Qualla: Dinefwr Castle

Dinefwr Castle: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0. When Giraldus Cambrensis tells the story it has the polish of a folktale, but it almost certainly happened. Henry II of England was planning to assault Dinefwr Castle during a campaign against Rhys ap Gruffydd in the late twelfth century. One of his most trusted men was sent to scout the route, and a local Welsh cleric was assigned as guide. The cleric agreed, then led the Englishman by the most difficult path he could find, through bog and forest and over crag. At the end of the performance he stopped and ate a handful of grass, explaining politely that this was what the local people lived on in times of hardship. Henry called off the attack. The chief seat of Welsh Deheubarth stayed Welsh for another generation - because somebody chewed grass and meant it as a joke and a warning at once.

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Image: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK | CC BY 2.0

Dinefwr Castle: The Seat of Deheubarth

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wilson44691, CC0. Dinefwr sits on a ridge along the northern bank of the Tywi near Llandeilo, with a hundred-foot drop to the river. Tradition says Rhodri the Great built a castle here in the ninth century. No archaeological remains have been dated to that period, but tradition exists for a reason...

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Image: Wilson44691 | CC0

Dinefwr Castle: Welsh Princes, English Kings

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paul Glasper, CC BY-SA 2.0. On Rhys's death Dinefwr passed to his son Rhys Gryg, and the oldest stonework still visible probably belongs to that period. Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was extending his reach into Deheubarth by then. Rhys Gryg, recognising he could not resist, dismantled the castle himself. L...

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Image: Paul Glasper | CC BY-SA 2.0

Dinefwr Castle: Glyndwr, Rhys ap Thomas, and the End of an Era

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jwslubbock, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1316 Dinefwr was burned during the rebellion of Llywelyn Bren. In 1317 it was handed to Hugh Despenser the Elder, the unpopular royal favourite who would lose his head a decade later in the upheavals around Edward II. In 1403 the forces of Owain Glyndwr besieged Dinefwr withou...

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Image: Jwslubbock | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dinefwr Castle: A Summer House on a Burnt-Out Keep

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nigel Davies, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1660 the family built a new mansion nearby called Newton House, and modified the old castle keep into a summer house. You can still see the remains of large eighteenth-century windows knocked through the medieval masonry at the top of the keep, a strange wedding of Georgian le...

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Image: Nigel Davies | CC BY-SA 2.0

Dinefwr Castle: The View From the Tower

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0. Climb the narrow spiral staircase inside Dinefwr - the steps are turned tight enough that two men with swords could not pass - and the view from the upper tower is what the castle was for. Northward, the deer park rolls away across the meadows. Southward and westward, the Tywi va...

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Image: Llywelyn2000 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dinefwr Castle: From the Air

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JohnLewis1000 at English Wikipedia (Original text: Photograph by John Lewis.), Public domain. Dinefwr sits on a wooded ridge immediately south-west of Llandeilo, on the northern bank of the Tywi. From the air the castle is the obvious feature on the ridge - a tight cluster of stone walls and a roofless circular keep, surrounded by deer park to the north and pasture slopin...

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Image: JohnLewis1000 at English Wikipedia (Original text: Photograph by John Lewis.) | Public domain