Denbigh Castle
| Denbigh Castle | ||
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 View over the old town of Denbigh to the ruins of Denbigh Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Degannwy Castle; Gannock Castle | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 10 '51.6 " N , 3 ° 25' 13.8" W | |
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Denbigh Castle is a ruined castle in Denbighshire , Wales . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , was not built directly by the English King Edward I , but was part of his elaborate castle-building program to secure the conquest of Wales .
location
The ruin is on a hill at the southern end of the old town of Denbigh in the Vale of Clwyd .
history
The name Denbigh comes from the Welsh Dynbych , which means small fortress.
A hill fort was built on the conveniently located hill as early as the Iron Age . By the beginning of the 13th century at the latest, there was a Welsh castle on the rock. In 1230 Llywelyn ab Iorwerth , the prince of Gwynedd , met the abbot of the English Cistercian abbey Vaudey in Denbigh , who gave him a letter from King Henry III. delivered. After the Treaty of Aberconwy , King Edward I left the two Cantrefi Rhufoniog and Dyffryn Clwyd to Dafydd ap Gruffydd , the younger brother of the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd . Denbigh Castle probably served Dafydd as a residence, which he had expanded. The castle was captured after a month of siege during the conquest of Wales in 1282 . Edward I forgave Rhufoniog with Denbigh Castle to his confidante Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln . De Lacy had all the remains of the Welsh castle demolished and began, presumably with financial support from the English king, with the construction of a new castle and an adjoining borough , which, like Conwy and Caernarfon , was fortified with a city wall.
The west and south sides of the castle and the town fortifications were built by 1292. The castle, which is still under construction, was captured by the rebel leader Madog ap Llywelyn during the Welsh uprising of 1294 . After the rebellion was put down, the castle's plans were revised by the royal builder James of St. George . Presumably according to his designs, the previous walls were reinforced and the north and east sides and the heavily fortified main gate were built. 1308, Edmund de Lacy , the only son of Henry de Lacy, drowned in the castle well. After de Lacy died in 1311 without male descendants, the castle changed hands several times, which is why it was never completed. The new owners only visited the castle, which was laboriously maintained, only sporadically. After the death of Henry de Lacy, his son-in-law Thomas Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, inherited the castle. After his execution it fell to the elder Hugh le Despenser in 1322 , after his overthrow in 1326 to Roger Mortimer , 1331 to William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury and 1354 to Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March . The mighty complex withstood the attack by Owain Glyndŵr in 1400 . By inheritance, the castle fell to Richard of York in 1425 , so that it became a main base for the Yorkists in North Wales during the Wars of the Roses . The region was therefore plundered several times by Lancastrians under Jasper Tudor . In 1468 Jasper Tudor tried to conquer the castle together with Dafydd ap Siencyn in a coup , but they only managed to plunder and burn the city down. After the end of the Wars of the Roses, the castle lost its military importance and fell into disrepair.
During the English Civil War Denbigh were defended by the royalist Colonel William Salesbury , who had the castle repaired. In September 1645, King Charles I visited the castle. After nine months of siege by parliamentary troops under Generals Middleton and Mytton, King Salesbury finally allowed the surrender, and on October 26, 1646 Salesbury surrendered the castle as the last major fortress to the royalists. Thereafter, the castle served as a prisoner of war camp, which was attacked twice in vain by royalists under Major Dolben and Captain Chambres, who wanted to free the prisoners. After 1660 the castle was finally razed and used as a quarry.
Today the ruins are looked after by Cadw and can be visited.
investment
The castle was built from roughly hewn limestone. When it was used as a quarry, large parts of the facility were destroyed. The castle was surrounded by an oval curtain wall, the south side was additionally protected by a dry moat. In the north and east of the castle was the city, which was also enclosed by a stone wall, in the south and west the castle was protected by a lower outer wall. The main gate of the castle was on the north side, a side gate was in the southeast of the complex. It first led into the kennel between the outer and inner castle walls and over steps to an outer gate at the foot of the castle rock, protected by a semicircular tower.
The curtain wall encloses a wide, approximately 100 by 50 m wide castle courtyard. The older southern and western walls have four D-shaped towers. The eastern and northern walls, built later, are much stronger and have three mighty polygonal towers , probably based on the model of Caernarfon Castle . The unusual main gate, which is considered the most strongly fortified gate of the castles of King Edward I, is flanked by two polygonal, originally three-story towers. Above the gate is an arched field, the middle of which contains a seated statue, presumably representing King Edward I. The gateway was heavily fortified with a drawbridge, two gates, two portcullis, and a series of killer holes and loopholes on the sides. It does not lead straight ahead, but first into a formerly vaulted, octagonal hall, from which another passage leads to the right into the castle courtyard. The rear of the gatehouse is formed by a mighty octagonal tower called Badnes Tower . This tower contained a spiral staircase that led to the upper floor of the gatehouse that contained the apartment of the constable of the castle.
To the west of the Torburg is the octagonal Red Tower , on whose north side the city wall bordered. To the east of the Torburg is the kitchen tower, which is also called King's Tower since Charles I stayed in the tower in 1645. Between this tower and the White Tower Chamber , which contained the private rooms of the castle lord, who was Palas with the great hall. In the southwest of the castle were the Green Chambers , another residential building built in the 14th century with an originally vaulted ground floor. The building probably got its name from the greenish stones that were used as building material. To the south of the Green Chambers is the Postern Tower , next to which the exit gate was and to which the city wall was connected from the outside. On the inside of the southern and western walls, additional buildings were built that contained stables, workshops and other farm buildings.
To the north of the castle is the steeple of the St Hilary Chapel , the nave of which was demolished in 1923.
literature
- Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 978-0-85115-778-8 , pp. 62-65
Web links
- Internet presence of the castle near Cadw
- British listed buildings: Denbigh Castle, Denbigh
- Denbigh Castle on castlewales.com
Individual evidence
- ^ British listed Buildings: Deganwy Castle, Conwy. Retrieved October 14, 2014 .
- ↑ David H Williams: The Welsh Cistercians . Gracewing, Leominster 2001. ISBN 978-0-85244-354-5 , p. 29
- ^ Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 978-0-85115-778-8 , p. 64