In 1113 Griffith ap Rhys, prince of South Wales, took Caermarthen, and retreated upon his stronghold in Strath-Tywy, whence he marched upon Gower. William de Londres deserted Kidwelly and fled. The Welsh ravaged the lands and burned the castle [Powel, 145], which then could hardly have been a regular Norman fortress. After this followed a period of tranquillity, and Maurice de Londres had a park at Kidwelly, and preserved his venison strictly. On one side of the park, next the sea, were large sheep pastures. His wife, wishing to have some of the deer destroyed, caused wool to be inserted into the bowels of some of the stags, and then showed it in proof that they destroyed the sheep; on which Maurice allowed the deer to be attacked with dogs.—[“Giraldus Cambrensis,” i. 168.] On the death of Henry I., 1135, while Griffith ap Rhys was absent in North Wales, Gwenllian his wife led an army into Kidwelly. She was defeated and put to death by Maurice de Londres, its lord, and by Geoffrey, constable to the bishop. Her eldest son, Morgan, was slain, and his brother, Maelgon, was taken.—[“Giraldus Cambrensis,” i. 168.] “The battle-field,” says the editor of “Giraldus,” “is still called ‘Maes Gwenlian,’ and a tower in the castle, ‘Twr Gwenlian.’” In 1145, there were already castles at Llanstephan and Dynevor, and, in 1150, at Llwchwr. From the family of De Londres Kidwelly passed, by an heiress, to that of De Cadurcis, or Chaworth, whose heiress married Henry of Lancaster, grandson of Henry III. Henry, his son, and his grandson, held the castle until their line also ended in a daughter, who married John of Gaunt and was the mother of Henry IV., since which time the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster, including Kidwelly, have remained in the Crown. It is now in the hands of the Earl of Cawdor. KILPECK CASTLE. The parish of Kilpeck, in the county of Hereford, occupies a tract of rolling broken ground which intervenes between the Mynde, Orcop, and Garway ridge of hills and the river Worm, a stream which receives the drainage of a considerable valley, and finally falls into the Monnow, near Kentchurch. The railway from Abergavenny towards Hereford passes up this valley, which affords an excellent example both of the fertility and the picturesque beauty of the old red sandstone country of Herefordshire. The castle, church, and the site of the long-destroyed priory lie near together about the village of Kilpeck, two miles north of the ridge, and a short mile south of the church and railway station of St. Devereux. The ground falls rapidly towards the north, and is traversed by deep dingles, each with its contained streamlet. The hedgerows and steeper banks are covered with wood, and the grassy knolls and ridges subside into broad level meadows of unrivalled verdure, amidst which the plough is but little known.