Baldwyn Mawr of Crickhowell resented the new edifice in the south of his kingdom. In Chepstow, the Norman invaders had constructed the biggest stone structure that the South Welsh had ever seen. William fitz Osbern would not be satisfied with just taunting the Welsh with the Great Tower, he would be eyeing up the rich lands of Glamorgan. The cancer had to be stopped and Baldwyn was ready to move on the source of the disease.

William’s trusty warhorse, Michael de Lane advised against standing a siege. The construction workers had stirred up resentment in the locality and so the forces of the Normans sought out a defensive position to the North of the Wye.

The Welsh comprised two large battles of longbowmen and smaller numbers of lightly armoured spearmen. The third command under Llewellyn Dim comprised only spearmen and sought sanctuary in the fields to the East. Only Llewellyn Dim’s skirmishers dared to venture out.

The Welsh war council had thought that the Normans would lead with their heavy Knights but De Lane advanced his Saxon bowmen to a low rise in the centre of the field.

Baldwyn Mawr saw an opportunity and brought his whole line forward. The longbow would cut through armour but the extra piercing qualities of the Welsh bows was lost on the Saxon lackeys.

For the moment the Norman horse were only trotting forward, it was in the centre that the archers clashed, where both generals stoked the combat.

The Welsh had the powerful bows and they had numbers, they didn’t have time to win the exchange of arrows before the mounted Normans would flank them. It was time for the Welsh archers to resort to hand strokes and the clash was bloody. Baldwyn’s hothead lead to the commital of his second son, Llewellyn Bola, soon to be commemorated as Llewellyn the Last.

Above- the last resting place of a Welsh prince!

A Pyrric victory in the centre meant two wings that had been neglected. De Lane had carefully marshalled his mounted wing and these had only the very nervous mountain men of the Mynnydd Ddu ( Black Mountain).

On the Welsh left Baldwyn had his mounted hearth troops but they couldn’t stop the wall of Norman spearmen. A devious flank charge wasn’t enough to turn the tide but the wily Welsh wizard had another plan, and another son…….

A rear attack on a Norman knight conroi, what could go wrong? The loss of one son to see the tower fall may have been just about acceptable, but Llewellyn Dim’s pony riding heroes would be no match for the knightly bully boys!

The fighting continued in the outlying fields but the Welsh had lost heart. The lightly armed Welsh could give a good account of themselves in the muddy fields but in the open , it was no contest.

It had been an excellent, closely fought game. One more Norman unit would have equal led the score but that was against the flow of the battle. It’s always a pleasure to fight Mr. Lane and even if I lost my army of freedom fighters, and both my sons, and my reputation, there’s always next time. More photos of the superlative Chepstow castle in the “pages” section- well worth a visit.