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Cresswell Castle is a castle half a mile north of the village of Cresswell Quay. It is situated on the banks of the River Cresswell in what is currently private land. The buildings were originally a 13th-century stone fortified manorial complex, founded by the Augustinian Priory of Haverfordwest.
Cresswell Castle is thought to date back to the thirteenth century but has seen many alterations since, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It originally had some defensive adaptations but in its later guise had a more domestic function. It seems to have been abandoned in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
Cresswell Castle consists of a range of three buildings set along the perimeter of a courtyard. It was originally a fortified manorial complex and has undergone substantial alterations over the years. The castle overlooks the River Cresswell at its highest navigable point. The courtyard is rectangular in shape, about 30 by 20 m, and is surrounded by a curtain wall with a small circular tower at each corner. The largest of these towers was built as a dovecote. During the sixteenth century, the Barlows of Slebech converted the castle into a manor house with stables, gardens and fishponds.
The castle is located inside the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, three miles north of Carew Castle and eight miles south of Llawhaden Castle. It can be approached by Millway Lane, a turning off the A4075, the Canaston Bridge to Pembroke road. The property is close to the minor road on private land beside the River Cresswell, but is visible from the road where there is room for a few cars to park.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
