Editing Nevern (section)

==History==
===Neolithic===
The area around Nevern has been occupied since at least [[neolithic]] times (about 4,000 years ago); evidence includes [[Tumulus|barrow]]s revealed in an aerial survey during the 2018 heatwave.<ref>{{cite news|work=BBC News|title=Heatwave crop marks reveal 200 ancient sites in Wales|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46542523|date=28 December 2018|access-date=29 December 2018}}</ref>

===Norman rule===
When the ruler of [[Deheubarth]], [[Rhys ap Tewdwr]], died in battle and his lands were forfeited to the Normans, Martin de Turribus became the [[Marcher Lord]] of [[Cemais (Dyfed)|Kemes]], with his [[caput]] at Nevern, where he took over an existing fortification.<ref>''The history of Wales, descriptive of the government, wars, manners, religion, laws, druids, bards, pedigrees and language of the ancient Britons and modern Welsh, and of the remaining antiquities of the principality'', John Jones, 1824, London, p. 63-64</ref><ref name=Laws>{{cite book|last=Laws|first=Edward|title=The History of Little England Beyond Wales|publisher=Bell, London|date=1888|page=98|url=https://archive.org/details/b21781023|access-date=21 January 2019}}</ref><ref>''The ancient castles of England and Wales'', William Woolnoth, 1825, entry for ''Newport''</ref>

===Norman castle===
The early 12th century Nevern Castle stood on a spur of the hill northwest of the church.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lewis, S.|title=Topographical Dictionary of Wales|date=1833|url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/PEM/Nevern/Nevern1833|access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref> Under Martin's son, [[Robert fitz Martin]], it was the only Norman castle to successfully resist the forces of [[Rhys ap Gruffydd]]'s sons, who were trying to re-establish Deheubarth. Robert's son William later established peace with Rhys ap Gruffydd by marrying his daughter, Angharad. The castle changed hands several times over the following 80 years, and was eventually destroyed by Hywel Sais in 1195. In 1197, Robert and Angharad's son, William Fitz Martin founded [[Newport, Pembrokeshire|Newport]], and built a castle there, abandoning Nevern.<ref>{{cite book |title=Castles and Strongholds of Pembrokeshire |last=Edwards |first=Emily Hewlett |publisher=J. E. Arnett |year=1909 |page=12}}</ref> In modern times little remains of the castle, but the site has been extensively excavated. It was probably a square building with a bastion at each corner,<ref name=Laws /> and may have been one of the earliest stone castles built in Wales.<ref>{{Coflein|num=304392 |desc=Nevern Castle|access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref>

===Land ownership===
Although the local area is not mentioned, an allegorical poem in the 13th century [[Black Book of Carmarthen]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Ode of Cyridwen|url=http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/bbc04.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608225359/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/bbc04.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 June 2011|access-date=14 January 2019}}</ref> has been extrapolated by some writers to conclude that the area must have once been under the rule of {{ill|Cuhelyn the Bard|cy|Cuhelyn Fardd}},<ref>''A poem in praise of Cuhelyn Fardd in the Black Book of Carmarthen'', R.G. Gruffydd, in [[Studia Celtica]] 10/11, [[University of Wales Press]], 1975,</ref> a descendant of whom was later granted land in the nearby [[Preseli Hills]] by charter.<ref>''Baronia de Kemeys. From the original documents at Bronwydd.'', Sir Thomas Davies Lloyd (Bt.), London, 1862, p.48</ref><ref>''An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire'', Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, 1914, Volume 4, p 276</ref>

In 1603, the antiquarian [[George Owen of Henllys|George Owen, Lord of Cemais]], described Nevern as one of nine Pembrokeshire "boroughs in decay".<ref>Owen, George, ''The Description of Penbrokshire by George Owen of Henllys Lord of Kemes'', Henry Owen (Ed), London, 1892</ref>