White Castle (Wales)

White Castle
Monmouthshire, Wales
Gatehouse and curtain wall of the inner ward, from the outer ward
White Castle
Coordinates	51°50′43″N 2°54′10″W / 51.8454°N 2.9029°W / 51.8454; -2.9029Coordinates: 51°50′43″N 2°54′10″W / 51.8454°N 2.9029°W / 51.8454; -2.9029
Grid reference	grid reference SO379167
Type	Keep and bailey
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated	19 November 1953

White Castle (Welsh: Castell Gwyn) is a medieval castle located 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Llantilio Crossenny in Monmouthshire, Wales, near the B4233 between Monmouth and Abergavenny.

Known as one of the “Three Castles” with Grosmont and Skenfrith, there has been a defensive structure at the site since the late eleventh century. The castle was originally called Llantilio Castle (recorded in the Pipe Rolls in 1186), after Llantilio Crossenny, the medieval manor of which it was a part. The name "White Castle" was first recorded in the thirteenth century, and was derived from the whitewash put on the stone walls. The castle ruins are Grade I listed as at 19 November 1953.

The term “The Three Castles” is used to collectively describe White Castle, Skenfrith Castle and Grosmont Castle. White Castle is located above the River Trothy, a tributary of the River Monnow in south Wales, in modern-day Monmouthshire; the castles at Skenfrith and Grosmont are in the Monnow valley..

The Monnow and Trothy valleys together formed an important route between Hereford and South Wales in medieval times, due to their position as an area of relatively open land, which provided a break between the river cliffs of the Wye Valley to the east, and the hills around Abergavenny to the west. The Three Castles are usually grouped together by historians because for almost their entire history they were part of a block of territory under the control of a single lord.