A medieval court used by the last native prince of Wales has been acquired by the Welsh Government for £17,000 with plans to enhance public knowledge of the site’s archeological importance. The Welsh Government announced it had purchased Llys Rhosyr on Anglesey this week, which will be preserved and presented for public viewing.
Despite being close to well-visited tourist destinations and itself being free to visit, many know very little about Llys Rhosyr in Newborough. The site was an administrative centre for Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, known as Llywelyn the Last.
Thought to have been used between 1237 and 1314, it is the only court of the medieval Welsh princes with visible remains. Following the conquest of north Wales by Edward I in 1282, Llys (court in English) Rhosyr fell into English hands and stopped performing an administrative role.
In 1332 the court was covered by a sand storm. It remained submerged for more than six centuries until being partially excavated in the 1990s by Gwynedd Archaeological Trust (GAT), but three-quarters of the vast site remains buried underground.
The importance of the site has been heralded with the reconstruction of its thatched hall at St Fagans National History Museum, called Llys Llywelyn. Announcing its purchase during a visit to St Fagans this week, deputy minister for arts and sport Dawn Bowden said Llys Rhosyr retains “great archaeological potential”. She said: “Visiting Llys Llywelyn in St Fagans has provided a fascinating insight into what the original site in Anglesey could have looked and felt like - and how important it was to the history of Wales.
“And of course, the actual site of Llys Rhosyr retains great archaeological potential. It also has an important sense of place - with views outwards across the Menai Strait to the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) which the Princes of Gwynedd used to their advantage during times of attack.”
Gwilym Hughes, the head of Cadw, said the site “tells a very important part of our history from some eight or nine hundred years ago”.
According to Visit Anglesey it was at Llys Rhosyr that Llywelyn the Great “rallied soldiers, collected taxes, settled disputes, hosted fetes, danced with his wife, or hatched a plan to conquer Ceredigion or assault Shrewsbury”.
The princes ruled by touring their courts in small administrative areas called “commotes”. South Anglesey was ruled from courts at Aberffraw and Llys Rhosyr – the latter being where Llywelyn the Great issued a charter in 1237 granting land to the Augustinian community of Ynys Lannog (Puffin Island).
Tenants in commotes would supply the local llys with farm produce. They would also build and repair royal structure: at Llys Rhosyr, it is known that they carried out building works on an enclosure wall, chapel, great hall, stables and the lord’s ty bach (privy).
Ovens have been found there and archeologists suspect food stores, barns, kilns and a dormitory may also be present. Artifacts recovered from the site include pottery and silverware, suggesting its use by people of high social status.
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