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Criccieth Castle

Criccieth Castle

Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Criccieth, Wales
Client / Owner
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth
Year
Completed 1230
Access
Tickets required
Style
—

Criccieth Castle, in Gwynedd, Wales, stands on a rocky headland overlooking Tremadog Bay. Llywelyn ab Iorwerth built the inner ward and gatehouse around 1230. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd added the outer ward between 1255 and 1282. Edward I captured the castle by March 1283 and worked on it until 1292, and Edward II continued the work from 1307 to 1327.

The twin-towered inner gatehouse is the most prominent surviving feature. The article compares it to Beeston Castle in Cheshire. The inner curtain wall also stands nearly to full height.

The English held it through Madog ap Llywelyn's revolt, which besieged it in 1294 and 1295. Owain Glyndŵr captured it in 1404, and a fire probably destroyed it in the first half of the fifteenth century. Cadw now maintains it, and it is Grade I listed.

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