Sir Walter Malefant

See Peter Bartrum, http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/handle/2160/6324/MALEPHAN... (September 23, 2018; Anne Brannen, curator)

See Peter Bartrum, http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/handle/2160/5373/bleddyn%... (August 13, 2017; Anne Brannen, curator)

Birth: unknown Death: 1258, Wales

Walter married Alice de la Roche and as Upton was part of the great possessions of the de la Roches, it may have come to the Malefants by this marriage. This Walter was succeeded by a son and a grandson of the same name, the son married Joan, daughter of Henry Fitz Henry, and the grandson, Elizabeth, daughter of John de Londres.

Family links:

Children:

 William Malefant (____ - 1362)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Nash, St Mary the Virgin Churchyard Nash Monmouthshire, Wales

Created by: Kat Record added: Dec 16, 2013 Find A Grave Memorial# 121794531

Photos added to Find A Grave by Creative Commons Added to Geni by Janet Milburn 5/2/18

The stonework shows there were a great deal of alterations over time, though inside to the left of the main door – which may have originally had a drawbridge above it – there is an early medieval fireplace at first floor level suggesting a lord’s fine hall.

In 1324 Sir Walter Malefant held only half a knight’s fee from the Earl of Pembroke, and this is recorded at neighbouring Nash rather than Upton, though the lands in question may have been the same. One factor in the relatively late building of the present castle may simply have been financial – it could well have cost more money (and a monetary economy was coming in by then) than the estate alone could generate. That there was some money in the family from time to time is indicated by Sir Henry Malefant being one of three commissioners appointed to raise funds to buy a truce from Owen Glendower in 1405, but the sources of wealth may lie elsewhere, either from lands, marriage or (later on) trade.

If they couldn’t afford a stone castle until the early 1300s – and Edward I was certainly building many castles in Wales on borrowed money around the time of the death of the last Welsh Prince of Wales in 1282 - this begs the question of where the lords of the estate lived before then, and how they protected the inhabitants from the regular Welsh revolts against the Norman presence. The Time Team have determined that the chapel was built around 1200, and Upton is not a Welsh name, so we have a picture of Normans moving northwards from Pembroke though the history of Pembrokeshire suggests it was by no means a steady expansion.

The Time Team found the walls of the present castle kitchen to be medievally thick, and have postulated a rectangular-plan castle with a courtyard at the rear. A late 18th century print of the castle shows a mound of earth around it that has been subsequently levelled in Victorian times, as shown by the discovery in the courtyard area of 19th century levels below soil containing earlier finds! If there was something like a motte and bailey castle on the site before the stone building, a fortified settlement of earth and wood, the Victorian landscaping has hidden all signs of it.

The Normans first supported Pembrokeshire by sea – the first recorded Sheriff was also Sheriff of Devon – and it is notable that most early castles are along the shore line. Not only is there a stream past the castle which indicates a necessary local source of water for occupation, but the estate backs onto Milford Haven. It’s a pity that the Time Team didn’t comment on the masonry building down near the water, though it may not be medieval......

On the other side from Margaret is the statue of a huge man reportedly brought over from St Mary’s Church at Nash. This is the neighbouring parish towards Pembroke, and it is interesting that William’s presumed father Walter is recorded as holding half a knight’s fee from the Earl of Pembroke at Nash, rather than Upton. The crossed legs of the statue suggest the man may have been a crusader, and we know the Third Crusade was preached through Wales by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1188, so whoever he was (there are no surviving records of any Malefants in Wales before William’s presumed great-grandfather in 1258), he may possibly have been the builder of the chapel. Source: MALIPHANT Family History and Jamborees

Added by Janet Milburn 5/2/18