Castle’s once-dry moat fills up with water during heavy downpours

Heavy flooding hit Wales over the weekend, but there was one positive to come from the mass downpour.

The dry moat of a Welsh castle ended up filled with water, showing off how the defensive measure might have looked at times during the historic building's prime.

Grosmont Castle, in Grosmont near Abergavenny , is a familiar sight to locals and history buffs, but its moat is rarely seen with water.

Owner of the Angel Inn in Grosmont, Chloe Skinner, took a snap of the scene as the moat filled up following heavy rain over the weekend - explaining that it was a rare occurance.

The usually dry ditch was filled with rain water (Lowri Wynn Morgan)

The 30-year-old said: "We’ve only lived in Grosmont for a month, but many locals have said that they have never seen it like that in their lifetime

"While it was great to see what it might have looked like before it was drained, the impact of the flooding on the local community has been quite serious in some instances.

"The way the community has pulled together though has been heartening and we are very proud to be part of such a wonderful village."

She added: "There’s a lot of farming locally so fields have been flooded and crops and grazing land damaged.

"Roads were blocked so people were stranded and here at The Angel it was very much like a snow day with people communing at the pub!"

However, the rare sight could have been just as rare when the castle was in use.

A spokesman for historic monuments body CADW explained that the dry ditch wasn't always filled with water back then.

It's a rare sight - the ditch is usually dry (Chloe Skinner/The Angel Inn at Grosmont)

The spokesman said: "Grosmont castle ditch, like those you see around most medieval castles, wasn’t designed to be permanently filled with water but it’s a spectacular sight on the rare occasions it is.

"Castle ditches were a serious obstacle to attackers whether water filled or not.

"Even ‘dry’ ditches were often boggy and would hold water which in some cases could become quite unpleasant, particularly if the castle latrines emptied out into them.

The ducks loved it (Lowri Wynn Morgan)

The spokesman added: "As well as keeping attacking armies at bay by keeping them back from the castle walls, ditches and moats were one of the best ways to prevent attackers from tunnelling underneath walls in an effort to undermine them.

"There are very few castles in Wales designed to have permanently filled moats – Caerphilly and Beaumaris are our most spectacular examples."