THE site of an historic castle which was one of only three built before the Norman Conquest is up for sale.

Ewyas Harold Castle is on the market for £680,000 – and that price also includes a five-bedroom bungalow and 21 acres of land overlooking the Monnow Valley.

The Anglo-Saxon Motte and Bailey Castle was built from wood between 1048 and 1051 by Norman allies of Edward the Confessor. It is under the protection of English Heritage but a dig may soon be allowed.

Current owners of Castle Land Farm, Peter and Margaret Woodward were unaware of the significance of the land when they brought it with their home 14 years ago.

Margaret said: “We brought the house from a farming family and for them that bit of land was a nuisance as they couldn’t plough the field due to it being under English Heritage protection.

“Six months after we moved here a film crew rang us up and said they were doing a special programme on King Harold presented by Tony Robinson and wanted to visit as it was quite an important historical site.

“Bill Klemperer, the new head of ancient monuments at English Heritage recently came to visit the site and asked why we hadn’t dug here which we didn’t think would be allowed.

“He said he was more interested to see what was on the site and would be quite happy to allow people to dig as long as it was supervised.”

The castle is one of three built before the 11th century alongside those at Richards Castle and Hereford.

The structure was pulled down and then re-built before being eventually abandoned between 1416 and 1500.

Now all that is visible of the castle is the man-made mound it once sat on.

Mr and Mrs Woodward set-up a local history group in 2005 to find out more about the castle in their front garden.

They discovered that Owen Glyn Dwr was one of those who tried to seize the castle in 1403.

The owners are now looking to move to a smaller piece of land.

“We haven’t uncovered gold but it’s been quite a fascinating historical project,” added Margaret.

“It will be a shame to leave it as there is so much more to find out.

Most people don’t know that there is even a castle in Ewyas Harold.”