The history of our village

PENMARK (PEN-MARC), a parish, in the union of Cardiff, hundred of Dinas-Powys, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 6 miles (S. E.) from Cowbridge; containing 486 inhabitants. The name, signifying literally "Mark's head," is supposed to have been originally derived from the preservation of a human skull in the churchyard, which, according to some monkish legend, was said to be that of St. Mark, and which was consequently regarded for many years with religious veneration. The place was distinguished at an early period by the erection of two castles, called respectively Penmark and Fonmon, both belonging to followers of Fitzhamon, and built for the protection of a portion of the territories which, upon the conquest of this part of the principality, that noble divided among the knights who attended him in his expedition. Penmark Castle, which was the property of Gilbert Humphreville, continued a place of strength till the reign of Henry IV.; it was then destroyed by Owain Glyndwr, in one of his incursions into the borders, and is now in ruins. Fonmon Castle originally belonged to Sir John St. John de Blesto, and continued in his family till the reign of Charles I., when, during the interregnum, it was given by the parliamentarian party to Colonel John Jones, an active and zealous supporter of their interests, whose descendant is the present proprietor; the ancient building has undergone various repairs and alterations, and now forms a venerable castellated mansion.

¶The parish is situated in the south-eastern part of the county, and on the Bristol Channel, which bounds it on the south; it is surrounded on the other sides by Llancarvan, Porthkerry, and St. Athan's. The village occupies the summit of an eminence overlooking a romantic dell, and the parish comprises a considerable tract of land, which has been inclosed from an early period, and is in a good state of cultivation. Its surface is generally flat, but intersected by small wooded valleys, in which elm and ash are the prevailing timber. Strong loam and clay, resting on a lias limestone, which is used for all building purposes, are the principal ingredients of the soil, producing wheat and barley, with a large proportion of turnips; and numerous sheep are reared and fed on the pasturage. The rivers Thaw and Kenson, the latter falling into the former, bound the parish for a part of their extent, and on them are two water-mills. The scenery is diversified and highly picturesque; and the views over the adjacent country, which is extremely fertile and richly cultivated, are extensive, and embrace many interesting objects, the castellated mansion of Fonmon Castle being most conspicuous. A fair is held annually on the 15th of April.

The living is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £8. 13. 4.; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. The tithes have been commuted for £558. 0. 3., of which a sum of £347. 5. belongs to the Dean and Chapter, with a glebe of thirteen acres, valued at £16 per annum, and £210. 15. 3. to the vicar, who has a glebe of 100a. 2r. 26p., valued at £135. 10., and a house. The church, dedicated to St. Mark, is a substantial and well-built edifice, but not distinguished by any architectural details of importance: it is sixty feet long by twenty-three wide, exclusively of the chancel, which is thirty-three by seventeen; and contains 60 pew-sittings, and 152 free seats. The chapels of East Aberthaw and Rhôs, anciently dependent on the mother church, have long since fallen into decay. There are places of worship for Independents and Calvinistic Methodists. Two day schools are supported in connexion with the Established Church; as also is a Sunday school, held in one of the two day-schoolrooms. Several charitable donations and bequests, consisting of two houses; two acres of land at Sufton, yielding a rent of £7 per annum, the gift of William Jones, of Blacton, in 1713; and about £60 in money, principally by unknown donors; have been made for the benefit of the poor, the produce of which is on Good Friday distributed among them.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penmark-Past-Maureen-Bullows/dp/1872808417

and this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penmark-Porthkerry-Families-Seventeenth-Century-Glamorgan/dp/B001OJUTI4

The ruined medieval castle at Penmark, Vale of Glamorgan, is unusual for being unrestored,  accessible and still having some significant structures, as most such places are either managed and partially restored, or have very little remaining. There is however a similarly abandoned and overgrown ruin on public land just two miles west, the larger East Orchard Castle.

