Castle Visit Uncovers Ghostly Tale

The ghostly Barbary ape (or macaque) is one of the best-known legends associated with Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is said to appear on dark, stormy nights, often climbing the stairs of the northwest tower to the battlements and letting out a howl or roar that echoes across the area. Reports also mention screams, sobs, footsteps in the tower chamber, or the animal’s form (sometimes its head) near the fireplace.

The core legend

In the 17th century, the castle was occupied by a reclusive, ill-tempered tenant or resident named Sir Roland Rhys (also rendered as Roland ap Rhys, Rowland Rees, or similar). He was described as a well-travelled man, sometimes said to have been a former pirate or seafarer. On a voyage to the Barbary Coast of North Africa—or after rescuing it from a wrecked Spanish galleon—he acquired an injured Barbary ape. He named it Satan in some telling’s, kept it chained in the northwest tower, and trained it to obey commands (including via whistles). The ape became his devoted but fearsome companion.

Sir Roland’s son eloped with (or ran off with) the daughter of a local Flemish merchant named Horowitz or Horwitz. The merchant later came to the castle in distress or anger to confront Sir Roland. A fierce argument broke out. Sir Roland released the ape and ordered it to attack the visitor. The merchant was savagely mauled but managed to fight the animal off and escape, though badly injured. As he fled (or while being tended by servants), he cursed Sir Roland, wishing that the ape would turn on its master and inflict the same fate.

That night—often set during a brewing storm—terrible screams came from the tower room. Servants, terrified of their master and the ape, hesitated. At first light (or after breaking in), they found Sir Roland dead in a pool of blood, his throat torn out. Accounts differ on the ape: some say it lay dead beside him; others that it had vanished; a few claim its head was found burning in the fireplace with a grin frozen on its face. The curse was said to have been fulfilled.

Hauntings and variations

Local tradition holds that the ape’s ghost returns on dark, stormy nights. Witnesses (including passers-by and visitors) report seeing it mount the stairway to the battlements of the northwest tower, from where it howls, or encountering it in the chamber or near the fireplace. Some modern anecdotal claims include a teenage girl fleeing after seeing it snarling in the fireplace.

Details vary across retellings:

How Sir Roland obtained the ape (Barbary Coast voyage vs. shipwreck rescue).
Whether the son’s elopement involved mutual love or something more coercive.
Exact circumstances of the merchant’s escape and the discovery of the bodies.
Whether the ape’s body was present or missing.

The story appears in sources connected to the castle (including the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority’s materials), local history and folklore accounts, ghost-hunting write-ups, and media such as BBC features. It is presented as legend rather than documented history; there is no clear contemporary historical record confirming a Sir Roland Rhys matching this precise biography and the dramatic events.

Carew Castle has other reported spirits (notably a “White Lady” linked to the medieval Princess Nest, plus a Celtic warrior and kitchen-related phenomena), but the Barbary ape is the most distinctive and frequently cited. The ruins remain a popular visitor site, and the tale continues to be shared as one of Wales’s more unusual castle hauntings.