The first motte-and-bailey castle at Cardigan dates from about 1093 and stood about a mile from the present site. Henry I took Cardigan in 1110 and granted the lordship to Gilbert Fitz Richard. Rhys ap Gruffydd captured it in 1166 and rebuilt it in stone in 1171. In 1176 it hosted the first recorded eisteddfod. Earl Gilbert of Pembroke rebuilt the castle with town walls in 1244, and the surviving remains date from that rebuild.
The English Civil War badly damaged it. John Bowen built Castle Green House within the walls between 1805 and 1808. The last private occupant left in 1996, and Ceredigion County Council bought the castle in 2003. Castle Green House featured on the BBC series Restoration in 2004.
It opened to the public on April 15, 2015, with a heritage center and a restaurant. It is Grade I listed.
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