Tretower (or Tretŵr) is the ‘settlement by the tower’. Tretower emerged at the end of the 11th century when a man named Picard was granted land in the Rhiangolli valley as part of the Norman expansion into South Wales. A motte and bailey earthwork castle was built to control the area.

During the 14th century the Bluets (the successors to the Picard family) abandoned the stronghold on the motte and moved to the fortified manor house which is now known as Tretower Court. Tretower Court and Castle are now managed by CADW and are open to the public. 

The village itself appears to have grown slowly around the castle and the later manor house. The village was described by John Leland in his itineraries around Wales in the late 1530s as ‘a smaulle village stonding on a little brooke and within half a mile of Wiske (River Usk). Ther is a prety castel longging now to the King, and therby also in the village is a fair place of Henry Vehan Esquier’.