A PEMBROKESHIRE castle-turned-hotel has an attention-grabbing legend related to it.
Right here we check out the historical past of Roch Citadel together with the legend.
Roch Citadel is a twelfth century fort situated on the ‘landsker line’ the place the division was stated to have been between the English and Welsh talking components of Wales.
The fort was inbuilt 1195 by Norman knight Adam de Rupe and that is the place the legend comes into play.
The legend says that de Rupe ordered the fort to be constructed after a witch’s prophecy.
The witch informed him that he’ll die from a snake chunk inside a yr, until he managed to make it all through the yr with out being bitten – if he did so, he would stay a protracted and wholesome life.
He then ordered for the fort to be constructed and retired to the very best room of the fort, aspiring to spend the yr there.
Nonetheless, his plan is claimed to not have labored as whereas he was profitable for a lot of the yr, when it got here to winter, he wanted to remain heat so requested a servant to get some wooden for a fireplace. The servant returned with some logs however they’d not been checked totally and a snake lurking in a log bit de Rupe and he died shortly after.
It’s recognized that after the fort was constructed, it was a stronghold that fortified Anglicised Wales, serving to guard the Flemish settlers from the specter of the Welsh to the north. The de Rupe household (which is believed later modified its title to de la Roche) was given authority over the realm of Pembrokeshire between Milford Haven and Newgale.
De Rupe had a non secular fame across the space, founding the Priory of Tablet and endowed it with the parishes Saint Kewit of Steynton, St Mary of Rupe, St David of Newcastle and St Nicholas of New Mote.
The household lived on the fort for various many years and had been answerable for defending the realm from Welsh assault. Within the 1300s, family members had been frequent guests to Eire as they accompanied the English forces throughout the ocean. They might take up residence there and be often known as Viscounts Fermay.
The fort was leased out in 1397 to a Henry Bart. He was ordered to protect the fort and prisoners and if wanted, to make repairs.
In 1420, the de la Roche male line of heirs died out with Thomas, so the fort was inherited by his daughters Ellen and Elizabeth. The pair married into the Aristocracy, with Ellen marrying the fifth Lord of Chartley, Edmund de Ferrars and Elizabeth, Sir George Longueville.
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The male heirs would later inherit this fort as in 1520 it’s famous that the proprietors had been Lord Ferrars and Sir John Longueville. 40 years after this, the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Longueville had been homeowners of the fort and their descendants remained in cost for an extra 41 years.
It was in 1601 when the fort modified fingers outdoors of the households as it’s believed it was bought to the Walters of Rosemarket. In 1630, their daughter Lucy was born and she or he would later have the fated Duke of Monmouth as a toddler with King Charles II – a narrative we are going to cowl later.
In 1642, Roch Citadel was garrisoned on the order of King Charles I, with the garrison being beneath command of Captain Francis Edwards.
This was to be a sensible transfer, as two years in a while February 17, 1644, Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarian troops attacked the fort. They had been led by Colonel Roland Laugharne. The garrison held out for 9 days earlier than surrendering the fort to the Parliamentarians.
The harm to the fort was extreme however the Walter household had been protected as they’d moved to London throughout the conflict, with Lucy being despatched away from any potential hurt to the Hague.
Cromwell’s troops weren’t in control of the fort for lengthy as in July of the identical yr, it was recaptured by Sir Charles Gerrard and his band of Royalist troops. Additionally they captured 300 cattle and 1,500 sheep which had been on the fort to supply provision to Cromwell’s forces.
The next yr, the fort was once more recaptured by the Parliamentarians. It remained beneath their management till the Restoration in 1660.
In the identical yr the fort was recaptured by Cromwell’s troops, Lucy would meet King Charles II and in 1648, grew to become his mistress. The couple would have a toddler collectively the next yr, James Scott, who can be created Duke of Monmouth.
Image: Karen Morris
In 1650, Roch Citadel was handed to Lucy’s brother Richard following the dying of their father. Six years later, he can be given the job of Excessive Sheriff of Pembrokeshire. Lucy would die within the Netherlands in 1658.
From round 1700, the fort, like many throughout the time interval, can be left unoccupied and fall into break, the partitions would stay intact however the roofs and inside would crumble. In the direction of the tip of the 1700s, it’s believed the fort was purchased by John Harries, nonetheless in 1800, can be bought once more to Rees Stokes. His son would inherit the fort however would promote it to his personal sister Elizabeth Rees in 1840. She would name the fort her personal till her dying 5 years later when it might move to her son John Stokes.
In 1888 his daughter Emma Elizabeth Rhys Massey inherited the fort and 11 years later she bought it to the primary Viscount of St Davids – John Wynford Phillips. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the Viscount started to rebuild the fort, intending on utilizing it as a rustic seat.
This restoration was accomplished simply two years later and he added a wing to the north of the fort in the identical type.
The Phillips’ would occupy the fort for various years and it was regularly visited by David Lloyd George, who would go on to be the UK’s Prime Minister.
The fort can be handed to the Viscount’s son the honourable Jestyn Phillips in 1929 and in 1954, the fort was purchased by the honourable John Whitfield, the son of Lord Kenswood.
Lord and Woman Kenswood would take up residence on the fort and would proceed restoration of the inside of the property. Lord Kenswood died in 1963 and his spouse the Dowager Woman Kenswood remained within the property till 1965 when it was bought by Lord Kenswood’s son to Hollis MacLure Baker, an American furnishings producer.
In 1972, the fort grew to become dwelling to William Berry, who determined that he would set free the fort in 1977 as a vacation dwelling.
The fort remained as a vacation dwelling for various years whereas the funds generated would permit for any repairs needing to be performed.
The Griffiths Roch Basis purchased the fort from David and Susan Berry in 2008 and gave Welsh Heritage Development the contract to refurbish and restore the fort beneath the watchful eye of architects Acanthus Holden.
In 2013, the fort reopened as a six-bedroom luxurious resort, which it stays to today.
There are tales that the fort is haunted, with folks saying that de Rupe regularly wanders the higher flooring and that folks have seen a ghost of a lady who’s believed to have been the daughter of one of many households who occupied the fort all through the centuries.
