Flint Castle
| Flint Castle | ||
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 Access to the castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Castell Y Flint | |
| Creation time : | 1277 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 15 '6.4 " N , 3 ° 7' 47.8" W | |
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Flint Castle ( Welsh Castell y Flint ) is a ruined castle in Flintshire , Wales . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , is one of the lesser-known of the castles that the English King Edward I had built to secure the conquest of Wales from 1277 onwards .
location
The castle was built on the eastern border of North East Wales. Originally it was located directly on the banks of the mouth of the Dee , across the river it could be supplied by ships. Today the ruins are in the industrial city of Flint and are separated from the river by a parking lot.
history
Edward I began building the castle during his campaign to North Wales on July 25, 1277 , making the castle the first of the castles built by Edward I in North Wales. The designs for the castle probably came from the Savoy builder James of St. George . As early as August 1277, an army of 2,300 workers, recruited from all over England, was busy building the castle and the adjoining new town, which was laid out according to the French bastide . The castle and town were to replace the older castles of Hawarden and Mold , to control access to North Wales and thus to secure the conquest of North Wales.
The origin of the name Flint or Le Flynt is unclear, in 1277 the castle is still called Le Caillou ( French for free-standing rock ). It is also said to have been called Llyn-dinas ( Welsh for sea fortress), which later became Flyn-dinas , Flynd and finally Flint. According to another theory, the name comes from the Old English and Old French word for rock, which refers to the low sandstone rock that stood out in the otherwise flat salt marshes and on which the castle was built.
The construction was essentially completed by 1280, but the final completion, contrary to Edward I's original plan, dragged on until 1284. That year the city received a Royal Charter . The mighty castle did not deter the Welsh from starting a new war with raids on English castles in 1282 . Dafydd ap Gruffydd besieged the unfinished castle and was soon supported by his brother Llywelyn ap Gruffydd , the Prince of Wales, but the Welsh could not take the castle. The war and the unsuccessful siege moved the English king to expand his castle building program in Wales.
During the Welsh Revolt of 1294 , the town was set on fire by the castle constable to keep it from falling into the hands of the insurgents. After the uprising was put down, extensive repairs were therefore necessary to restore the town and castle. In 1301 the king gave the castle to his son Edward , the first English prince of Wales .
The castle was where King Richard II sought refuge in 1399 when he returned from Ireland after the Henry Bolingbroke rebellion but his army had disbanded. He finally surrendered to Bolingbroke and abdicated in favor of his opponent, who became the new King of England as Henry IV. Shakespeare also took up this scene in his drama Richard II ; the castle is the setting for the third scene of the third act.
During the English Civil War , a royalist garrison under Roger Mostyn occupied the castle. However, after a three-month siege, she had to surrender to the parliamentary troops under General Mytton, who used the castle as a starting point for the siege of royalist Chester from 1645 to 1646. After the end of the civil war, the castle was razed by parliamentary troops in 1647 .
Around 1785, the county prison was built on the grounds of the outer bailey, which was only demolished after 1962. In 1919 Flint Castle was given to the Office of Works . Today the ruins are managed by Cadw and can be visited. In 2009, Flint Castle was temporarily closed to visitors after the ruins were repeatedly targeted by vandalism
investment
Today the castle is badly damaged, and because of the low remains of the walls and towers, as well as the surrounding plain, the castle does not appear to be strongly fortified. Its low silhouette makes it seem like it is sinking into the surrounding marshes, and there is indeed quicksand in places on the edge of the castle grounds . Nevertheless, the low remains of the walls and towers still reveal the former strength of the castle.
The inner castle was surrounded by the Dee in the north and east, while on the land sides in the south and west there was an outer castle . Only a few remains of the outer bailey have survived, including the remains of the outer gate at the parking lot and the brick outer moat. Today the path leads through the moat to the ruin; in the past it was filled with water at high tide from the Dee. The county jail, which was later demolished, was located on the site until 1962, so that the outer bailey is now just a meadow. The square core castle has three round corner towers , the free-standing round keep is located on the fourth corner . In place of the old drawbridge, a modern wooden bridge now leads over the originally 6 m deep moat that separated the main castle from the outer castle. The simple gatehouse was secured with a drawbridge, cast holes and heavy gates. But since it was right next to the keep, it was not developed into a gate castle secured with double towers , as they are owned by Caernarfon , Harlech and other later castles of Edward I. The inner courtyard is accessed through the gatehouse. From Palas and the farm buildings in the courtyard only foundation remains are visible. The three corner towers have been preserved in different ways. The north-eastern tower is best preserved; it still has the remains of two spiral staircases, loopholes, latrines and chimneys on the upper floor. The remains of a spiral staircase have been preserved in the three-storey south-west tower, while the three-storey north-west tower with chimneys was also comfortably furnished. Only small remains of the curtain wall have survived, some of which have been reconstructed to secure it at a low altitude. On the south side it has loopholes, a battlements and latrines. Remains of a ship landing stage can be seen on the south-west and north-facing sides. On the inside of the walls there were wooden residential buildings, but these have not been preserved.
The most impressive part of Flint is the Keep, the layout of which is very unusual in Great Britain as a free-standing tower outside the inner courtyard. It is surrounded by its own moat, which is now dry. Edward I was presumably through the also free-standing Tour de Constance of Aigues-Mortes , from where he set sail in 1270 on his crusade to Palestine , and through Yverdon Castle in what was then Savoy, where its builder James of St. George had previously worked , suggested building this tower. The round keep resembles no other tower in Great Britain, it has a diameter of over 21 m, the walls up to 7 m thick at the base of the wall were originally clad on the outside with smooth stone. The tower was accessed from the main castle via a drawbridge. The tower consisted of several galleries that led around the open interior. Above the basement, which presumably contained storage rooms, the galleries contained several rooms such as bedrooms, latrines, a kitchen and the chapel. The tower probably served as accommodation for the constable of the castle as well as for high-ranking guests such as Prince Edward. The top floor was elaborately furnished, had a lead roof and a surrounding wooden platform.
literature
- AJ Tayloy: The Welsh Castles of Edward I . Hambledon & London 2003. ISBN 978-0-907628-71-2
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: Flint Castle including Revetment Wall of Ditch. Retrieved May 23, 2014 .
- ^ Castles of Wales: Welsh Castles of Edward I. Retrieved May 27, 2014 .
- ↑ Flint through the Ages: Flint Castle. Retrieved May 23, 2014 .
- ↑ BBC: Castle shut after vandal attacks. Retrieved May 23, 2014 .
- ^ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: Flint Castle including Revetment Wall of Ditch. Retrieved May 23, 2014 .
- ↑ Ancient fortresses: Flint Castle. Retrieved May 23, 2014 .