THE mystery of why there are two castles in Longtown could soon be answered after a community project has gained nearly £80,000 of lottery funding.

The well-kept motte and bailey castle in the south-west Herefordshire village is the more well-known of the two.

But just half a mile away towards Clodock lies the mystery of the Ponthendre castle, which is also motte and bailey but it has not been developed at all.

The Longtown and District Historical Society working with Herefordshire Archaeology has managed to win £78,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a community archaeology project.

Two simultaneous excavations will start at both castle sites on July 4 and continue for three weeks to try to find out when they were built and why they are so close together.

Martin Cook, from the historical society, said: "We have got the question, why are there two castles in one parish?

"We believe the Ponthendre one was the earlier one then they moved up to Longtown half a mile away."

It is thought to be unprecedented for a community archaeological project to excavate at two Scheduled Monuments simultaneously.

Mr Cook added: "People have show interest in the castle at Ponthendre. It is time we found answers."

There are 80 volunteers who have signed up.

In preparation for the dig, the project has used the latest technology. Historic England funded geophysical surveys, including ground-penetrating radar, to see what lies under the two sites and recently a drone was flown over Longtown to carry out a precision aerial survey of the castles.

Tim Hoverd, Herefordshire Council’s archaeological projects manager, who will be directing the project said: “This exciting and unique project will make a major contribution to our understanding of the use and organisation of castles within the Welsh Marches during the early medieval period.

"It is an opportunity for two apparently very different castles to be investigated, compared and contrasted. This will provide information concerning when they were constructed and for how long they were in use.”

The Ponthendre castle was possibly built not long after the Battle of Hastings when the Norman conquerors were pushing into the Welsh border.

The other castle is later, with a fine stone keep and stone walls, but it stands on a massive square embankment that was once thought to be Roman although it may have been built by the Saxons after a Welsh army raided and burned Hereford in 1055.