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Criccieth Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cricieth

In the community of Criccieth.
In the historic county of Caernarfonshire.
Modern authority of Gwynedd.
Preserved county of Gwynedd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SH49993773
Latitude 52.91613° Longitude -4.23238°

Criccieth Castle has been described as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.
Description

The castle was first built as a centre for Eifionydd commote by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, probably in the 1230s. Llywelyn ab Gruffudd is thought to have enlarged the castle in the later thirteenth century. It was captured by the forces of Edward I in 1283 and a large sum of money was spent on building work before the castle was besieged in the troubles of 1294-5. Further works were carried out in the earlier part of the fourteenth century. The castle was taken and destroyed in 1403-4 and was never rebuilt. The castle occupies the summit of an isolated crag washed by the sea on the south. The borough, chartered in 1284, probably occupied the dingle separating the castle crag from the rock of Dinas to the north-west (see NPRN 33014). There is some controversy about the sequence of building and the following follows the most recent interpretation. The original castle is a polygonal walled court about 35m north-south by 30m. At the north end is a great twin towered, three storey gatehouse, on which is a large rectangular tower on the south-east side. By the end of the century there was a great hall in the court. Llywelyn ab Gruffudd added walled courts on the north and south-west, each with a large rectangular tower. The entrance was in the south-west court, reached by a track winding around the castle rock. A long narrow passage connected the outer courts. This plan of separate courts each with their own great tower is reminiscent of the contemporary Ewloe Castle (NPRN 94447). The late thirteenth-earlier fourteenth century work is thought to have involved raising or rebuilding the towers. This can be seen in the fabric of the great gatehouse. Lower down the castle rock there is a rock cut ditch on the north and north-east, and an outer rampart skirts its base. These works are undated. (Coflein–John Wiles, RCAHMW, July 2007)

Perched in an imposing position, the castle is still dominated by the twin-towered gatehouse built by Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth ('the Great'). Extended by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ('the Last'), and later remodelled by Edward I and Edward II. An irregular masonry castle, consisting of two towered wards, the inner having the monumental gatehouse. Recorded as destroyed, c.1450. Work probably began c1230 and was remodelled in c1283 when the castle was taken by Edward I. Abandoned c1403. Inner ward consists of NE gatehouse and SW tower, enclosed by curtain wall which retains large sections of the wall-walk. No surviving internal buildings. The twin D-shaped towers to the inner gatehouse survive to 3-storeys. Irregularly shaped outer ward with towers to the N and SW and a gatehouse to SE, although only fragments of these remain. (CADW)
Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >
Coflein   County HER        
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Sources of information, references and further reading

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It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of the described site.

This record last updated on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
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