A Brief History Of Rhuddlan Castle - Rhuddlan Castle, Denbighshire Wales

The castles of Britain. Grand and beautiful, majestic and imposing. Some have been maintained throughout the centuries, but others have been forgotten, left to decay into history by ages past. But why were they built? Who were the men and women that built them? What events took place within and around their walls? And what stories can these age structures tell us today? Join me as I take a brief dive into the history of the castles of Britain. Today we take a brief dive into the history of Rudland Castle in Denbighshire, Wales. Rudland Castle sits in the county of Denbighshire in northern Wales, about 2.62 miles from the northern coast of Wales. The history of Rudland, like many other castles in Wales, is incredible and begins prior to the Norman conquest of 1066. The area known as Rudland today was thought to have been the centre of a particular Welsh territory or cantriff, which was at the time ruled by Welsh leaders. The Anglo-Saxons battled over this territory with the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold Godwinson, only an Earl at the time, driving the Welsh leader from the area in 1063. When the Normans, led by William the Conqueror, invaded England three years later and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, they began a program of castle building to enforce their rule on the populace, and Rudland was chosen as one of the places to build one of their castles. William the Conqueror engaged a man named Robert of Rudland to construct a wooden mottain bailey-style castle, a style of castle that the Normans would become known for, at Rudland, although it should be noted that this earlier castle was built just to the southeast of where the current castle at Rudland sits, at a place now called Twithill. Robert of Rudland was also given control of the land there, and he unsurprisingly made Rudland the centre of his administration. Although nothing remains of the wooden Norman castle today, the mott or earth mound of this castle can still be seen, again being located to the southwest of the current castle. Here is an artist's recreation of what Twithill may have looked like in the 11th century. It is thought that the castle remained wood for another 200 years, as the battle for the area between the English and the Welsh intensified over the centuries. It was not until the uprisings of Llywelyn ap Gryffith in the 13th century that Rudland would finally see major updates made to it. Llywelyn ap Gryffith was a Welsh prince ruling over the county of Gwynedd in northwest Wales, and despite the fact that there were many Welsh rulers during that time that ruled over multiple separate areas throughout Wales, Llywelyn was by far the most powerful, and he was able to unite the Welsh against the English in the mid-13th century during the reign of Henry III. When Henry III's son Edward I came to the throne, he was keen on bringing Llywelyn to heel, and attempted to do this by launching an invasion of Wales in 1277. The king set up an advanced base at Flint, where a castle was begun, before he moved approximately 14 miles further west to Rudland. Because Edward travelled near to the coast, he was able to remain well supplied with naval support from the English fleet. It is believed that the Norman wooden structures still stood at Rudland when Edward I reached it in 1277, and although Llywelyn submitted to the king shortly thereafter, interestingly submitting to Edward at Rudland, the king decided that it was time for Rudland to be upgraded. The king decided to start fresh on a new stone castle, and work began to the northwest of the existing wooden Mott and Bailey castle. This new castle is of course the castle that we see at the site of Rudland today. Work began in 1277 and continued through to 1282, with work being started by a man named Master Bertram. However, Master Bertram was later replaced by Edward I's famous master mason, James of St. George, who finished overseeing the completion of the construction at Rudland, along with many other massive castle projects in Wales as well. The king and queen were said to have stayed at Rudland in 1278, and in fact, it is thought that one of their daughters, Elizabeth, was born at Rudland castle a few years later in 1282, the year that the castle was completed. However, 1282 was also the year that Llywelyn ap Griffith reopened hostilities with the English, after being treated generously by King Edward I when he had submitted previously in 1277. This time around, Edward would not be so generous, as he set out on yet another new campaign in Wales, this time to conquer it completely. Llywelyn was killed in 1282, marking the end of the rebellion, which was followed by the so-called Statute of Rudland two years later in 1284, which ceded all of the lands of the former Welsh princes to the English, and introduced English common law into the conquered country. This would be the last serious use of the castle for many centuries. Madog up Llywelyn's rising in 1294, saw the castle attacked, but it was never taken. Edward I died in 1307, and 93 years later, Wales would rise in rebellion once again, when Owain Glyndwr revolted against King Henry IV in the year 1400. Although the Glyndwr rebellion would last for around 15 years, other Welsh castles, like Harlech, would play a more prominent role in this conflict. The town of Rudland was ravaged by forces loyal to Glyndwr, but the castle never fell, and remained in royal hands. The last major military use that Rudland saw was during the English Civil Wars, or rather the First English Civil War, when the castle was held for the King, Charles I. After the royalist cause became helpless, the castle was forced to surrender in July 1646 to the Parliamentarian Major General, Thomas Mitten. Like so many other castles in England during this time, the Parliamentarians wanted to make sure that these structures could never be used against them in the future, and so set out on a program of sliding, which meant that the castles were damaged beyond repair, so that they would be militarily useless in the future. Although not all castles