Oystermouth Castle is a familiar site in Swansea. It was rescued in the middle of the 19th century by local antiquary George Grant Francis, who employed workmen at his own expense to clear out the rubble and restore the walls, including a painstaking reconstruction of the chapel window from fragments of fallen tracery. It is thanks to him that we still have the building to enjoy. Read more about the history of the castle
In the 150 years since then, many architectural historians have studied the standing remains, and we have a good idea of how they all inter-relate. However, the only time we have ever looked below the surface of the ground is when service trenches have been put in, such as for the electricity for the floodlights. Sometimes these have given us tantalising glimpses of what lies hidden - for example, the outer wall of the eastern tower of the gatehouse. In 2006, the Friends of Oystermouth Castle commissioned a geophysical survey of the castle’s surroundings and its Inner Ward. Unfortunately, the weather was too wet to produce very good results, but it showed enough to suggest that the surviving buildings did not stand alone, and there are probably others under the grass outside. However, we also know that this area was divided into fields earlier in the 19th century, and some of the walls that show on the geophysics may be field boundaries.
This summer’s excavations will give us a chance to look at the west tower, where the survey seems to show not only the outer wall, but also a ditch surrounding it. We will also be digging on The Knoll to have a look at the wall that appears on the survey.