Rhuddlan Castle

We were based in Rhuddlan so could walk out in the evenings from our hotel to the small nature reserve across the road.  There was a lovely view from there across the fields to the castle which you can also see as you drive into the small town.

We walked into the town a few times over the footbridge across the River Clwyd.  

The parish church of St Mary taken from the footbridge.  We didn't walk up there but it looks an interesting church.

View of the castle from the footbridge,  We walked up to the castle from the town centre.

 

The impressive West gatehouse which was a show of strength and power.  The castle was one of the first commissioned by Edward I following the first Welsh war.  The building work was overseen by master mason James of St George.  Completed in 1282 it cost around £9,000 which must have been millions in those days.

The castle withstood many attacks from the outside world including during the Welsh rising in 1294 and from Owain Glyndwr in 1400.  It was finally breached by Parliamentarian troops in 1646 at the height of the civil war.  It was partially demolished in 1648 to prevent further use.

The castle has a unique diamond shaped layout and is protected on three sides by the moat and by the river on the fourth side.

The stairs lead up to the top of the East gatehouse.  Paul went up to the top, I stayed firmly at ground level.  

Footbridge across the castle moat.

The information board (a bit faded by sun the sun) shows how the moat was accessed from the river.  The River Clywd was diverted and canalised for a distance of two miles so that it would flow by the castle and the town. 

It meant that goods and supplies could be brought up the river from the sea.  Gillot's Tower (above) was a lookout tower and protected ships dropping off goods at the dock.

Before we went into the stone castle we walked a short distance to find an earlier motte and baily castle. 

 

In 1063 Rhuddlan was the royal seat of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn who was forced to flee there by King Harold I the last Saxon king before he was killed, three years later, at the Battle of Hastings.  It was at the orders of the new King William I (the Conquerer) that the motte and bailey castle was built c.1073 by Robert of Rhuddlan, a former squire at the court of Edward the Confessor.  The new castle was built on or near the site of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's palace.

The mound can be accessed by following a footpath which runs at the back of the present castle.

 

What a lot of history in one place. I'll be back with bluebells in our local woods.