29 May 2026 Madog ap Maredudd Day

 You may be thinking. who was Madog ap Muredudd. Other than being one of my ancestors, he was a Welsh Noble in the 12th Century from Northern Wales. He was the Grandfather of Llywelyn ap Iowerth, King of Wales, "Llywelyn the Great", from 1199-1240. 

Madog was simply a Mad Dog. Being a Welsh leader and Commander, he ravaged the Northern Border with England. He was always feuding with the marcher Lords, in particular, William FitzAlan I, Lord of Oswestry. FitzAlan owned 6 holdings in Shropshire alone, and when Madog went on a rampage, he captured both Oswestry Castle and Whittington Castle. 

Oswestry Castle today is another ruin, but it sits up pretty high in the middle of the town of Oswestry on a Motte. This is what it may have looked like at its peak.

The Lord of Oswestry Castle was William FitzAlan, and when the Anarchy began, he sided with Empress Matilda, mother of  future King Henry II. Unfortunately, King Stephen was in charge, and  William FitzAlan was forced into exile. During his exile, King Stephen gifted the property to Madog ap Maredudd, who held it between 1149-1154. Once King Stephen died, William FitzAlan was given back his lands and titles, and of course, he wanted his castle back. 

For the next 50 years, the castle was often attacked, sacked, and damaged by Welsh incursions, but after 1270, its military importance diminshed significantly. From 1277-1283, King Edward I began his conquest of Wales, and built larger, stone castles in Wales to control the Welsh.

The surnames of my ancestors who are associated with Oswestry include FitzWarin, FitzAlan, Owen, Sandford, and Corbet. Here's what it looks like today.




Curiously, this Motte and Bailey Castle did not have a manmade Motte. Researchers and Archeologists have determined that the Motte was actually pre-existing from ancient glacial deposits, as there were several in this area. 

A few miles down the road was Whittington Castle. The first mention of this Castle doesn't come from the Domesday Book, but rather from records kept that document the castle being fortified for Empress Matilda by William Peverell in 1138 during the Anarchy. 


Madog ap Muredudd (pronounced Meredith) occupied the castle, along with Oswestry Castle, from 1149-1154), and then ownership of it came under the crown. From 1164-5, it was briefly held by Geoffrey de Vere one of the sons of my ancestor Aubrey de Vere (1085-1141), who was the Kings Chamberlain). King Henry II then gave the castle to the FitzWarin family, although it was contested by a few other families. My genealogy records show that Fulk FitzWarin I and II were both born in the castle, so they must have had possession of it by then, but this is in conflict with the Castle Guide book I purchased at the castle gift shop. Either way, the FitzWarins had solid control of it after 1198-1420.


Llywelyn ap Iowerth attacked and captured the castled in March 1223, but by that Fall, the FitzWarins had it back under control. Ancesters that I have associated with the castle are Welshmen Llywelyn ap Iowerth and Madog ap Maredudd, Fulk Fitzwarin de Metz, Fulk Fitzwarins I, II, and III, Margaret Goushill, and two Peverell daughters, Maud and Mellette.

Visiting two ruined castles is quick work, so since it was too early to check in to my next hotel, I went to the City of Chester Visitors Information Center, to see what else I could. Across the street from it was Chester Cathedral. I didn't have all the information available to me when I went in, since I just showed up since I was there, but I knew that I had quite a few ancestors associated with this cathedral.



As you can tell, this was another sandstone structure. Many of the castles along the Welsh Marches are surprisingly made of Sandstone. When I was over here 3 years ago, the Southeastern part of England had a lot of chipped Flint castles and cathedrals, so it's interested how the castle make up differs with the stone that is readily available to build with.


While beautiful, I was a little disappointed that the church had allowed an exposition of artists who made huge wall hangings depicting the history Christianity. I even saw a picture in there that looked like Tupac Shakur with a crown of thorns on his head. That's just a little over the top for me, but the wall hangings covered up a lot of the memorials in the church that I was looking for evidence of my ancestors. Then, a lot of the furniture in the church was moved to make room for the wall hanging, and they were covering up the tombstones on the floor of the cathedral. 


Needless to say, there were no new discoveries for me in the cathedral, but at least I got that one out of the way. Ancestors of mine that are associated with the Cathedral are: 

Maud FitzRobert Countess of Chester, Thurstan de Banastre I and II, and Welshman Hugh Cyleiliog (also spelled Hugh de Kevelioc), 5th Earl of Chester.

Here are some of the stained glass windows from the cathedral.





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