Set on a rocky promontory looped by the river, in the west of Wales, Pembroke Castle is one of the mightiest medieval fortresses in Britain, dominated by a colossal round keep. It was here, in a chamber above the ramparts, that Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, was born in 1457 — the man through whom the Tudor dynasty came to the throne.
A Welsh and Norman fortress
Founded by the Normans at the end of the eleventh century to hold the Welsh west, Pembroke was over the centuries strengthened until it became an all-but-impregnable stronghold: an immense four-storey circular keep, massive curtain walls, a natural position defended by water on three sides. In the fifteenth century it belonged to the Tudors, a rising Welsh family, allied by marriage to the royal house of Lancaster. It was in this context of civil war (the Wars of the Roses) that the castle entered history.
The birth of a dynasty
In 1457 Margaret Beaufort, widowed at thirteen and pregnant, took refuge at Pembroke, with her brother-in-law Jasper Tudor. There she gave birth, in difficult conditions, to a son: Henry Tudor. The child, a distant Lancastrian claimant, grew up amid the perils of civil war and exile. Twenty-eight years later, in 1485, back from exile, he landed not far away, at Milford Haven, crossed Wales rallying his own beneath the banner of the red dragon, and defeated Richard III at Bosworth. A Welshman, born at Pembroke, became King of England and founded the Tudor dynasty. The castle, still proudly standing, keeps the memory of that beginning.
What to see
- The colossal circular keep, one of the largest in Britain.
- The massive curtain walls and the position on the water-girt promontory.
- The chamber (Henry VII Tower) associated with the birth of Henry VII (1457).
- The great natural cavern (the 'Wogan') beneath the castle.
Did you know?
The founder of the dynasty that would overturn England — break with Rome, dissolve the monasteries, father Elizabeth I — was born not in an English palace, but in a Welsh fortress, to a mother barely thirteen. This Welsh origin the Tudors never forgot: Henry VII made the red dragon of Cadwaladr, the emblem of the ancient British kings, one of the figures of the royal arms. The house that reigned over England for more than a century had, at Pembroke, a Welsh cradle.
Practical information
Pembroke Castle lies at Pembroke, in Pembrokeshire, in the west of Wales. It is today a castle open to the public, whose ramparts and towers can be walked. Opening hours and days are liable to change with the seasons; it is best to check them against the official sources before visiting.
Quiz
- Which king, founder of the Tudors, was born at Pembroke Castle in 1457?
- Henry VII
- Henry VIII
- Edward IV
- What dominates the fortress of Pembroke?
- A colossal circular keep
- A Renaissance dome
- A Gothic belfry
- Under which banner did Henry Tudor march towards Bosworth in 1485?
- The red dragon of Cadwaladr
- The white rose of York
- The imperial eagle