The Caergwrle Castle, also known as the Hope Castle, was erected on the English-Welsh border, on a hill where a hillfort probably existed in the Roman period. The construction of the castle began in 1277, after the English king Edward I granted permission to Dafydd ap Gruffydd, as a reward for serving in the First Welsh War. Dafydd, Llywelyn the Great’s brother, fought against his countrymen, after he was imprisoned by Llywelyn to give up his hereditary rights to the land. Edward declared war in 1276, and then imposed on Llywelyn the division of property and, consequently, control over the Welsh lands that Llywelyn had previously owned.
The first mention of the castle appears in 1278, when Edward sent Daffyd 100 marks. It is not known, however, whether it was to help in the beginning of construction, or to help maintain the existing building. Judging by the appearance of the castle, it was likely that the English masons were employed to work on it. Apparently, however, it was not completed before Dafydd’s rebellion in 1282. Edward gathered the army and sent Reginald de Gray to get the castle, but on arrival it was discovered that Dafydd had retreated and left the Caergwrle. Before that, the Welsh destroyed the stronghold, including covering the castle well. Over the next fourteen weeks, Reginald rebuilt the castle. More than 340 carpenters and over 600 workers and another thirty other stonemasons were employed. At that time, many timber buildings were erected, chapel, bakery and several rooms for officials.
In 1283, Edward gave the Caergwrle to his wife, Eleanor of Castile. The existing references to covered walls indicate that work on the castle was not finished yet. As it was planned to develop the town at the foot of the castle, Eleonora obtained permission for a weekly market in the settlement and for bringing English settlers. These plans, however, thwarted a random fire, taking place when Edward and Eleonora were present at the castle. The damaged stronghold then went into the hands of Edward of Caernarfon, later king Edward II, but he did not make any repairs. When Edward became king, he handed the castle to John Cromwell for life in exchange for its repair. It is doubtful, however, that he would make any renovation. After his death, the castle was given to Edward, the Black Prince, who noticed that the walls and towers were in ruins, and there was no living space. In subsequent centuries the castle was dismantled in order to obtain a building materials.
The castle was built on the south-west corner of a steep hill towering over the Alun River. It overlooked the castle from the east and partly from the north. Castle foundations were built from locally coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. There were two styles in the walls. The best developed were fragments near the residential areas of the castle and its external parts. The internal walls, however, were covered with plaster, which made careful stonemasonry work unnecessary.
The stronghold consisted of a huge, corner, cylindrical tower on the south side, probably fulfilling the function of a keep. From the north and east side, the castle was secured by two smaller horseshoe towers, and the whole was connected by a defensive wall, defining a trapezoid-shaped inner ward. The northern tower had a dark basement and an upper chamber used for residential purposes, as it was equipped with a fireplace and located next to two drainage channels serving as latrines. The north-west corner of the casle was slightly rounded, possibly in the form of a slightly raised tower. The eastern wall between the horseshoe towers was equipped with a buttress that could support a smaller turret. To the north-east of the keep, next to the eastern tower, there was a stone oven for making bread. The gate was located in the curtain of the northern wall. Led to it a timber drawbridge over the ditch, perhaps preceded by a foregate. The inner ward buildings were mainly limited to timber structures attached to the internal faces of the perimeter walls.
The castle had features typical fot Anglo-Norman constructions (a powerful, cylindrical keep) and native Welsh buildings (characteristic apsidal towers on a horseshoe plan). It is possible that construction of the caslte has never been completed.
Small fragments of the castle have survived to the present day, of which the most distinguished are the eastern fragment of the defensive wall, relics of the horseshoe, north tower and a fragment of the wall connecting the south – east tower with the keep. Entrance to the ruins area is free. The path from the street to the castle can be traveled in 20 minutes or in 10 minutes if through the forest shortens.
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Kenyon J., The medieval castles of Wales, Cardiff 2010.
Morgane G., Castles in Wales, Talybont 2008.
Taylor A. J., The Welsh castles of Edward I, London 1986.
Website wikipedia.org, Caergwrle Castle.