that fell into Parliamentarian hands would suffer this fate, Rudland unfortunately would. In May 1646, a man named Roger Hanmer was charged with demolishing parts of Rudland, which he did, leaving the castle in the state we see it today. The castle sat in ruin until 1944, when it was transferred to state care, and is now maintained by Cadw, a historic preservation arm of the Welsh Government. Let us now take a look at the construction and layout of Rudland Castle. Rudland Castle is located on the south side of the modern town of Rudland, in the county of Denbyshire, Wales, close to the River Clwyd. The original Norman Mott & Bailey style wooden castle site, now known as Twiddle, sits as an earth mound to the southeast of the castle. The first thing to point out is that the River Clwyd would have originally come up to the castle's southern walls, although it does not do so today. Interestingly, the river was impressively diverted over two miles by the engineers of the day, so that the river could be utilized by the castle directly. The castle itself consists of a moat sleigh, dry moat, which surrounds the castle on three sides. The moat is dry to the north, west, and east, but slopes down on the south side of the castle, which would have connected to the river, allowing for ships to be able to dock there at high tide. Moving closer to the center of the castle, we have the outer ward, which was surrounded by turreted, towered, and gated curtain walls. To the northwest would have sat the town gate, which is the main entrance to the castle today and would have been the main entrance to the castle in medieval times as well. To the north and northwest would have been turrets that had stairs built into them that led down to the dry moat that surrounds the outer ward. Not all of the outer ward turrets led down to the dry moat. To the south-southeast would have been the so called friary gate, which gave an additional approach from the former friary that existed outside the castle in this direction. This gate was blocked in the 14th century, and a turret was placed. To the south-southwest sits the dock gate and the so called gillet's tower. Again, the water at high tide would have flowed up into the moat here and allowed access to the dock gate. Gillet's tower was probably named after a mason that worked at Rudland for some time, although this can't be said with certainty. To the west-southwest would have existed a large open area of the outer ward and the water gate. There could have been multiple wooden structures that existed in the outer ward, as this was a common practice in that time, but any buildings that may have existed here have little to no remains left to see. The water gate, as its name implies, allowed the castle to be restocked by the river, with the river flowing right up to the gate in medieval times, the gate existing on the south side of the castle. We can take a look at this artist's recreation to see what Rudland may have looked like in the 14th century. We can see the town gate, which was the original approach to the castle, the dry moat surrounding the castle on three sides, the outer ward curtain wall with its stared turrets, the original location of the friary gate, which was later replaced by a turret, the sloping moat that leads down to the river fluid, the dock gate, Gillet's tower, and the water gate, giving the castle direct access to the river. Lastly, continuing towards the center of the castle, one comes to an inner ward, which contains two twin-towered gatehouses to the east and west, and two single towers to the north and south. Looking once again at the artist's recreation, we can see both of the twin-towered gatehouses and the northern and southern towers. The inner ward would have been battlemented both on its curtain walls and its towers slash gatehouses, as would have the turrets and curtain walls of the outer ward as well. As far as timing for construction goes, Rudland was constructed for all intensive purposes in one five-year phase, which began in 1277 and finished in 1282. There was other work that was done later, around the beginning of the 14th century, but it was minimal and not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. With that being said, let us now take a look at what features can still be seen at Rudland Castle today. Although we will not get into every feature that can be seen at Rudland today, there are still quite a few interesting details of the castle that can be seen by anyone who may travel here. We start at the town gate, which was one of the four original entrances to the castle. The bridge protecting this castle would have originally been built as a turning bridge, but that was abandoned not long after the castle was constructed. There of course would have been a gatehouse protecting this entrance, which has long been destroyed. Moving through the town gate, we can take a look left and get a view of the dry moat that surrounded the castle on three sides. The outer ward wall can still be seen here, which would have stood much higher in medieval times, along with the turrets, which we will touch on momentarily. Turning right and heading down the slope of the outer ward, we can get our first glimpse of the inner ward and the two-towered west gatehouse. The inner ward was set up with two gatehouses, one to the east and one to the west, and two towers, one to the north and one to the south. This of course is the west gatehouse, which has had most of its lower stones robbed over the centuries. Each tower is four stories, with the first floor, or ground floor if you're British, being circular, and the upper floors being seven-sided or heptagonal. The lowest of these upper floors would have been an apartment, and access to the top floor room would have been accessed by a stair from the wall walk, which could then give access to the roofs by interior stairs. Moving slightly to the south within the outer ward, we can see the curtain wall connecting the west gatehouse and the south tower. All the towers included in the inner ward were similar in style, other than the fact that the south tower pictured here had a basement. The towers would