Castell Caergwrle

Castell Caergwrle is one of Cadw’s most recent acquisitions through Guardianship, although the wider site remains in the ownership of Hope Community Council.

Built between 1278–82 by Dafydd ap Gruffudd (d. 1283), brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, on lands given to him by Edward I and taken from Powys, it was the last castle to be built by a native Welsh prince.

The castle provided the base for Dafydd’s attack on the English garrison at Hawarden in 1282, which sparked Edward’s second Welsh campaign.

Work on the castle continued under the Crown, but it was probably incomplete when it was abandoned after a fire and was ruinous by 1335. There is a waymarked path from the junction of Wrexham Road and Castle Street in the centre of the village.

A five-year programme of improvement to the wider castle grounds has been agreed with the community council and is being delivered by Flintshire Countryside Services.