Walking to Clyro

I was looking at the map of the area to find interesting walks to go on, and I noticed a motte and bailey marked just above Clyro. Clyro has its own motte, hidden by trees just opposite Pottery Cottage (hence the title of Oliver Balch's book Under the Tump), but this was further out.
Last week I made my first attempt at finding it. I took the lane that goes past Radnor's End campsite on a gloriously hot and sunny day. I saw swallows and martens flying between Tir Mynach and Boatside Cottage - some of them were landing by the little stream to pick up mud for their nests. Further on, a buzzard was mobbed by two crows, and a young rabbit ran along the lane in front of me until it darted into the hedge.
I got to the main road, and there should have been a bridlepath leading up the hill just across from the junction, but I couldn't find it, and I didn't want to go too far along the main road because of the speed of the traffic and lack of verges, so I turned back.

Yesterday, I went to Clyro by the main road from Hay. I walked through the village and out by a lane that led up the hill. It was another gloriously hot and sunny day.
I wasn't actually expecting too much from the motte - a mound and maybe a ditch or two in the corner of a field - but what I did find delighted me. The medieval motte is right at the entrance of Cwm Byddog nature reserve, and the original bailey of the castle is now the site of Cwrt Ifan Gwyn (there are various spellings), an old farmhouse and barns.

I couldn't get far enough back to show the motte properly - it's quite a substantial one.
Later, I found out as much as I could about the castle.
It's called Castle Kinsey, and was probably built by Cadwallon ap Madog, Prince of Maelienydd, in the 12th century. It's a good place to keep an eye on the de Braose castle at Hay.
This was not Cadwallon's only castle - he was an important man in the region. He even met with Henry II in Gloucester in 1175 to confirm his title to his lands, along with his overlord Owain Gwynnedd. It was at Christmas, 1175, that William de Braose invited many local Welsh lords to Abergavenny Castle, where they were massacred.
Cadwallon was one of five brothers, three of whom were murdered by the English, which left him to inherit Maelienydd and his younger brother Einion to rule Elfael. In 1179, he was also murdered, by the men of Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, while he was travelling under a safe conduct. Roger Mortimer was imprisoned for two years at Winchester because of this, and the men who actually did the killing were forced into exile or turned to outlawry - the ones who were caught were executed.

From the motte, the path led into the nature reserve, run by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, with little wooden bridges over the stream, and huge oak trees. It's the oak trees that make the site special. The path I followed ended up here - the perfect place to eat a packed lunch with a wonderful view over the Wye Valley:

On the way back, I stopped here to buy duck eggs:

When I got to the main road, there was a table set out under a tree, with wooden automata set out for sale by Penlan Crafts. Nearby a man in a mask was sitting reading.