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Showing posts from January, 2021

(Welsh history shorts) [PT 1] Burning of Harolds hunting lodge in portskewett

having defeated the king of Wales Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (through treachery) IN 1063, Earl Harold of Wessex (the last Saxon king of England) decided to build a grand hunting lodge in portskewett, It was to be a lodge fit enough for a king with no expense spared. Caradog ap Gruffydd, King of Gwent had different ideas though. in 1065 he attacked and killed every person on the site and burned the building to the ground. He then went on to ravage the district with his forces Harold never had the opportunity to take revenge; in January 1066 he became king of England, and later that year was killed at the Battle of Hastings. note::The killing of the king of Wales by Harold enabled Caradog ap Gruffydd to reclaim his throne in Gwent so you think he would have owed a debt to the future English king.