1493, and the antiquarian John Leland recorded that the castle was "now downe" in the first half of the 16th century. The castle was described as ruins in a 1687 deed of sale. Castle town The Mortimers encouraged the development of a castle town at Cefnllys in order to consolidate their hold on the surrounding land, as well as the wider cantref. The date of its establishment is unrecorded, and its existence is first documented in 1297 with the granting of a market charter. It was accorded borough status in 1304 when it possessed 25 burgesses, a church and a town mill. Records of pontage indicate the existence of a toll bridge, and a deer park was recorded in 1360. The presence of a manor at Cefnllys was highly unusual given the upland terrain and demonstrates the Mortimers' efforts to establish manorialism in Maelienydd. Their rule was unpopular among the local Welsh, who in 1297 took their complaints to Edward I, compelling Edmund Mortimer to restore the traditional court at nearby Cymaron as an alternative to the manorial court at Cefnllys Castle. The lord's authority remained limited to the district surrounding the castle and only limited tribute, rather than rent, was extracted from the wider Welsh community. The lack of visible remains has meant the town's location has not been conclusively proven. The population may have been small enough to fit within the enclosure of Castle Bank, and supporters of this interpretation emphasise the settlement's military role as a garrison town. In this view, the stone wall surrounding Castle Bank would have formed part of the town defences. The more frequent explanation is that the settlement was concentrated around St Michael's Church, where there would have been easy access to the mill and a nearby spring. A series of earthworks surrounding the church may represent raised causeways, sunken roads and medieval house platforms, although archaeological finds have been mostly from the Tudor period or later. The church's structure is of 13th century origin, but the date of its founding is unknown and it was heavily restored in 1895. The town was small, remote and short-lived: growth stalled before 1332 and in 1383 it was recorded as having only 10 residents. Davies comments that its location, accompanying a castle site chosen for defensiveness and ability to radiate strategic power, undermined its economic viability: "the artificiality of [its] commercial setting was too