Criccieth Castle

Criccieth Castle
Part of Gwynedd
Criccieth, North Wales
The remains of the great gatehouse at Criccieth Castle.
Criccieth Castle
Coordinates	52°54′58″N 4°13′57″W / 52.916°N 4.2325°W / 52.916; -4.2325
Type	Enclosure Castle
Site information
Controlled by	Cadw
Condition	Ruinous
Site history
Built	c.1230-1280s
Built by	Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn ap Gruffudd James of St George
In use	Open to public
Materials	Siltstone
Events	Welsh Wars Prince Madoc's Rebellion Owain Glyndŵr rebellion
Listed Building – Grade I

Criccieth Castle (Welsh: Castell Cricieth) is a native Welsh castle situated on the headland between two beaches in Criccieth, Gwynedd, in North Wales, on a rocky peninsula overlooking Tremadog Bay. It was built by Llywelyn the Great of the kingdom of Gwynedd but it was heavily modified following its capture by English forces of Edward I in the late 13th century.

Although the stone castle was begun in the 1230s, there were three main building phases plus several periods of remodelling. The earliest part of the masonry castle is the inner ward which was started by Llywelyn the Great. Unlike most other Welsh native strongholds, the inner ward at Criccieth was protected by a gatehouse with twin D-shaped towers that was protected by a gate and portcullis, with murder holes in the passage, and outward facing arrowslits in each tower. This design might have been copied from English designs on the Marches at Beeston Castle, Cheshire or Montgomery Castle, Shropshire. The two towers of the gatehouse provided accommodation and their height was later increased in the Edwardian period. The castle's well was also in the gatehouse passage which was supplied by a spring fed cistern.

In the 1260s or 1270s, an outer ward was added during the second building phase under Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. A new gateway was added in the outer curtain with a large two-storey rectangular tower. The castle, although not a proper concentric design, now had two circuits of circular defences.