Penmark is a quiet village on a ridge between the River Waycock and a smaller, unnamed drainage, both tributaries of the River Kenson, which flows past a short distance west, and both form relatively deep and narrow valleys, hence the settlement has good natural protection. The castle was built towards the end of the 13th century by the baronial de Umfraville family, and at its peak consisted of an oval-shaped inner bailey 210 feet across enclosed by curtain walls with various rooms and towers at intervals, adjoining an outer bailey on the west side. The ruins are only fragmentary - a section of the western wall leading to a turret and a two story tower, plus part of a dovecote and overgrown rubble piles from other rooms - but the site is still interesting, and quite evocative. Views are somewhat limited because of the vegetation, as the ruins are mostly covered by ivy, and the woodland in the river valley conceals the castle from the north.

Penmark lies along an undesignated country road just north of the B4265, close to Cardiff Airport. 

The north side of the field, bordering the Waycock river valley, is lined by a wall of relatively recent construction, leading to the remains of a 13th century dovecote at the northwest corner. The other end of the wall connects with the main surviving section of the castle, which consists of a 130 foot length of the west curtain wall, the northern part of which meets a rectangular latrine turret beside a D-shaped corner tower. Beyond here, the land slopes steeply down by 60 feet to the river. Other, overgrown masonry remains can just be discerned to the east, on the far side of the inner bailey, including further wall sections and parts of three rectangular rooms. The west wall also incorporates the ruins of a barn, which from the outside at least resembles the rest of the ruin but is in fact a much later building, put up in the 18th century, using material from the now vanished sections of the surrounding walls. The barn had a pair of doors, one cut through the outer castle wall. The northwest tower is still about 25 feet tall, with two arrowloops on the ground floor and two on the upper floor, plus two doorways, both once leading to walkways on top of the curtain walls. On the northwest side of the tower are the remains of another turret, or annexe (a 14th century addition), also originally of two stories, while to the south is the latrine turret, the lower section of which is formed of a vaulted, windowless enclosure, mostly contained within the thickness of the curtain wall.

It is believed that a fortification was first constructed at Penmark by the de Umfraville family in the early 12th century, either by the first known representative Gilbert de Umfraville, or his successor Robert. The (presumed) timber and earthwork castle was rebuilt in stone about 150 years later, the first definite reference being in 1307, and it seems to have been inhabited until at least the early 1400s, by which time ownership of the building had been transferred by marriage to the St John family. They however remained at another castle, at nearby Fonmon, and although Penmark Castle was subsequently occupied by several tenants, it had become ruined by the 17th century. Much was dismantled over the next hundred years and the stones reused, for the barn and for other projects in the village.

History

   Church of St. Mary in Penmark dates from the thirteenth century. It was mentioned for the first time in 1254 in a document assessing its income for 20 pounds a year. In the fifteenth or sixteenth century, a tower was added to the temple. In the nineteenth century, the church underwent a thorough Victorian renovation, during which, among other things, most of the windows were replaced.

Architecture

 The church was built during the transitional period between Romanesque  and early Gothic times. Originally it consisted of a rectangular nave and a slightly narrower, rectangular chancel on the eastern side. On the west side, at the end of the Middle Ages, a four-sided tower was added, crowned with a parapet mounted on corbels and a battlement. In the same period, the entrance to the nave from the south was covered with a late-medieval porch. The church’s windows were originally small, quite narrow, topped with trefoils, some grouped in pairs with a small cross or quatrefoil between the main openings. At the end of the Middle Ages, some of them were replaced with much larger pointed windows, filled with rich tracery. Inside, the nave from the side of the tower was opened with a very high pointed arcade. A magnificent arcade with Romanesque chevron ornaments and masks, but with a Gothic pointed top, separated the nave from the presbytery. Originally, the nave was also separated from the presbytery by a rood screen with a loft, accessible by stairs in the northern wall of the nave.

Current state

   The present church has preserved its perimeter walls and architectural elements, both early and late Gothic. Two arcades opening the nave from the east and west, the original two-light window in the southern wall of the nave from the 13th century, and the renovated late Gothic windows stand out. Inside, there is no trace of the rood screen, but stairs in the northern wall of the nave are visible, and a baptismal font from the 13th century has also survived.