Coity Castle Coity Castle in Glamorgan , Wales is a Norman castle built by Sir Payn " the Demon " de Turberville ( fl . 1126 ) , one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon ( d . 1107 ) , Lord of Gloucester . Now in ruins , it stands in the Community of Coity Higher near the town of Bridgend , in the County Borough of Bridgend . Very close to the castle is the battlement ed parish church of St Mary the Virgin , dating from the 14th century . Castle Construction and Modification . The castle began as a late 11th century ringwork . A rectangular stone keep and the main curtain wall were added by the Normans in the 12th century , under the de Turberville family . The three - storey keep was primarily a defensive structure . Extensive reworking took place in the 14th century , when a domestic range was attached to the keep by the middle gatehouse . New stone vaults replaced the earlier timber floors . The central octagonal pier for the vaults is still prominent among the castle ruins . An adjoining chapel wing with a tall east window was added to the first floor at the eastern end of the domestic range in the 15th century . During the 16th century Coity Castle , by then owned by the Gamage family , underwent a complete remodelling of the living quarters , including the addition of a storey , new windows and two chimney stacks . The principal chambers lay on the upper floors . The range of domestic apartments comprised a central first - floor hall set above a vaulted undercroft , from which it was reached by a grand spiral stair . To the west were ground - floor service rooms , probably including a kitchen , with ovens . The base of a ruined large malting kiln remains . On the far side of the range , a tower projecting from the curtain wall contained latrine s . The second floor housed private apartments . The Lordship of Coity . Turberville . The de Turberville family held the Lordship of Coity from c . 1092 to 1360 , which had been founded by Sir Payn de Turberville , one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan of Robert FitzHamon , 1st . Lord of Glamorgan . Richard de Turberville , seemingly his 6th great grandson , died in 1384 without male heir , leaving his four sisters as co - heiresses : Berkerolles . It was Sir Lawrence Berkerolles ( d . 1411 ) , son of Katherine the eldest daughter , who succeeded to Coity . His sister Wenllian Berkerolles had married Sir Edward Stradling of nearby St . Donat ' s Castle . Under his tenure Coity Castle resisted an attack by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr ( Owen Glendower ) and a long siege followed lasting into 1405 . King Henry IV was petitioned by Parliament to send a relief force and he dispatched three Bristol sea captains to resupply the besieged garrison . The Berkerolles ' tenure of Coiety ended on 18 October 1411 , on the death of Sir Lawrence " sine prole " . De la Bere . The heir of Sir Lawrence Berkerolles was his 1st . cousin once removed , the minor Thomas de la Bere , the son of John de la Bere deceased , son of Agnes Turberville ( 3rd . sister of Richard ) and Sir John de la Bere . Margaret de Turberville the 2nd . sister appears to have produced no male progeny , only a daughter , Johanna , Lady Vernon . During the minority of Thomas , Coity briefly escheated to the King , under the hand Isabel Despenser , seemingly in her capacity as Lord of Glamorgan , she being the wife of Richard de Beauchamp , Lord of Bergavenny , Gamage . Thomas de la Bere died as a minor on 28 October 1414 , following which the lordship reverted to Sarah de Turberville , the youngest sister of Richard de Turberville , who had apparently produced male progeny from her marriage to William Gamage . There was in the few years following Sir Lawrence Berkerolles ' s death much general re - shuffling of property interests in Glamorgan , for example with the Stradling family . Sarah ' s marriage to Sir William Gamage of Roggiett , Gwent brought the lordship into the Gamage family , where it remained until 1584 . The Gamage succession was not however easily achieved for in September 1412 , that is to say whilst the supposed true heir the minor Thomas de la Bere was still alive , William Gamage assisted by Sir Gilbert Denys ( d . 1422 ) of Siston , Gloucestershire and formerly of Waterton - by - Ewenny , in Coity lordship , besieged Coity for a month , trying to oust Lady Joan Verney , wife of Sir Richard Verney and daughter of Margaret de Turberville , from the Castle . Joan it seems had taken up residence to assert her own claim to Coity in the confusion following Berkerolles ' s death . As she was a female , a widower and without a son , clearly her claim was deemed tenuous or rather completely spurious . The entry in the Patent Rolls is as follows : Westminster Sept . 16 , 1412 . Commission to William Newport , Chivaler , Rees ap Thomas , John Organ , William Sparenore , Richard Delabere and Robert Wytney on information that Gilbert Denys , Chivaler , and William Gamedge , with no moderate multitude of armed men have gone to the castle of Coytif in Wales and besiege it and purpose to expel Joan , late the wife of Richard Vernon , Chivaler , from her possession of it , to go as quietly as they can to the castle and raise the siege , cause proclamation to be made that no one under pain of forfeiture shall besiege it , but those who pretend right and title in it shall sue according to law and custom . Arrest and imprison all who oppose them and certify thereon to the King in Chancery . By K . The king had therefore given a commission to his local tenants - in - chief to raise the siege and gave another commission a month later to John Grendour for the same purpose . Denys and Gamage ended up in the Tower of London for having taken the law into their own hands , from 19th . November 1412 until 3rd . June 1413 , being released after the death of Henry IV . Their action however proved successful in enforcing the Gamage claim to Coity . Denys ' s eldest daughter Joan was the wife of a certain Thomas Gamage , possibly brother of William . Another of Denys ' s daughters , Matilda , by his 2nd . wife , married another Thomas Gamage , son or grandson of William and Sarah , and thereby became Lady of Coity on her husband ' s succession , producing a son & heir John Gamage . Sidney . The Gamage family held Coity until the death of John Gamage in 1584 . His sole heiress Barbara Gamage had married Robert Sidney , 1st Earl of Leicester and thus Coity passed to the Sidney family , whose chief seat was Penshurst Place in Kent , which held it until the 18th . century . Barbara died at Coity in 1621 . Edwin & Earls of Dunraven . The lordship was sold in the 18th . c . to the Edwins of Llanfihangel . Through the Edwins , the Coity lordship passed to the Earls of Dunraven . Decline . The castle was abandoned around the 17th century and the castle ruins are now in the care of Cadw .