Old Beaupre Castle

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Cadw says there is no dedicated parking, with limited roadside space for about three cars on St Athan Road; nothing is published about charges, so the status is recorded as unknown. Follow the tourist signs: access is by the public footpath from the roadside over a low stile wall and across two or three fields of private farmland, not through the farm or its private lane. The path is about 560 m with stiles, gates and a hedge-hidden field entrance, and livestock, which may charge, graze the fields in spring and summer.

Driving pin: Cadw's own arrival point on the verge of St Athan Road where the footpath leaves the road, 541 m from its marker on the ruin. Cadw publishes no postcode; Google's CF71 7LT is the listing's. By road: 2.5 miles from Cowbridge via St Athan Road. National Cycle Network route 88 passes 1.5 km away.

About

Old Beaupre Castle, Hen Gastell y Bewpyr, is really more manor house than castle despite its name and medieval origins, a ruin in the fields of a working farm south of Cowbridge. Built in two stages, the older part dates from around 1300, while a major renovation by the Bassett family in the 16th century produced its most impressive features: the well-preserved three-storey gatehouse between the outer and middle courts and the striking porch, decorated with columns inspired by ancient Greek architecture and carved with the family's heraldic crest. Arranged around three courts, it sank to a farmhouse after about 1709. Reviewers find it quiet and tucked away, worth an hour, with the upper levels now open by a historic stair. One tip from visitors: it is reached only on foot across three fields on a public footpath from St Athan Road through stiles, with cattle in the fields, and the roadside holds two or three cars. Dogs on short leads are welcome.

Check today’s timesPick a day for times and prices

Please note - access to the castle is not via the adjacent farm and its private road, but across the public footpath from the road side, whereby you will cross a low stile wall to access the right of way across private farmland. See the official page for the full notice.

Today, Saturday 24 October

Old Beaupre Castle10:00 – 16:00last admission 15:30

Free entry

Opening times may change at short notice.

Open 10am to 4pm all year, last admission 30 minutes before closing; closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. No admission charge. Unstaffed and rural: Cadw's standing notice asks visitors to use the public footpath from the road, never the farm lane, and to keep pets on leads among the livestock. Cadw may close monuments at short notice in extreme weather.

Terrain level 3, moderate: the field walk with stiles is not suitable for wheelchairs; a single stile with a few shallow steps leads into the outer grounds, and a historic stairwell climbs to the upper inner areas, with low ceilings and drops behind guardrails. No toilets or facilities. Drones are not permitted.

Dogs: Dogs are welcome on short leads at the castle; the site is not on Cadw's dog-friendly list, so access to the upper floors by the historic stair is not confirmed.

Photo: The roofless ranges and gables of Old Beaupre Castle on a rise above a grass field, with bare trees to the right under a clear blue sky. Gareth James, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Beaupre_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2764686.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.