CAERGWRLE CASTLE

Site Details

NPRN
95099
Map Reference
SJ35NW
Grid Reference
SJ30675717
Unitary (Local) Authority
Flintshire
Old County
Flintshire
Community
Hope
Type of Site
CASTLE
Broad Class
Defence
Period
Medieval

Site Description

Caergwrle Castle was erected by Dafydd ap Gruffydd in about 1278, and was thus the last native Welsh stone built castle. The remains of the late 13th century masonry castle are set at the south-south-west angle of an irregular enclosure defining the relatively level summit of a steep-sided hill. Excavation demonstrated that this enclosure, roughly 110m north-west to south-east by 120m, had been defined by a stone-revetted wall, radio-carbon dating indicating an early medieval date.

Sources: Cathcart King 1975 (AC123), 113-39;
Manley 1992 (Flint. Hist. Soc. 33), 12-20.

J.Wiles 26.11.02