HISTORY:

On the Normans conquest of Glamorgan, Caradog, the eldest son of the defeated Welsh prince, Iestyn ab Gwrgant, continued to hold this lordship, and for the defence of the passage of the river built a castle whose foundations now lie underneath the streets around St Mary's church. His descendants (who from the 13th century onwards styled themselves De Avan or D'Avene) established, under line protection of the castle, a chartered town, which in 1372 received a further charter from Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, into whose family the lordship had come on an exchange of lands. In modern times these charters were not acted upon, the town being deemed a borough by prescription, but in 1861 it was incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act.

Aberfan Castle is a rectangular moated enclosure, 56m north-north-east by 46m south-south-west with a moat between 13 and 14m wide. It is depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey County series and has been identified as a castle recorded as destroyed in 1153, although a later origin is possible. A centrally placed flat-topped rectangular mound, 8.0m north-north-east by 9m south-south-west, has been identified as a cockpit although it is also possible to connect this with ruins noted in 1813. The site was built over between 1876 and 1897.

HAUNTINGS:

Reported to float above the castle ruins, this phantom white lady could be Jane de Afan, the last occupant of the castle.