Pembroke castle

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Pembroke castle, started about 1090, exploited a loop in the Pembroke river, and dominates the small town. Begun by Arnulf de Montgomery, a son of Roger de Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury, it has an inner and outer bailey. It was taken over by Henry I as a royal castle, extended by Gilbert de Clare and Richard Fitzgilbert (1st and 2nd earls of Pembroke), and in the early 14th cent. by Aymer de Valence. It later passed to Jasper Tudor, half-brother to Henry VI, and Henry VII was born there. It was never captured in the medieval period. In the first civil war (1642–6) it was held for Parliament, and in the second (1648) for the king. It surrendered to Cromwell in July 1648 after a siege and was slighted.

J. A. Cannon