Ewloe Castle

Ewloe Castle
Part of Flintshire
Ewloe, Wales
Part of Ewloe Castle's Welsh Keep and curtain wall
Ewloe Castle
Coordinates	53°12′00″N 3°04′01″W / 53.200°N 3.0670°W / 53.200; -3.0670
Type	Motte-and-bailey, hillside castle
Height	10 metres (33 ft)
Site information
Owner	Cadw
Condition	Ruin
Site history
Built	12th–13th Century
Built by	Owain Gwynedd Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
In use	Open to public
Materials	Sandstone
Listed Building – Grade I

Ewloe Castle (Welsh: Castell Ewlo) is a native Welsh castle near the town of Ewloe in Flintshire, Wales. The castle, which was one of the last fortifications to be built by the sovereign Princes of Wales, was abandoned at the beginning of the invasion of Wales by Edward I in 1277. Its construction, using locally quarried sandstone, appears to have continued piecemeal over many years and may have not been completed. On taking the castle, the English Crown gave it little military value and allowed it to fall into ruin.

The Welsh sited Ewloe on high ground within their lands of North East Wales (Welsh Perfeddwlad). Standing near the Chester road, it maintained a strategic position near the Wales–England border. The castle is located on a steeply-sloped promontory within a forested valley. It overlooks the junction of two streams with higher ground to the south.

Ewloe Castle combines features from both motte-and-bailey and earlier enclosure castles. An asymmetrical curtain wall – with parapets – encloses two courtyards. A rock-cut neck ditch defends the southern side of the castle. In the upper triangular inner ward is a D-shaped tower known as the "Welsh keep". This stands on a stone outcrop that forms the motte; it has a stone revetment around its base (a basic Chemise). The lower outer ward is enclosed by two separate sections of wall that meet at a circular fortified tower, which stands upon a rocky knoll. As the curtain walls are not joined together, ladders would have had to be used to reach their parapets.