Ewloe Castle (Welsh: Castell Ewlo) is a native Welsh castle near the town of Ewloe in Flintshire, Wales. It was one of the last fortifications built by the Princes of Wales before the invasion of Wales by Edward I.
Ewloe's position near the English border was strategic, controlling the road to Chester and commanding the lands of North East Wales (Welsh Perfeddwlad). It stands on a steeply-sloped promontory within the forest of Ewloe overlooking the junction of two streams; but there is higher ground to the south.
The castle was built from local stone. The work continued over many years and may have not been completed before the castle was captured by Edward I in 1277.
Ewloe Castle has the appearance of a motte-and-bailey castle. It has two courtyards with a D-shaped keep inside the triangular upper ward with a curtain wall that forms a sloping stone revetment around the motte. At the western end of the outer ward is the ruin of a circular tower on a rocky knoll.
There are no gateways connecting the castle courtyards. Access was by ramps up to the parapets. The two curtain walls are not joined together. The inner buildings were made of timber. An outer rampart defends the higher ground that lies to the south of the castle.
The first floor entrance is typical of Norman keeps. But its D-shaped tower is unusual. Usually they project out from a curtain wall but at Ewloe it stands isolated in the middle of the upper ward surrounded by a curtain wall. However, a similar keep was built by Llywelyn the Great at Castell y Bere.
Most of the keep is in ruins but the front still stands to full height. The tower contained a single apartment above a lower chamber. The outer walls rose higher than the top storey's pitched roof, to protect the roof from projectiles. Slots for storage are still visible in the roof spaces.
Ewloe Castle is a relic of the brief triumph that the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Last had over the Anglo-Norman Marcher Lords. It followed his reconquest of this part of Wales after the Norman invasion of Gwynedd in the late 11th century.
The area, which had been fought over by the Princes of Gwynedd and the Earls of Chester, was now at relative peace. Llywelyn the Last began construction in 1257 on the site adding to earlier work undertaken by Owain Gwynedd and Llywelyn the Great.
In July 1277, at the outbreak of the Welsh Wars, Edward I left Chester and established an advanced base at Flint, where building work immediately began on Flint Castle. But Ewloe Castle is not mentioned in the 1277 invasion chronicles. It was likely that Welsh forces had retreated to a stronger defensive line further west.
As Edward I's castles at Flint and Rhuddlan could be provisioned by sea, Ewloe was never used by the English Crown.
The only contemporary reference to the Ewloe Castle is in the Chester Plea Rolls which mentions a report sent to Edward II in 1311. The Justice of Chester wrote to the King regarding the history of the manor at Ewloe from the middle of the 12th century. The rolls records that by 1257 Llywelyn the Last had regained Ewloe from the English and built a castle in the wood; noting in 1311 that much of the castle was still standing.
By the late medieval period, the site was in ruins. Much of the castle's stone was taken away and used in later buildings around Flint, Mold and Connah's Quay
Ewloe Castle now stands within Wepre Park. It is open to the public. There is free access.
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