have most likely accommodated officials and members of the royal household, while the gatehouses would have most likely accommodated individuals like the constable of the castle. The inner ward wall pictured here show what the original height of the wall walk was in medieval times, although the battlemented parapets are now destroyed, and would have extended higher than the wall that we see here. Interestingly, the four sides of the inner ward all have a box matriculation at the center, which would have protruded out on corbels. We can see the remnants of that here. Moving down the hill we come to the water gate, another one of the four entrances to the castle. Although we can see trees growing on dry land outside of the castle walls here, one must remember that the river Kluid would have come right up to this wall in medieval times. This part of the castle was repaired many times throughout its history, and we can look at the reconstruction to get an idea of what it would have looked like in medieval times. This platform that we see here in this image would correlate to this platform on the reconstruction. Continuing up into the inner ward, we can look up while standing in one of the towers to get an idea of the height of the tower. We can also see the heptagonal walls of the upper levels of the tower. Floor height would have been indicated by the beam holes in the walls. Stepping into the inner ward we see that there is a lot of decay that can be seen in the towers and the curtain walls. A large gap can be seen here in the east curtain wall, and the east gatehouse pictured here we will get to shortly. Along the base of the wall we can see arrow loops set in deep embouchures, although much of the stone has either been robbed or has decayed over the centuries, leaving much wider gaps in the walls. Turning left and looking at the north tower, we can see that this tower is in tough shape, and almost completely destroyed. The interesting thing to point out here is the doorway that existed on the west side of this tower. This replaced one of the arrow loops on that side, and communicated with the outer ward. It is thought that this was used as an easier way to bring supplies into the inner ward, and may indicate that a kitchen could have existed close to here. We can also see the foundations of some sleeper walls. It should be noted that the inner ward held all of the principal or important buildings in the castle, including the chapel, the kitchens, the king's hall and chamber, and the queen's hall and chamber. Turning left further and taking a view of the inner ward from the wall walk, we get a better view of the backside of the western gatehouse. Again, we can see the arrow loops that pierce the curtain walls in both the northwestern and southwestern sides. It should be noted that the wall walks thickened as they approached the towers, due to the fact that not only did the towers contain internal stairs, but also latrines in the corner areas. We can take a look at the recreation once again, to see where the wall walks widened as they approached the towers. Near the center of the inner ward, the well can be seen, which would have been used to gain access to fresh water. Continuing back to the outer ward through the eastern gatehouse and turning around, we can see that the eastern gatehouse is much more decayed than the western gatehouse. It would have held a portcullis and a door, and the ground floor rooms would have been used as porter's lodges or guard rooms. Heading to the northwest side of the castle, we can go down into the dry moat. Here we can get a look at the turrets that would have surrounded the outer ward. Each turret initially had a staircase from the outer ward down to the moat, acting as a sally port if needed, but these staircases were eventually sealed off and blocked. Moving a little bit to the north, we can get a head-on view of the north tower from outside of the castle. Although largely destroyed, one can see the beam holes in the ruins, indicating the floors on each level. Turning slightly to the right, one can get a side view of one of the turrets and how far they protruded into the moat. From this angle, we can see the town gate in the distance. Continuing around to the south side of the castle, we come to what was originally called The name of this entrance was derived from the friary that stood to the south of the castle. This entrance was initially a causeway, but in the 14th century it was blocked up, and a tower was erected to cover that area. From this vantage point, one can see the south tower again, with stone robbed from its foundation, as well as the moat, which begins to slope down towards the river at this point. Once again, we can see Gillet's Tower overlooking the dock gate at the bottom of the moat. Crossing the river, we come to the south side and final area of the castle. Here we can see the dock gate, the last of the four entrances to the castle, and Gillet's Tower. The dock gate sat at the bottom of the descending moat, which allowed boats to dock there, and can be seen just to the right of the tower in this image. Gillet's Tower protected this gate, which would have been entered at wall walk level, although the surrounding walls have since decayed. Again, the name of this tower is thought to have derived from one of the masons that worked there, Gillet de Chalons. Continuing to the northwest slightly, still on the opposite bank of the Clwyd, we can see how far the river has moved from the castle. Again, it is interesting to note that this river was diverted by hand so that it ran past the castle, and is certainly an incredible engineering feat when viewing from a medieval standpoint. We lastly move to the west, and catch a glimpse of the River Clwyd, the parish church of St. Mary's, and of course, Rudland Castle amidst the backdrop of the Welsh countryside. If you are interested in visiting Rudland Castle, you can find more information on Canoe's website, link in the description. Okay, this has been a brief dive into the history of Rudland Castle, this is Brief History signing off, thank you for watching, and I will catch you on the next one. Cheers!