the top of the whole building was a magnificent and fashionable long gallery giving wonderful views over Gower and the Bristol Channel.

Tree-ring dating shows that this new building did not last long. In 1632 Sir Rice’s south range was re-modelled when Oxwich was leased as a farmhouse. The east range steadily decayed, but the farmhouse remained in use until 1948, when the ‘castle’ was put into the care of the Ministry of Works to ensure the site’s long-term survival. It is now in the care of Cadw, part of the Welsh Assembly Government. 

Arrival information and how to find us

Address: Oxwich Castle, Swansea, , United Kingdom

Opening times:

01.10.09 - 26.03.10: Closed

27.03.10 - 30.09.10: Monday - Sunday 10.00am - 5.00pm

01.10.10 - 31.03.11: Closed

Admission prices:

Adult: £2.60   Concession: £2.25   Family: £7.45

Entry is free for Welsh residents aged 60 and over or 16 and under who have a valid pass.

Photographs courtesy of CADW photographic library.